Mailshots - The Definitive Guide

Any well-orchestrated marketing campaign best utilises print, personalisation and data management. With the correct expertise, creating impactful content has never been easier.

Mailshots allow businesses direct and carefully constructed contact with existing and potential customers, helping to foster growth and retention.

Their impressive return on investment (ROI) has made mailshots a preferred strategy across public, private, and independent sectors. With a 90% open rate, direct mail grabs attention and enhances brand credibility. In fact, 76% of customers trust direct mail when making purchase decisions.

What is a mailshot?

Mailshots are a way of formatting marketing and communication material to be sent to a large number of people. Typically, these are letters and postcards sent via the post that contain inviting offers and incitements on an organisation’s goods, services, or cause. 

Sorted’s diverse clientele is proof of the versatility of mailshots, ranging from retail, Pharmaceutical, charity, the public sector, and beyond. When a mailshot campaign is overseen by a direct mail company, their specialist tools, proficiency, and, as with Sorted, decades of experience in the industry maximises business outcomes, with an average of £14 return on each £1 spent. 

Why use mailshots?

Mailshots have a range of benefits including:

• They help to raise brand awareness - Direct mail tends to be held onto, posing as a constant form of brand awareness for recipients.

• They offer precise personalisation - Mailshots can be personalised with names, occupations and personal details.

• They can be used to support wider marketing campaigns - When it comes to marketing, using different formats can help you achieve the best return on investment. Pair your mailshots campaign with pay per click advertising, video content and much more to start achieving your goals.

Do mailshots work?

Yes! Mailshots are highly effective. In fact, direct mail sees a return on investment OF 29% whereas, paid search sees an ROI of 23% and online display ads see an ROI of 16%. This showcases the effectiveness of running mailshot campaigns. 

Types of business mailers

Mailshots are often used in various businesses marketing strategies to encourage trust throughout the different stages of the buyer's journey. However the same types of business mailers won’t work for every target audience. Here are some different examples of business mailers:

• Leaflets - These are an excellent option if businesses are looking to promote time-sensitive offers, as leaflets offer a tangible way to engage with potential customers. They’re also more likely to be held onto and shared than emails, increasing the likelihood of conversions.

• Postcards - These are easily scannable, compact and visually impactful, making them a great choice for quick and compact messaging like promotional offers. 

• Enveloped letters - These are typically used to forge genuine connections and provide more detailed information on specific problems and concerns. They also help initiate one on one conversations that further foster relationships. 

How to create a mailshot

When creating a mailshot there are a few things you should do, such as:

Create a targeted mailing list

Before any mailshot campaign, your mailing list should be updated and refined as this gives you the best chance of receiving a return on investment (ROI). Mailshots, or partially addressed mail, are used to target a small group of 15 households, with great detail and precision. Reports show that this smaller, premium technique begets a better ROI than a cheaper mass mail dispatch. 

Determine a mailing format

Identifying the right mailing format for your audience is crucial for engagement. For example, you may use postcards for initial brand awareness campaigns, but use leaflets or letters for pre-existing customers to reengage them. 

Grab your audience’s attention

Using discounts, offers and promotions can help you grab your audience’s attention. However, you must understand their needs, preferences and concerns to be able to deliver truly effective marketing campaigns and promotions. 

At Sorted we can help you do this by using our software to identify whole neighborhoods that mirror your pre-existing customers behaviours. This enables you to interact with audiences that are likely to deliver a return on investment. 

Explore some of our success stories with companies like Costco, where we utilised their current database to astutely and precisely target new audiences. For Costco’s campaign, we collaborated with Royal Mail where we uncovered an ocean of ideal potential Costco customers. Their mailshot project received optimum results that only worked to then further improve Costco’s marketing. This is thanks to our forward thinking approach where we never settle for mere short-term returns. Every mailer featured either a scannable QR code or trackable URL so that our success reports could meticulously pinpoint exactly where gains have been made and where there is room for improvement. 

Personalise your mailshots

Personalising your mailshots can significantly increase engagement and conversion rates. Supermarket campaigns are leading the way in terms of personalised mailshots as they have huge amounts of data on their customers including the products they like to buy, their spending limits, and even the likely makeup of their family. This enables them to create truly personalised mailings that showcase behaviours and offers that suit their needs and preferences. 

For smaller businesses, it may prove more challenging to gather huge sways of relevant data, but Sorted can connect you to third parties to surmount this. We love delving into what makes your customers think, feel and react, which is why we offer comprehensive data management services. We’ll help you:

• Automate data cleansing.

• Undertake data security management.

• Provide data management consultancy.

Having greater insights can be easily used to your advantage. Even something as simple as adding a name to your direct mail can increase responses by 135%. 

Staple advice such as addressing individuals by their name is an effective, immediate attention-grabber, but this attention needs to be withheld if we are to see the full benefits of mailshots. We’ve all been made curious by the mention of our own name only to grow bored when the content is generic. Hence, it is best to cultivate varying styles of marketing so different mailshots can be sent to different groups of customers. Remember, the same approach won’t work for everyone!

Use high quality design and copy 

You can spend all the time you like designing a beautiful mailshot, but if the quality isn’t reciprocated once printed, your campaign will fall flat. At Sorted, our design team will work with you to ensure your designs come to life, especially once printed and don’t worry, we’re interested in much more than simply smacking a logo on a brochure. 

Our work for West Midlands Safari Park is one example where we incorporated play and amusement into mailshot design. Our convivial, interactive pop-up leaflet was lovingly crafted for their Discover The Pride campaign, where three spectacular lions sprang towards the reader and up off the page when opened. Presenting something other than a standard display of information is another valuable avenue to explore when striving to cut through all the noise. 

How to send a mailshot

There are a few things you should do when sending a mailshot, such as:

• Create objectives - Before sending a mailshot, it’s crucial to understand what you are wanting to achieve from it. This could be generating sales or launching a new product.

• Determine your targets - Your objectives will help you set targets that enable you to measure success.

• Choose a database - This allows you to securely store recipients addresses. At Sorted we can help you with database management.

• Design your mailshot - Choose a design that’s attention grabbing and will appeal to your audience. 

• Send your mailshot - When sending a mailshot you should choose a mailshot interface, provide a name and return of address, select the addresses you want to send them to, preview your mailing and then send them out.

Shoot your best mailshot with Sorted

Sorted Direct Mail is your partner for seamless digital marketing. Based in the West Midlands, our team brings over 20 years of expertise to deliver comprehensive solutions, including production and design, partially addressed mail plans, printing services, postage, database management, and more.

Unlike our competitors our all-encompassing approach lets you centralise your project with a team that truly understands your needs. With precision and creativity, we transform ordinary marketing strategies into premium, impactful campaigns that drive success.

Contact us today to bring your mailshot campaign to life!