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Tips on DM

DM checklist

Forgotten anything?
Create a successful mailing step-by-step. The DM checklist is the ideal tool for systematically setting up and sending out a mailing. Print it out, advance step-by-step, tick off the checklist and you will not forget anything.

DM Checklist
Step 1: Plan of action
Step 2: Selection of addresses
Step 3: The mailing
Step 4: Production
Step 5: Dispatch
Step 6: Response
Step 7: Evaluation & follow-up

Step 1: Plan of action

Define your goal
  • Formulate a measurable and achievable objective: what do you want your customers to know, think and/or do?
Identify your target group
  • Make a choice: prospects or customers, consumers or businesses
  • Decide the area of distribution: local, regional, national, etc.
  • Define the selection criteria: lifestyle, postcode, industry, etc.
Choose the composition
  • Decide what you want to send, e.g. a letter with a reply card, brochure or other inserts
  • Decide whether you also want to send a advance announcement and/or reminder mailing
Draw up your budget
  • Calculate how much the campaign may cost and what it must yield
  • Divide the costs over creative work (text, design, image material, typesetting), production (printing, enveloping) and distribution (postage)
  • - don't forget any extra costs for the supply of addresses, addressing, response processing and, last but not least, your own work
Arrange your internal organisation
  • Describe clearly who must do what and when
  • Decide the dispatch date, making allowance for holidays, days off, public holidays and similar
  • Assign overall responsibility to one person
  • Decide what your organisation will do and what you will outsource
  • Agree arrangements with address suppliers, designers and printers
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Step 2: Selection of addresses

  • Make sure you have up-to-date addresses (get the data validated on time!)
  • Decide whether to use your own addresses or whether to rent or buy address databases (or both, but remove any doubles!)
  • Decide whether to rent once-only or take a subscription if you rent addresses
  • Discuss with the supplier of address databases what you will do with the addresses or mailings that are returned
  • Decide whether you will follow up the mailing with telephone calls (if so, get the telephone numbers added to the addresses)
  • Decide the format in which you want to receive the addresses (Excel, DBase, etc) and the medium (diskette, CD-ROM, labels, e-mail)

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Step 3: The mailing

Create your concept
  • Decide the type of mailing: for example, an advance announcement, main mailing, follow-up mailing, after-sales mailing, cross-sell mailing or a catalogue
  • Determine the composition of the mailpack: a card or a letter, in an envelope, tube or box and whether you want to include an insert
  • (for example, your folder, catalogue or a gimmick)
  • Decide how you want to receive responses: reply card or form, with or without an envelope
  • Make sure the mailing fits your company's image (look at examples of other companies in your industry or visit DM practical examples)
  • Check whether you have everything for the mailing or draw up a briefing for the designer/printer
Write a good sales letter
  • Confine yourself to one subject and make the recipient one offer
  • Keep your message brief and to the point
  • Translate your most important sales arguments into "reasons to buy"
  • Decide how you can stimulate readers to respond and act
  • Use letterhead paper (not invoice paper)
  • State your complete correspondence address and address for visitors, telephone number, website and email address
Arrange a response medium
  • Minimise the barriers for response (make it easy and inexpensive) by using a postage-paid business reply card
  • Relieve the respondent of as much work as possible: pre-print on the reply card as many details of the customer or prospect and the return address
  • Reward the reader for his/her response
  • Do not forget to include the M/F indication (useful for addressing subsequent mailings)
  • Put a code or data reference on the reply card to expedite the processing of responses
Don't overlook the envelope
  • Use sealed C-4 or C-5 window envelopes in your house-style if possible
  • Use envelopes that can be processed automatically
  • State your address on the envelope, on the front in the top left-hand corner
  • Consider printing an eye-catching text or image on the envelope
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Step 4: Production

  • Make a costs/benefits analysis to decide whether to do the work yourself or outsource all or some of the work
  • Request offers for printing/graphics (make sure the offers are comparable)
  • Request offers from handling companies (for such work as addressing, folding, inserting and enclosing)
  • Write a clear briefing that explains your wishes, conditions and schedule arrangements

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Step 5: Dispatch

  • Have your envelopes pre-printed with the postage-paid indication
  • Ask the post office for information about possible discounts and the terms and conditions
  • Look in post office rates guide to see whether the low rate for bulk mail is applicable
  • Decide whether to send out everything in one go or in several batches and whether you first want to send out a test mailing

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Step 6: Response

Arrange the processing of responses
  • Make sure you arrange sufficient staffing to process responses quickly
  • Arrange sufficient brochures, documentation, orders, etc., and a cover letter for your reply to the responses
  • Examine possibilities for information processing
  • Consider arranging follow-up phone calls to prospects or customers who responded
Update your customer information
  • Make a record immediately of all response information, including the date and method of response and the expected action
  • Process any corrections to names and addresses (don't overlook the returned mailings!)
  • Remove addresses of respondents who stated they do not wish to receive further information from you
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Step 7: Evaluation & follow-up

Evaluate your mailing campaign
  • Compare the results with the goal you defined beforehand
  • Identify the effects other than the visible response (like sales, knowledge and your image)
  • Examine why certain customers or prospects did not respond
  • Recalculate your costs and make a costs/benefits analysis
  • Write en evaluation report that contains matters requiring attention and improvement
Start the follow-up action
  • Write a plan for the follow-up action(s)
  • Inform your departments about the follow-up action(s)
  • Enclose a new offer with ordered goods and reply within one week to the response
  • Contact the requester within three days of sending out documentation or an order
  • Re-qualify your customers and prospects
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Publication date: 30 November 2005 : 12:08

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