Just 127 Letters and a Response Rate of 7.09% a return of 35:1…
How would you like response rates of 7.09%, a return of 35:1 and know your results with this accuracy?
Did you read my last blog post about an article the NCCA had posted? In it the NCCA talked about the power of Reminder Letters, and gave a couple of examples, this is one such example from a GetBookedUp user.
Of course you don’t need software to do a Job Reminder Letter, but software should make it so much easier for you, and should be able to give you analysis and reporting to check what is working.
The picture below is one I’ve snagged, with their permission of course, from a users system I was working on earlier today. I was helping them prepare the second follow up mailing to their Job Reminder Letter using the Target Marketing facility in GetBookedUp. Now you don’t need to use the Target Marketing tool to get this type of return, you could just use the Easy Mailing facility which is in the Professional+ Edition. However, as this user prefers to follow up their reminder letters, as we suggest and do in our own carpet cleaning business, they always use the Target Marketing tool for their mailings.
We’re often asked “What’s different about the £1900 Business Builder Edition compared to the £289 Professional+ Edition?” Well, there’s lots of extra features, but just one of the extra tools is Target Marketing. Target Marketing is a tool that allows you to set up multiwave direct mail campaigns for things such as your Job Reminders and “I miss you” letters. It automatically excludes people who have responded to a mailing from the follow up mailing, and allows you to measure exactly your response and return on the campaign, no guess work! In our carpet cleaning business we typically find that a followed up mailing will generate almost as much from the second mailing as it does the first, especially if that second mailing is done as a “Just to remind you, the offer ends on…” theme. We use this two stage approach (sometimes even three stage) in our carpet cleaning business for all our 12, 18, 24, 36, 48 and 60 month reminders and many of our users have adopted it too. In our carpet cleaning business we get many calls where people say things like “I was going to call you then put the letter away and forgot, thank you for reminding me again.” All I can tell you is, IT WORKS!
Anyway, back to the picture below, click it to enlarge it…
You’ll notice that the reminder Wave 1 was sent on the 8th April 2013 with an offer which expires at the end of May. It was sent to 127 people who’s last job was in May 2012. The response, automatically tracked by the system, was 9, which then equates to a 7.09% response, WOW! But lets look even closer – Total sales £2,133.33. Cost of mailing 127 x 47p = £59.69 (47p = letter printed & posted @ 39p +vat) SO… £2,133.33 / £59.69 = 35.74 so gives a 35:1 return!
What we have done today is use the Target Marketing facility to send Wave 2 on the 10th May 2013 to just 116 people, why 116? Because 9 have responded so we don’t want to mail them, and 2 people have had their record marked as moved on since the first mailing went out. ALL of that is done automatically in the target marketing tool. If we receive mail returned as ‘gone away’ we mark that in the client record. When the next wave of any campaign is sent the system AUTOMATICALLY then excludes not only those that have already responded but also those who have now been marked as ‘moved on’. Clever eh!? Just one of the little attention to detail things that make such a difference and our users tell us they love about GetBookedUp. This user will now be looking to get a 5% ish return on this second mailing. Put your shotgun away and get your rifle out. Could you use some Target Marketing?
The mailing was sent out by another of the NCCA Corporate Members, a very helpful guy called Neil Jenkins, with Mail Boxes etc… Maidenhead www.mbe.co.uk/maidenhead. They are a print fullfillment service where you can get your letters printed, folded, stuffed and posted for LESS than the cost of a second class stamp! Neil’s service is AMAZING, they allow you to have teaser copy on the outside of the envelope, there is no extra charge for a return address to clean up your database as you go. Also, because they don’t use window envelopes you have more space for your letter as there is no address block in the letter. And for me the best bit is, unlike Docmail and many others, they don’t need to put a barcode and other ‘stuff’ on the side of the letter, so it still looks like a personal letter from their friendly carpet cleaner, rather than a barcoded mass mailing. We’ve recommended many users give Neil a go, and those that have have not been disappointed.
So, that was a long post, I hope you got through it okay. I always remember Howard Partridge saying “It’s FTI that kills most carpet cleaning businesses”, FTI is Failure To Implement! Are you going to FTI this reminder letter? Or are you now resolved to start planning your June 2013 reminder campaigns now? GetBookedUp users please just call if you need any help doing these, none GetBookedUp users, please just call if you want to chat about how we organise these.
Happy Reminding everyone 🙂
Allan.