In any customer relationship, attention, relevance, trust and access are critical to success. If you can gain that kind of personal and direct access to your prospects, imagine how that could change your sales program.
We talk about direct mail often from a statistical point of view, including the fact that consumers are more likely to deal with direct mail right away compared to email. What we don’t always consider is the psychology behind the preference for direct mail.
Craig Simpson, writing in Entrepreneur, breaks it down beautifully.
“You need your sales piece to connect with your customers on a personal level,” Simpson asserts. “Unless you plan to take up door-to-door sales, you’re not going to get any closer to your prospects than direct mail. With a strong sales piece, you will walk right into their home, sit down at their dining room table and pitch your product with expertise that only you can deliver.”
The immediacy of direct mail, especially when it’s personalized thanks to technology advances and big data, helps your message get a seat at the kitchen table instead of in the junk bin.
And while most of us are highly skeptical of emails that contain any kind of attachments, this is not so with direct mail.
“People are suspicious and careful in the online world,” Simpson continues. “This caution is entirely to the detriment of your sales message. In fact, even the simple words you write might be doubted. After all, you can’t believe everything you read on the Internet, right?”
“Direct mail is not faced with these same problems,” he continues. “You can “attach” as much as you want without setting off alarms. Bells and whistles of a fancy package are added bonuses instead of red flags. Consumers are bound to trust your direct mail sales piece more than they would a suspiciously fancy email.
These factors, combined with the tactile delivery ability of printed mail, means you are welcome into a prospect’s sphere of attention must more readily than a digital message could be.
Simpson does a good job digging beyond the “whats” of direct mail and talking about the “whys” and he makes a compelling case for direct mail as part of your overall strategy. After all, getting their attention, earning their trust and being offered a seat at the table is the most effective way for most of us to get our message across.