Optimarketer: The Marketing Optimization Blog

Holy Clutter-Buster! Dimensional Mailer Pulls 51% Meeting Rate

Gather 'round, gang, and I'll tell you about an outcome direct marketers don't see very often.

The client in this case was Chris Beaudoin, a Boston photographer we've worked with for years.

Chris is like the James Brown of commercial photography. Nobody works harder to get that awesome shot.

But Chris is also a humble guy. He kept saying, "I'm not the only good photographer in town."

Chris wanted to emphasize the fact that he's no pain-in-the-ass prima donna. The man had a point. He's always been an absolute joy to work with.

Clients love the guy. His quality is off the charts and the typical stress level is abnormally low.

Chris wanted to become the go-to guy for a fresh crop of sophisticated photography buyers in greater New England.

He was aiming for something unforgettable. Something prospects would open and say, "Holy shit."

Our direct marketing agency created a 3D mailer with an emotional twist. The teaser headline on the outside of the box said, "Don't bother bringing this to your next photo shoot."

When recipients opened the box they found an actual blood pressure kit -- the real deal -- with this headline: "One prop you'll never need when working with Boston photographer Chris Beaudoin."

Prospects on Chris' hand-picked list received follow-up telemarketing shortly after the mailing dropped, as well as email advertising. (Yes, this was an integrated direct marketing campaign.)

Result: Chris has mailed 43 boxes and he's booked 22 appointments, for a 51% meeting rate.

The campaign seemed to strike a chord. I'd love to hear what you think.

To speak with Chris Beaudoin, phone 617-268-3899 or email him at cbeaudoin@earthlink.net.

To see the Mothers of Invention PowerPoint presentation on dimensional direct mail, click here:

Download tenfold_response_rate_improvement.ppt

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Spend $50 per Contact, Earn a Bloody Fortune

They're known by all sorts of interesting names: Dimensional mailers, 3D direct mail campaigns, clutter-busters, and more.

They can literally cost one hundred times as much to produce -- on a per piece basis -- as conventional direct mail.

And yet they often yield a higher return on investment than any other form of marketing.

How can this possibly be so? How can an approach that starts with an exponentially higher break-even point produce a stratospheric ROI?

Direct marketing has always been about the net net. Revenues minus expenses. It ain't what you spend, it's what you earn.

Dimensional mailings often earns big bucks because they only go to creme de la creme prospects -- the type that are potentially worth far more than ordinary prospects. If they're worth more, doesn't it make sense to spend more to turn them into customers?

Of course it does. In fact, very often, just one new customer makes an entire clutter-busting campaign extremely profitable. That's why direct marketers with brains are willing to create something that hits people like a ton of bricks. (Hey, there's an idea!) But they don't stop there. Usually, the marketers behind clutter-busters prefer to synch up two or more media.

Now, some direct marketers will have a hard time getting past the cost per piece. Maybe they should ask themselves whether cost minimization -- or profit maximization -- is the real goal.

P.S. To read all about our award-winning dimensional campaign for Unica (pictured), click here. And to check out Unica's Affinium enterprise marketing management software, click here.