Direct marketing is very much oriented towards immediate response. Direct marketers can tell you very quickly how successful (or unsuccessful) a promotion is because they have the responses to prove it. So what is the most compelling tool that direct marketers use in order to gain a high response rate? It’s the offer.

In general, direct marketing encourages people to respond to offers such as, “Buy a dozen bottles of premium wine this weekend and receive a free bottle of bubbly at no extra charge.” Offers are a powerful technique to overcome ‘prospect apathy’. 

To have an impact you must cleverly target the offer to appeal to the intended audience. It’s not much use offering a free trial of a lawn mower to people who live in high-rise apartments. You must also design the offer in such a way that it creates interest.

Essentially, there are four fundamental elements in direct marketing:

• price
• satisfaction
• payment terms
• incentives

One or more of these four elements feature in some way in all offers. Here are examples of offers that direct marketers have found to be effective over the years.

Free trial offer: In many categories this is probably the best of all offers and in direct mail it is virtually essential. The length of the trial can vary with thirty days being the most common.

Payment offer: Offers such as ‘bill me later’ and interest free credit are both very powerful concepts that regularly generate a substantial response rate.

Limited time offer: Setting a time limit often ‘forces’ a decision from the prospect by adding an element of urgency to the offer.  Care needs to be taken in choosing the period since too short a time frame can give prospects a feeling of being hassled while too long a period leads to inaction and lack of response.

Free gift offer: People love getting something for nothing. Free gifts can be most effective when used sparingly in short, sharp bursts.

Competition and prize draw offers: These offers give the chance of winning a prize, add excitement and can certainly motivate consumers. However, keep in mind there may be legislation you have to adhere to and it is wise to check with your legal advisor before proceeding.

Discount offer: Discounts are popular and are most effective where the value of a product or service is well known. Discounts are better expressed in money terms rather than a percentage, i.e. ‘save $50’ is better than ‘25 percent off’.  However, with discounting there is definitely a downside.  Discounting eats into profits very directly and can adversely affect the image of a business. There is also the old adage, “live by price, die by price.” After all, your competitors can always discount further. Once you become known as a discounter many customers will only buy from you when you offer discounts.

Tags: accountant, accounting, bookkeeper, bookkeepers, Brockport, Business, CPA, direct mail, direct marketers, direct marketing, FL, Kissimmee, Marketing, marketing news, NY, Orlando, professional advice, quickbooks proadvisor, Rochester, Saxon, Secord, Thaney, therapists, West Palm Beach