We’re living in a digital world but the humble letterbox is still vital for marketing
It’s easy to become blinded, obsessed even, with analytics, insights, ads, algorithms… you know the ones. But it’s important to remember than in a world with thousands of tv channels, radio stations and social media platforms each person has only 1 letterbox and they pay attention to what comes through it.
If you’re considering maximising on this and investing in a leaflet drop, there’s a few things your business can do to maximise the return on investment:
Track It
Whether it’s a QR code that takes people straight to a website page, a simple reference code on the leaflet or a unique phone number for each area, it’s vital to track your leaflets once you know they’ve been delivered. If you’re delivering to a large areas you can print different codes on each area to narrow down results even more.
And always remember to ask potential customers how they heard about you. Hopefully they will have the leaflet to hand and can quote the reference number but if they say “I googled you”, ask what made them search for you and really drill down if it was driven by them seeing your leaflet through the door.
Test It
Doing several different versions of a leaflet is important but only change ONE ELEMENT at a time so if there is a sudden change in response, you can attribute it to the change. It could be a change in photos, the layout, a better headline that grabs them when it drops onto that mat, but whatever it is measure measure measure!
What works all year for some businesses might flop for others so do your own customer research and ask people to be honest about potential versions of your leaflet.
Offer It
You need a hook – something that makes them feel like they’re getting a freebie or something for nothing. Include an expiry date on the offer to encourage uptake as soon as possible. Upselling is key – such as buy two get one free not buy two and get 10% discount as this will kill your bottom line.
Sustain It
Sporadic, here and there advertising isn’t going to work; you need a long-term campaign. The public feel the same way about brands as they do people when they first see them – they don’t know your business so you need to warm them up, contact them consistently. The more often they see you brand the more they will trust your brand and more likely to act on it when they need your product/services. It’s all about ROI and not response rate and as a rule of thumb you’d want 1 call per 1,000 leaflets.
Target It
It’s very common that people see a beautiful neighbourhood with huge houses and think ‘Bingo! I’ll drop my leaflets here with a guarantee of a return’ but it’s not always the case and you really have to be more targeted than this. Royal Mail Leaflet service provide stats for the best postcodes to focus on and those to avoid. They have a minimum order value of £500 and contracts vary.
