Self-mailers in B2B Direct Mail: Advantages and Disadvantages
Business-to-business direct mail marketers have learned through testing that a letter in an envelope will usually generate more sales and pull more inquiries than a self-mailer will.
Why is that? And on what occasions are you wise to use a self-mailer instead of a letter?
A self-mailer, of course, is any flat piece of mail that arrives at its destination without an envelope. It mails by itself, and so has no need of an envelope. Postcards, strictly speaking, are self-mailers, but the kind of self-mailers I am talking about here are the ones that have a fold in them.
A classic self-mailer is a sheet of card stock, 8 X 11 inches in dimension, folded in half to make four panels, and sealed at the edges for mailing. On the two outside panels, the ones you see when the piece arrives at your office, are the mailing address, return address and stamp on one side and (usually) a promotional message or teaser on the other.
ADVANTAGES OF SELF-MAILERS
1. Cost: The primary advantage of self-mailers is their lower cost. Because they mail on their own, they are cheaper to print, are easier to assemble (no need to match addressee on letter with envelope with reply card), and require less handling (no envelope and lettershop inserting costs).
2. Simplicity: Self-mailers are usually easier to design. A graphic artist does not have to design a mailing envelope, letter and brochure, but instead designs one sheet of paper front and back.
3. Space: Self-mailers are a cost-effective way to present a lot of product photos, graphs, charts and other images.
4. Flexibility: Self-mailers can be as simple as a sheet of stock folded in half or as complicated as a large sheet of stock folded in ingenious ways, with tear off coupon, order form and pre-formed business reply envelope all in one.
DISADVANTAGES OF SELF-MAILERS
1. Performance: The main disadvantage of self-mailers in business-to-business direct mail is that they hardly ever outpull the same information enclosed in an envelope.
2. Appearance: Self-mailers also yell promotional message inside. They are, by their very function, promotional. No one sends a personal message to friends in a self-mailer.
3. Tone: That brings up the third disadvantage. Self-mailers look less personal than envelopes do. And when you are writing to businesspeople, you want your correspondence to be peer-to-peer, not vendor-to-customer.
These are some of the reasons that self-mailers perform poorly compared with envelope mailings. Particularly in business-to-business lead generation, you want your direct mail piece to be perceived as professional and personal. If you are mailing to prospects in the C-suite (chief executive officer, chief financial officer), a letter in an envelope is the method that has proven most effective over the years.
WHEN TO USE A SELF-MAILER
Self-mailers are still effective at selling products and services and generating leads, though. Business-to-business direct marketers have found self-mailers to be effective in the following cases:
- seminar invitations
- event announcements
- trade show booth traffic generation
- software upgrade offers
- mailings to prospects who do not have a mailroom screen their mail (barbershops and factory foremen, for example; my thanks to Dick Hodgson for this tip)
- mailings where you want the prospect to pass along the mailing to colleagues
So how do you decide if a self-mailer is better than a letter and an envelope? You test. Create a cost-efficient format, find a good printer, and test the self-mailer against a standard envelope mailing. If you are doing a first-time mailing for a new product or service, Id go with an envelope, letter, brochure and reply card first. Then test a self-mailer against it later.
----
About the author
Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter and lead generation specialist who helps business owners and marketing managers generate leads, close sales and retain customers using business-to-business direct mail marketing. Learn more about his creative direct mail writing services and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.sharpecopy.com.
2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
Avoid Direct Mail Suicide with Postcard Magnet Mailers
On their 10 year anniversary American Printing & Promotions, Inc. launched www.postcardmagnet.com to make business owners awa...
Personalization Boosts Direct Mail Response Rates (and Sales) with Letters, Postcards - Self-Mailers
Seven in ten consumers want you to personalize the direct mail you send them. Are you giving them what they want?According to...
Direct Marketing Tools
In business, whenever you identify a new market that you know is going to be receptive and fruitful for your product and serv...
5 Ways of Using Direct Marketing
Direct marketing is attractive to many marketers because in most cases its effectiveness can be measured directly. For exampl...
Direct Marketing for Non-Profit Groups Considered
If you run a non-profit business then perhaps you should try direct marketing and direct-mail to get volunteers and increase ...
Direct Mail Cycles and What You Can Do About it
If you run a business, which sends out advertising thru mailers such as Money Mailer or Coupon Savers and you offer some sort...
Direct Mail Marketing and Direct Mail Strategies for Local Toy Stores
Local small business toy stores are under fire these days due to the ramp up of the number of toy isles in large box type sto...
Direct Mail Marketing to Shape Public Opinion
Direct-mail marketing works for so many things and it works in nearly all types of businesses. Targeted direct-mail advertis...
Direct Mail and Direct Mail Marketing for Car Washes with Detail Shops
Do you own a carwash? Does your car wash have more customers at all times during the week? Do you have a detail shop on the p...
Direct Mail Marketing to Get a Job
Can you use direct mail marketing to get a job? Well consider if your will that most people already do, because they mail out...
Direct Mail Postcards
Direct mail postcards are one of the most economical print communications media available on the market. It is a cost-effecti...
Direct Mail Services
Running an advertising campaign can take much of your time, effort, and money. And if you are using direct mail marketing or ...
Direct Mail for Taxicab Companies
Taxicab companies must be sure to fill up those cabs so they can max out their ridership and expand to buy new cabs as well. ...
An Introduction to Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail marketing is now being used by many large retailers like Macys or Wal-Mart in order to reach their customers. The...
Direct Mail Marketing and Direct Mail Strategies for Gift Basket Companies
Selling gift baskets is not easy and getting a gift basket company going is a marketing challenge in all regards. The challen...
Effective Direct Mail Campaigns
It is not that difficult to have an effective direct mail campaign that draws in customers both new and old. It only takes a ...
How To Use Direct Mail Marketing To Your Advantage
Direct mail marketing has become more and more popular over the past couple of years. Companies have been searching for dire...
How Can I Make Direct Mailing Work?
Before you even contemplate starting to put together a mailer, think about what you want to achieve. There are a variety of d...
Direct Mail and Direct Mail Marketing for Crisis Centers
Crisis Centers with special call in numbers can do wonders to help people with severe depression and such, and yet if those p...
Direct Mail Marketing and Direct Mailing Strategies for Motorcycle Shops
Motorcycle Shops must sell motorcycles to insure their success. They must get new clients in, sell them bikes and treat them ...