Difference Between Direct Mail and Bulk Mail
Every so often I have someone ask me, "so what's the difference between direct mail and bulk mail?" Well, the answer to that is "Nothing Really." The two terms are pretty much synonymous. Different industries may use one of the two terms as opposed to the other, but in the end they both describe the same thing.
Both of these terms mean the process of sending something like a brochure or advertisement directly to a prospective customer. This is done in "bulk" where a business will mail out thousands, tens of thousands, or even more quantity in order to get a profitable response. The smallest a direct mail campaign will be is usually 500 to 1,000 minimum. Many direct mail campaigns are done very inefficiently and could easily be improved or tweaked with just a few minor changes in the beginning.
A lot of big companies approach bulk mail with the main objective of sheer quantity. An example would be a company like Home Depot doing a mail-out to every homeowner in the zip code 32501 (just an example). Let's say they mail about 50,000 advertisements at the cost of $0.39 per mail piece. That would cost them approximately $19,500. If just 1% of customer respond to the ad and buy $100 worth of merchandise, they just created $50,000 in sales (500 people X $100). Please don't hold me to these numbers, they are strictly for an example.
If the results in the above actually happened, Home Depot would have just created $30,500 in net profit from the one direct or bulk mail campaign! You are probably sitting here thinking something like "That's great for Home Depot, but I can't afford $20,000 in mail!" Do not worry, you don't have to spend $20,000 to do a direct mail campaign. Depending on your market, one can be done for as little as $500.
Several different factors dictate the prices such as design cost, printing cost and actual USPS mailing cost. You may have thought I was crazy for putting only $0.39 for the total cost of one mail piece because the cost of a stamp is more than that, but bulk mailers actually get a discount and do not pay the full price of a regular stamp!
My last personal experience with bulk mail was very successful. I ran a landscape irrigation company and I spent about $1,200 and made $7,000 in sales. I gained 20 (twenty) new yearly customers at $350 per year from a mailing of about 2,500 customers. The $1,200 investment proved to be a great move. Also most of these customers I kept for more than one year which really boosted the long-term profit!
If you are thinking about a direct mail campaign we can help you out. Our personal & business experience in this market allows us to think about and cover many different factors. This experience helps ensure that we create a profitable bulk or direct mail campaign for you and your business.
Scott
Pensacola Website Design
Both of these terms mean the process of sending something like a brochure or advertisement directly to a prospective customer. This is done in "bulk" where a business will mail out thousands, tens of thousands, or even more quantity in order to get a profitable response. The smallest a direct mail campaign will be is usually 500 to 1,000 minimum. Many direct mail campaigns are done very inefficiently and could easily be improved or tweaked with just a few minor changes in the beginning.
A lot of big companies approach bulk mail with the main objective of sheer quantity. An example would be a company like Home Depot doing a mail-out to every homeowner in the zip code 32501 (just an example). Let's say they mail about 50,000 advertisements at the cost of $0.39 per mail piece. That would cost them approximately $19,500. If just 1% of customer respond to the ad and buy $100 worth of merchandise, they just created $50,000 in sales (500 people X $100). Please don't hold me to these numbers, they are strictly for an example.
If the results in the above actually happened, Home Depot would have just created $30,500 in net profit from the one direct or bulk mail campaign! You are probably sitting here thinking something like "That's great for Home Depot, but I can't afford $20,000 in mail!" Do not worry, you don't have to spend $20,000 to do a direct mail campaign. Depending on your market, one can be done for as little as $500.
Several different factors dictate the prices such as design cost, printing cost and actual USPS mailing cost. You may have thought I was crazy for putting only $0.39 for the total cost of one mail piece because the cost of a stamp is more than that, but bulk mailers actually get a discount and do not pay the full price of a regular stamp!
My last personal experience with bulk mail was very successful. I ran a landscape irrigation company and I spent about $1,200 and made $7,000 in sales. I gained 20 (twenty) new yearly customers at $350 per year from a mailing of about 2,500 customers. The $1,200 investment proved to be a great move. Also most of these customers I kept for more than one year which really boosted the long-term profit!
If you are thinking about a direct mail campaign we can help you out. Our personal & business experience in this market allows us to think about and cover many different factors. This experience helps ensure that we create a profitable bulk or direct mail campaign for you and your business.
Scott
Pensacola Website Design
posted by Fritz and Scott at
9:07 PM
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