Save Time and Money Ordering Direct Mail Online

One-stop direct-mail shopping in cyberspace

The motto of the direct-mail business is “Send the right offer, to the right person at the right time.” But there’s a fourth “right”—the right price. Consumer response to direct mail averages about 3 percent, providing a far greater measurable return than you can get from other advertising media—but you still need to watch every penny you put into direct mail.

The Internet is helping. Now, many small businesses are utilizing online design and ordering capabilities to create direct mail promotions. Doing more of the pre-press prep work online often means reduced costs and speedier turnaround .

Pricing and range of services vary. PostcardMania, for example, charges $389 for 5,000 cards printed on four-color glossy postcards. Services vary from simple card printing to a complete one-stop shop in cyberspace, providing postcard, brochure, self-mailer or direct mail letter design, printing, mailing and database services.

Using pre-formatted templates, small businesses can now create and preview mailings, upload lists and place orders right from their laptops. The turnaround shrinks from as much as three weeks (the average for conventional services, according to The Direct Marketing Assn.) to as little as 24 hours.

Still, when considering a move to online direct-mail services, it’s important to remember there can be tradeoffs: The local direct mail shop or ad agency often provides greater creativity and customer service, although online shops are making progress on both fronts. If you’re doing something simple or routine, however, online is ususally a clear-cut winner. Richard Goldsmith, chairman of The Horah Group, and author of Direct Mail for Dummies, suggests using online for automated procedures, like creating postcards, and sticking with traditional suppliers for more complicated projects, such as mulit-media marketing efforts.

ome online vendors have knowledgeable staffers for every step of the direct-mail process, including campaign conceptualization, copywriting and creative design, list services, printing and mailing. Some specialize in specific industries, such as Zipm.com (www.zipm.com), which caters to retailers. Most of these businesses only mail in the U.S., but more are offering international promotions, including the USPS’ Mailing Online service. You don’t have to be a techie to use these systems. With just a few steps, customers can upload copy and address lists and have their mailings printed, folded, inserted, addressed and mailed the next business day. Most vendors accept simple Adobe and Photoshop graphics and accept lists in easy-to-use formats like Excel spreadsheets.

Many of the direct mail companies with online capabilities are entrepreneurial endeavors like PostcardMania (postcardmania.com), which started out in 1998 and last year snuck onto the Inc. 500 list at No. 498. QuantumMail.com, another Inc. 500 honoree, started as traditional direct mail company and moved many of their services online.

Like traditional direct-mail companies, many online suppliers partner with leading database companies. MailersClub.com, Inc. (www.mailersclub.com), for example, recently announced an application that integrates infoUSA’s (www.infousa.com) proprietary databases, which include 200 million people and 14 million U.S. and Canadian businesses. You can select lists based on numerous demographic or psychographic variables.

MailersClub.com is also has a private label version of its services, for use in organizations with franchises, field reps and dealer networks. With CoMailer, all creative design and regulatory content, branding, quality and costs are controlled by the client’s “home office,” while user manage their own local campaigns.

By switching from a local printer to PostcardMania, Barb Spigner, owner of Hawthorne Lanes, a bowling alley in Vernon Hills, Ill., has cut her annual direct mail expenditures from $20,000 to $6,000. “There’s no comparison in terms of quality and impact,” she says. Spigner believes her mailings are now more attractive to the affluent and well-educated people she markets to in her community. She suspects that 80 percent of her one- and two-color letters weren’t even opened by recipients. Now she is mailing four-color postcards and watching response rates increase. To get the creative right, however, she still works with local graphic designers, who e-mail the designs to PostcardMania and follow through on each promotion.

Erik Nobs, president of Alandale Consulting in Sheridan, Ore. got tired of spending countless hours working with ad agencies, graphic designers, a printer and mail house to create 5,000 one- and two-color promotional pieces each week for his client in the retail industry. He, too, moved his production to PostcardMania. He’s still spending about $60,000 a year, but he is working with one supplier and getting more attractive, four-color pieces produced in less time.

Because of PostCardMania’s size, Nobs receives volume discounts on printing and on mailing--about 18 cents a piece for first-class delivery. (First class is important, because he gets “undeliverables” and changes of address, which are critical for maintaining list quality).

“They mail when I request, store all my materials, and remind me when stock is running low,” he says. “It’s really nice having one company do it all,” Nobs says.