Going Solo: Postcards and Solo Mailings
That puts a lot of pressure on the product that you're building your solo mailer around. “To do this you need a strong hero product,” Altman says.
A classic example of a hero product, Altman says, was the Sharper Image's Ionic Breeze Air Purifier. (Purifiers at one time accounted for roughly one-third of Sharper Image's sales.) “If you have a strong hero product, it can be effective for customer acquisition,” she says. Altman speaks from experience: At one company at which she'd worked, “most of our customer acquisition was done with solo mailings and some other solo-type promotional efforts.”
Yankee Candle Co. has used direct mail, including solo mailers, for years, says Richard Ruffolo, senior vice president of brand, marketing, and innovation. The company primarily uses letter-size, trifold mailers that tout featured fragrances as well as contain a coupon. Yankee Candle also uses a scented varnish scratch-and-sniff technology “to create customer trial/interaction with our new fragrances,” he says.
The direct mail pieces “support our store themes, which change every four weeks or so,” Ruffolo says. “Along with major holidays, we use them 9-10 times a year. Usually we aim to have them hit homes at the beginning of the week so that they can impact the next weekend's results. We utilize both mailers and e-mails, as well as catalogs, to meet our marketing objectives.”
At the South Deerfield, MA-based company's stores, “some customers tend to shop with a catalog in hand, and a trifold mailer can't replace that,” Ruffolo says. “Clearly, catalogs are expensive, and we are actively trying to transition our relative ‘share of voice’ — how many catalogs vs. mailers vs. e-mails we send out — toward less expensive vehicles.” Trifold mailers cost about Yankee Candle about half as much as catalogs.
Testing to achieve the right combination of catalogs and solo mail pieces “is the best way to find the optimal mix,” Ruffolo adds. “And once you find the right mix, keep testing, because the market dynamics are not static and will continue to evolve.”
Altman offers several other suggestions: Have a strong hero product; use a copywriter who knows how to write successful direct mail packages; use a graphic designer who knows how to construct a mailing package; consider different formats; research your competitors who've used solo mailings and see what they've done; and have a strong offer.
Also, she says, never send an envelope mailing without a letter. Otherwise, recipients will wonder “‘Why am I receiving this?’ The one-to-one communication is of more interest than receiving a brochure in an envelope.”
And don't omit an order form from your solo mailer, since you are trying to generate an order then and there. “Make it clear and easy to complete,” Altman says.
