Offers on postcards

I am about to get some postcards printed for doing mailings to

  1. New customers in the last 30 days
  2. Lazy customers that haven’t ordered in the last 30 - 60 days
  3. Lazy customers that haven’t ordered in the last 60 - 90 days

I know that I should put different offers on each of these, going more aggressive as it progresses. What are some offers that you guys throw out there on yours?

Thanks,

Dan

This is something you are going to have to fine tune. Every market is different, in terms of what pulls better. In general (75% of the time), $ off coupons pulled better than add-ons. I did have one store that add-ons consistently pulled 2% better response rates though. The real trick is to be anal about tracking your results. If you aren’t, then any marketing is better than no marketing is pretty much the only way to go for you.

The Black Book’s data says that add-ons pull better. You really need to try it in your market though.

I am also getting some postcards printed shortly for some direct mailing. My area is pretty competitive with about 10 pizzerias within 5 miles of me. I dont think I have ever seen one of these places do direct mail though. Any suggestions for a first time mailing?

The best suggestion is to just do it. Anything is better than nothing. Set aside a marketing budget and start to test it. Make a goal of sending out 500 post cards a month for 6 months, and test, test, test.

You can do it easily enough with a printer in your office at that scale. Start off with a bundle, something like free bread sticks and a free 2 Liter or go with a straight $3 off. Take your pick of doing 30-60-90 mailers (a bit more work, but better immediate response) or go with a straight 45 day no orders mailer (slightly lower ROI, but better customer activation, ie higher long term ROI).

If you have some free time, look into split testing. Running two different versions and comparing the results. Here is a good description of split testing for google ads[/url], but it translates well to the pizza industry as well. [url=http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/06/24/the-ultimate-guide-to-a-b-testing/]This one might be easier to understand in terms of postcard marketing.

Either way, database marketing will help your bottom line.