Amid the recession this company was looking to cut costs. They had spent about $20,000 a year on personally signed letters that offered customers a discount for early orders. Time and money could be saved by switching the advertising program to email.
Despite the prevalence of digital media, this company found old fashion direct mail was the key to winning and keeping customers.
After swapping snail mail for email last year, this company, a seller of city diaries, albums and planners in the struggling corporate gift market, saw a 25% drop in early orders compared with the same period the previous year.
"We realized we had made a huge mistake," said the president of the New York firm.
The affordability of e-marketing, along with the explosion of social media and the desire to trim costs in the recession, has prompted many small companies to slash traditional direct-mail budgets. U.S. consumers received about 5.2 billion pieces of direct mail in the third quarter of 2009, a 27% decline compared with 7.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Mintel Comperemedia, a research firm that tracks direct-mail marketing.
However, some entrepreneurs who were quick to write off direct mail as too pricey or passé are finding it's not so easy to dismiss.
Our New York company president says that at first she blamed the economy for the drop off, until she "started hearing from customers that they never got their 'reminder' in the mail." She quickly sent a postcard mailing in June, which recouped the 25% loss.
However, some entrepreneurs who were quick to write off direct mail as too pricey or passé are finding it's not so easy to dismiss.
Our New York company president says that at first she blamed the economy for the drop off, until she "started hearing from customers that they never got their 'reminder' in the mail." She quickly sent a postcard mailing in June, which recouped the 25% loss.
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