Snail Mail May be Junk Mail but it Delivers
Firm Issues
By Bob Weiss
October 2008
So you want to save on postage, and are cutting back or have switched largely to e-mail distribution of marketing materials at your firm.
Bad idea.
You're losing out on files and referrals, according to our clients, our national surveys and a new independent report.
The report, recently released by the Direct Marketing Association, confirms what our surveys and clients around the country experience after using boring old snail mail to deliver firm news and legal alerts to clients, friends and referral sources-- spikes in Web site traffic, jumps in emails through the site to the firm, and an increase in calls to lawyers. And, those results are not confined to plaintiff and consumer practices. It's true for corporate, transactional and defense practices, too.
Why is your home mailbox filled with what we pejoratively term "junk mail'? Well, because it works.
Junk mail from a services provider you trust, which adds value to your relationship with them,which helps you conduct your business affairs, simply isn't junk mail.
"With the capabilities of email and Web 2.0, marketers everywhere have simply lost the love for direct mail," the DMA said, adding that "Direct mail still surpasses email in the most important result of all-- revenue generation."
Key considerations and tips to maximize response from your mailings are:
Frequency. In marketing, absence does not make the heart grow fonder. For law firms, quarterly snail mail is best in our experience. Fill the gap between mailings with those pithy electronic bulletins. "Prospects scream to UNSUBSCRIBE at a far greater rate than they scream DO NOT MAIL," the DMA said.
Use third-party services to clean up your databases. Many mailing houses will run your mailing database through what is known as the CASS Certification System. This is the system that the U.S. Post Office uses to validate the addresses you have are indeed valid mailing address. The CASS process is usually mandatory with mailing houses and the fee is included if you are using them to mail the piece.
The system does not, however, validate the person on your list - only the address.
Another good way to double-check the recipient and their address are correct is to run your list through the National Change of Address System (NCOA). This will show who has a forward on their address or if the address is no longer valid.
After going through both the CASS and NCOA processes you will still have mailing pieces returned.
Have each mailer marked "ADDRESS FORWARDING AND RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED." Each piece marked with that and sent to a dead address will be forwarded. (Only if you use First Class, not Bulk rates.) You will get notice of the new address from the post office, for a small fee per piece. We know your lawyers aren't going to review lists more than once annually, if that, and that they will not be diligent day-to-day about individual changes either, so this service is a must-do twice a year. The reason: you've got to do it more often than forwarding orders expire.
Forget multi-subject, multi-page newsletters. Hardly anyone reads them. The best practice in our experience is to send postcards with short one-two sentence summaries of articles or news- and give the recipient links to your Web site for the full story. When planning your mailing, keep in mind that 4.25" x 6" is the largest size that still falls within first class postcard postage rates, and all other sizes will be charged at higher postal rates.
ALYN-WEISS & ASSOCIATES, INC.
Marketing | Business Development
1331 - 17th Street, Suite 410
Denver, CO 80202
For Email Marketing you can trust
"Hiring Alyn-Weiss was one of the best business decisions I have ever made."
-Rich Harris, The Harris Law Firm
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