Jason Capshaw

Questions To Ask Before Printing Direct Mail Pieces

Before hiring a printing service for a direct mail campaign, it is important to conduct proper research. All you may be getting is the cost without the expected results, which can be disastrous.

When contracting out printing services it is important to do research. Doing research up front can help you make your direct mail campaign profitable with as few headaches as possible.  We have put together a list of questions you may want to answer before going to the printer.

1. Who is your target market?

This is an extremely important question because it helps you answer all of the other questions. Take a sampling of your customers. Identify their gender, race, economic status and as much other information as possible. Take that information and see what your customers have in common. Once you see what the most common factor is, find the second and the third. Than conduct your direct mail campaign to that specific group.

For example, you may find that your average customer is female, older than 40 and live in homes over $200,000. It is much easier to develop a strategy that is effective for that group than a strategy that is effective for everyone.

2. Based on your target market, at what quality should you print?

If you are targeting high end businesses and your flier looks low end, you may not get as many responses as you planned. On the other hand, the expense of high end mail pieces may not be justified if you are targeting lower income individuals.

• Color or “Black and White” Printing: If you are focused on a high end clients who may spend thousands of dollars with your business you may want to use color because it gives a high level of professionalism. On the other hand, if your customers don’t spend thousands with your business and you depend on mass sales, it may be a better option to use black and white so the cost doesn’t eat up your profits.
• DPI: Or dots per inch, is a measurement of printing quality. The higher the DPI the better the quality. When getting quotes always ask about DPI, because although some quotes may seem similar, they may be at ver different DPI’s.

3. How much should you spend on printing?

There are often hidden charges in direct mail campaigns. They are not really hidden, they are just not often thought about. For example, letter addressing. Once you have a flier, you will have to address and send it.

Depending on your situation it may be better to lower your printing cost and spend more of your budget on actually mailing the flier. On the other hand, it may be more appropriate to have a super nice mail piece and mail it out to individuals who earn more than $200,000 per year in your area.

If you are in need of printing servces, you can contact Better Letter and we can assist you with your printing needs.

Article Tags: Direct Mail, Mail Pieces

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