Planning a successful direct mail campaign - direct-mail advertising

A step-by-step schedule will help to prevent costly mistakes.

Direct mail isn't cheap. Your budget for promotion is probably already the largest expense item in the circulation plan. So, it's up to you to make sure this money is invested wisely to guarantee your magazine's future.

There is a lot to think about and plan for every direct mail campaign. I've found it helps to use a planning schedule to control each mailing. The most important thing to remember is to start your planning at least four months prior to the drop date. Rushing increases costs as well as the margin for error. Late mailings are often unproductive.

Your insurance against disastrous mail campaigns is careful planning. Execution of all the basic steps that take you from determining mail quantity to dropping into the mail stream requires the avoidance of dangerous short cuts.

Initiating plans

Four months prior to the drop, you'll determine the quantity you need to mail based on the number of net subscriptions your magazine needs from the campaign. You'll allow for bad debt on credit orders and base projections on returns from prior campaigns.

Mailing size can be calculated by dividing net orders needed by the historical net response from your magazine's promotions. If you need 10,000 net orders, and your net percent response is 2.0 percent, then 10,000 orders divided by 0.02 results in 500,000 pieces mailed. If your in-the-mail cost is $450/M, then $450 times 500M pieces mailed is $225,000. Will your budget cover the cost, and do you have enough names to mail?

Assuming everything checks out, it's also time to finalize what package, offer and price you'll mail -- your control package plus the number of test panels you want.

Recipients of the bulk of your outgoing volume will get your control package. Look over the mechanicals or printed samples to be sure there are no changes necessary. If revisions are minor, you can probably do them yourself. If major rewrites are necessary, it's best to call the original writer. This will avoid having your control package sound as if it was written by more than one person, which reduces its effectiveness.

The following is a step-by-step run-down of what needs to be done when in the process of preparing a direct mail drop.

The countdown

* Eleven weeks before mailing: It's time to prepare envelope mechanicals. Envelopes take longer to print and convert than other direct mail package components. Envelope converters are a notoriously independent group. Don't get caught by late delivery and jeopardize your mail date and lettershop time. Take care of this important step early in the cycle.

* Ten weeks before mailing: Once your envelope mechanicals are in the works, select and order your mailing lists, using list history as your guide. This history can be kept on your PC or in a three-ring notebook for easy reference. You'll need to supply printed samples of your mail piece to list owners and to clear your mail date.

This is also a reasonable time to take care of lists. It's taking longer to move this kind of paperwork through companies. Leave yourself enough time to adjust if a rental is refused. And this week you can also request bids from envelope manufacturers and lettershops.

* Nine weeks before mailing: During this week, evaluate envelope and lettershop bids. Then, order your envelopes and reserve time at the lettershop. Good lettershops book up early -- particularly during peak mailing periods.

It's also time to order the suppress files from your fulfillment company for the merge/purge house.

* Eight weeks before mailing: The tasks this week are to request printing bids, prepare any other mechanicals you'll need for tests, and send written instructions to your merge/purge service bureau. Of course, these instructions will include your key codes for response tracking.

* Seven weeks before mailing: Time to evaluate printing bids and select your printer(s). Don't be afraid to use more than one printer if this will save you money. Printers, like other suppliers, specialize. So, you may get better prices if you break up the job. This practice requires a little more coordination on your part, but it could be worth it if you can save a substantial amount of money.

* Six weeks before mailing: You have two tasks to take care of at this time. First, make sure all your list tapes are in house by the merge/purge cutoff date. If you have any missing tapes, follow up with your broker. Maybe you can turn over what you do have so the service bureau can start reformatting tapes. Then round up the missing ones to ship a few days later. Check with your merge/purge service bureau first, however.

Sample planning schedule

Weeks
before           Manager
drop     Dates   responsible   Tasks

12                             Establish mail quantity.
                               Decide what to mail.

11                             Prepare envelope mechanicals.

10                             Select/order lists.
                               Get envelope bids.
                               Get lettershop bids.

9                              Select lettershop/reserve time.
                               Order all envelopes.
                               Order suppress files.

8                              Get printing bids.
                               Prepare mechanicals.
                               Instruct merge/purge house.

7                              Select printer(s).

6                              Cutoff for merge/purge.
                               All mechanicals to printer(s)

5                              Follow up suppliers, check
                               progress and spot problems.

4                              Approve printing proofs.
                               Send lettershop instructions.

3                              Check merge/purge output.
                               Fine tune mail/print quantities.

2                              Mailing labels to lettershop.
                               Printed material to lettershop.

1                              Postal advance to lettershop.

0                              Drop date.

This kind of schedule helps control all the details of a direct
mail campaign. Because steps run concurrently, this format puts
the process into perspective.

Second, you should forward all mechanicals to your printer(s). Be sure you have stock keys on all pieces so your lettershop can identify the components for each package and test panel. When you ship mechanicals, written instructions about your job should accompany them. Also, be sure mechanicals are wrapped carefully to avoid damaging expensive original materials.

* Five weeks before mailing: It's time to follow up with everyone working on the direct mail campaign to make sure there are no problems you need to know about and handle.

* Four weeks before mailing: You should approve your printing proofs this week. If you need to request a lot of corrections, it would also be smart to see a second set of proofs. If your package or tests have four-color components, don't try to get by with color keys. Use a good proofing system, such as cromalins. Otherwise, you might get a disagreeable surprise. It's foolish to nickel and dime on production costs.

This is also the week to send written instructions to your lettershop and let them know when to expect delivery of the printed material.

* Three weeks before mailing: The merge/purge output should be available for your review now. If you come out of the merge with more names than anticipated, lucky you! You can mail them if you can afford to, but don't forget to change your quantities with printers and envelope suppliers. If you can't (or don't want to) mail additional names, you can feather the lists to bring down volume.

* Two weeks before mailing: You should get your mailing labels (or print image tape) this week for forwarding to the lettershop. You can also check to be sure printed material has arrived as scheduled.

* One week before mailing: This is the right time to advance postage to your lettershop. Be sure to give your accounting department adequate time to draw the check.

* Mail week: The week you mail should be quiet. If the lettershop doesn't call to advise you that the mailing went as scheduled, check in with them. You can also notify your fulfillment company of the drop. Tell them when you expect returns to start, as well as anticipated order volume. It's also helpful if you supply them with printed samples.

Elaine Tyson is president of Tyson Associates, Inc., a Ridgefield, Connecticut-based direct response advertising agency and consulting firm.

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