The Factors that Determine Direct Mail Success

Bob FranquizUncategorized

Churches are a bit surprised when I tell that outreach is both art AND science. Yt I believe it's absolutely true. In working with 100's of churches over the last 3 years on outreach and evangelism strategies, some things work and others don't. But when a Pastor says something like "direct mail doesn't work in my area" and no data to back it up other than a mediocre attempt at direct mail, it's frustrating. Not only that, it hurts the church from using that media again to reach people. 

As we approach Easter, I am getting emails daily from Pastors hoping to get great results from direct mail and other outreach media.  So I thought I'd write 5 factors that determine direct mail success. Here they are: 

#1 - The list you're mailing to – If you have a bad list, don't even bother mailing anything. You need a list of those most likely to respond to your message. I talk about that at length here.

#2 – The copy on the postcard – If you don't have a "call to action"; something you're asking people to do, your results will be limited. I talk about that at great length here
#3 – The design of the postcard – Design is not the most important factor in the postcard, but a bad OR busy design will detract the postcard's ability to get your message read. The goal of great design is to get the message read. I talk about that at great length here
#4 – The timing of when the postcard hits the mailbox – You can't control this completely. Lots of factors affect this (the timing of April 15th to Easter is one of them). My suggestion: work with a mail house and trust their judgment. But I talk about this here.
#5 – Learning from every mailing – If you don't track results, you're missing the boat. The only way to get better at direct mail is to track your results. I spend a great deal of time teaching you how to track results here
By the way, all of our Evangelism and Easter resources are on sale for 25% off. Use the code easter11 at checkout and the coupon will apply. Here's the link.