Here are some arguments against mass mailing in the 21st century. The reasons include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:
1. They waste resources – both monetary & ecological.
Small, targeted email lists are more effective than casting a wide net and hoping for the best. Why waste your precious resources on a gamble that your message just might be heard?
If, however, you decide that you must do a mailing, please use an Eco-friendly printer. I suggest www.greenerprinter.com. They have top-notch customer service, use recycled papers and Eco-friendly inks, they’re super simple and do high-quality work. Here’s hoping you don’t do a mailing, and that you just order business cards from them instead.
2. Snail mail is making a quick exit.
The USPS is struggling for a reason; few people use their service nowadays. My friends, colleagues and I check our e-mail and Facebook messages compulsively. I can’t remember a time since the 1990’s that I hung around my mailbox waiting for a piece of mail.
3. They’re expensive.
After you calculate up design (if you’re putting money into a mailing, please invest in good design), printing, paper costs and postage, you’re out some serious money. And aren’t you trying to be in the money? Why print up 1000 brochures for hundreds of dollars when you could send an email to 1000 people with Mailchimp for free?
4. You can’t track open rates.
You have no idea how many people have opened your mailing or told their friends about it. With Email marketing, all good providers supply statistics with detailed breakdowns of open, click & forwarding rates, as well as maps showing where in the world people have opened your message.
5. Mass mailings are ephemeral.
As much as you’d like to believe your message will live forever in infamy, it won’t. Eventually over time, the papers will make their way into the trash can and end up in a landfill. With new archiving services, Email campaigns live forever on the web – they become a kind of mini web page. The content is fully searchable on Google, and they can continue to drive traffic to your business long after they’re sent.
6. They’re time consuming.
Many people are required to launch a successful snail mail campaign. First you generate content, then hire a designer, then the designer contacts the printer and the printer hooks up with the postal service and the postal service takes them all over town. Lord knows how long it will take each entity to complete their portion of the task. You can cut out all of the expensive middlemen when you work with a designer to create your email campaign. It’s just you, your content, a designer and your audience.
7. Less frequent.
Because mass mailings are such an endeavor, you really can’t afford to do them as frequently as it takes to elicit a response from your customer base. Back in the day (you know, the 1990′s…) it only took 7 contacts with a customer before a sale was generated. Now that our form of communication has changed so drastically, it takes at least 33 contacts before that same sale closed. Crazy, huh?
8. They’re not targeted.
When you send a direct mail campaign, the reader has no say in what type of contact they receive. You send out one general message and hope that it appeals to many. With email marketing, there are specific functions that allow your readers to choose the content in which they’re interested. They can also determine the frequency they receive content from you. This drastically improves the quality of conversation you’re having with your customers. This maintains your relevance in the customer’s eyes.
9. They’re messy.
Chances are, if you’re printing up a direct mail campaign, you’re printing out a few more copies than you plan on sending so you can keep them for “your records.” Maybe you’ll want to hand them out to potential customers at a later date. Unless you have a personal organizer, these “records” can get out of hand quickly.
If you have a smart phone, Email Marketing providers such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact allow you to add people to your list quickly and easily. Meet someone new that wants to read your latest newsletter? Send them a copy right now from your smart phone. It’s instantaneous, and it’s not messy.
10. Slow turn-around rate.
The moment that you decide to put out a mailing until the time the message reaches your customer is far longer than with Email marketing. You could potentially send out a well-crafted message to thousands of your customers in an afternoon. Ever need to run a last minute promotion to meet a sales goal? Email marketing offers that kind of flexibility. Direct mail doesn’t.
What do YOU think about mass mailing in the 21st century?
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Target with ArrowImage: pakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Slow Sign
Image: bulldogza / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
