Increase Your Direct-Mail Brochure Response Rate

Direct-mail brochures are great tools for telling prospects a lot about your company in a light, easy-to-read way. Intelligent use of brochure panels and white space make for a visually stunning statement that drives response. No matter how well you design your brochure, or how great your sales copy is, the market can be finicky, and if you don't have the right presentation sales will suffer.

Here are five ways to increase the response rate with your next direct-mail brochure marketing campaign:

1. Segment your audience

Mail different brochures for different audiences. If you sell real estate, send a brochure on your residential division to homeowners and a separate brochure on your commercial division to business owners, for instance.

2. Give something away

Freebies drive response, period. Don't give something away that everyone wants that is irrelevant, though, and focus on what your target audience would like, and what you can use as a natural bridge to sell your products and services. A candy shop, for instance, would be better off giving away a free box of chocolates than a DVD player.

3. Test your brochure copy

Mail small runs of different brochures to similar market segments to see which performs the best and most reliably. Use this version in your larger segments for a great response rate.

4. Show, don't tell

Don't just tell prospects you're the best at what you do. Show them results with charts, graphs, mini-case studies and testimonials. Hard facts always win out over concepts and ideas, so use your previous success to your advantage and attract more customers. A lawn service, for instance, could show an image comparison of a treated lawn versus an untreated lawn; or an investment firm can show a chart demonstrating reliable returns over time.

5. Drive online traffic

Get prospects to sign up for your e-mail newsletter list, take an online short survey or exchange contact information for a free download from your website. Interactive tools on your website that help your customers do something better are great incentives for logging on that you can mention in your brochure.

Remember that brochures do not have to make direct sales; they can influence the next step in the purchasing process. By driving traffic to your website, you can open up new avenues to connect with your customers and learn valuable data about your target audience in the process.

It should go without saying that a dazzling full-color brochure design printed on high-quality paper using a state-of-the-art offset printing press (such as those used by online printing companies such as PsPrint) will grab attention and instill a sense of credibility in your company. Remember that the 40/40/20 rule of direct marketing states that 40 percent of your success is based on your mailing list, 40 percent on your offer and 20 percent on everything else. Do your research, test and prioritize, and you'll be on the path to direct-mail brochure success in no time.