P&C Direct Mail
- Thread starter nyc2phi
- Start date
- 11,995
The only guys I know doing it are ones like SF and Allstate that are getting heavily subsidized to do it.
A lot of agents are still working direct mail. It gives you several advantages over other marketing methods:
- No equivalent of DNC list, so you can reach the majority of the market
- You can create attractive direct mail pieces that can get your message out quickly. This is somewhat hard to do in telemarketing.
- You can usually laser focus your market. High value homes, cookie cutter homes, whatever you want, whatever works for you.
That said, direct mail has a lot of challenges. Agents that I work with doing direct mail, there are some trends that are noticable.
- Suburban works better than urban.
- Specific offers work better than generic (i.e., don't try to sell everything, be specific)
- People who respond from direct mail are solid prospects, if the piece is specific
- It's not a get rich quick thing, it needs to be part of a long term, consistent marketing strategy
The downfalls are:
- Gets expensive quick
- Readership of direct mail pieces is going down
- Not sure how many years direct mail (or telemarketing) has left as an effective marketing method.
I'm fortunate that I work with a lot of agents who do direct mail. I sometimes wonder how they gather stats on the responses, but in general, depending on the area, the piece they are sending, the time of the year and other variables, they get from a 0.5% to a 3% response rate with at least a 70% close rate on the responses.
Agents I work with in TN do better than agents I work with in Los Angeles, but I know agents in LA are still making money doing it.
In the meantime, email marketing is the growing trend. Difficult to get to work, but definitely a growing trend. Its cheaper, can hit a broader audience, but spam filters will kill you!
Dan
- No equivalent of DNC list, so you can reach the majority of the market
- You can create attractive direct mail pieces that can get your message out quickly. This is somewhat hard to do in telemarketing.
- You can usually laser focus your market. High value homes, cookie cutter homes, whatever you want, whatever works for you.
That said, direct mail has a lot of challenges. Agents that I work with doing direct mail, there are some trends that are noticable.
- Suburban works better than urban.
- Specific offers work better than generic (i.e., don't try to sell everything, be specific)
- People who respond from direct mail are solid prospects, if the piece is specific
- It's not a get rich quick thing, it needs to be part of a long term, consistent marketing strategy
The downfalls are:
- Gets expensive quick
- Readership of direct mail pieces is going down
- Not sure how many years direct mail (or telemarketing) has left as an effective marketing method.
I'm fortunate that I work with a lot of agents who do direct mail. I sometimes wonder how they gather stats on the responses, but in general, depending on the area, the piece they are sending, the time of the year and other variables, they get from a 0.5% to a 3% response rate with at least a 70% close rate on the responses.
Agents I work with in TN do better than agents I work with in Los Angeles, but I know agents in LA are still making money doing it.
In the meantime, email marketing is the growing trend. Difficult to get to work, but definitely a growing trend. Its cheaper, can hit a broader audience, but spam filters will kill you!
Dan
- 676
Know of a good email marketer to recommend?
I would't waste my time with e-mail marketing to a cold list. The spam filters will kill you and your open rates will be dreadful. 10 years ago it was OK but in 2014 people are getting just pounded with crap in their in-box. Not only from marketers but friends, family, work, etc. etc.
Do you want your marketing message hitting them when the only thing running through their mind is…
delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete…?
I sure as hell don't!
----------
E-mail is tough even if the prospect initiates the relationship.
Do you want your marketing message hitting them when the only thing running through their mind is…
delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete...delete… delete… delete…?
I sure as hell don't!
----------
E-mail is tough even if the prospect initiates the relationship.
- 694
by P&C do you mean GL and WC?
Because you wouldnt be mailing these to a home it would be to a company address and yes I know people using it.
Effectively? well that depends on what you are trying to accomplish. It would be very unlikely that a company would respond to a complete cold call mailer. However if you have a list of Effective Dates you can send them a mailer 90 Days before the renewal to warm it up for a call... the mailer should have information regarding their upcoming renewal and be directed to the DM which you would set the appointment with. IE controller CFO Principle the more specific information in the mailer the better. I would even put on the front regarding your upcoming renewal or however you want.
Makes the calling for the appointment easier, especially if your dealing with anything 50K premium and up. Because it costs $ for mailers I would only do this for higher value accounts.
this is great for people too lazy or dont want to call effective dates. Some people might respond and just call you for more info
Because you wouldnt be mailing these to a home it would be to a company address and yes I know people using it.
Effectively? well that depends on what you are trying to accomplish. It would be very unlikely that a company would respond to a complete cold call mailer. However if you have a list of Effective Dates you can send them a mailer 90 Days before the renewal to warm it up for a call... the mailer should have information regarding their upcoming renewal and be directed to the DM which you would set the appointment with. IE controller CFO Principle the more specific information in the mailer the better. I would even put on the front regarding your upcoming renewal or however you want.
Makes the calling for the appointment easier, especially if your dealing with anything 50K premium and up. Because it costs $ for mailers I would only do this for higher value accounts.
this is great for people too lazy or dont want to call effective dates. Some people might respond and just call you for more info
Last edited:
- 226
Great post Dan.. I am using direct mail for Home insurance. I believe if you send the client a generic quote based on their property and it is where you shine with rates you will get a good response. I sent out a 4000 mail piece last month and received 22 calls made some sales and opened the way to some business owners.
G
Guest
Guest
DiegolnsGuy- how much did mailing 4000 cost?
- 736
.46c per piece all inclusive, (printing, stamp, addressing, sending etc..)
- 226
I just sent out 5k last week and that cost me right around 2,000 bucks. It was just my 3rd time sending them out. I am just sending a single sheet of paper tri-folded in a letter envelope. My cost includes printing, envelopes, list, and postage. If you did it your self which I did for my 1st mailing it would cost about $1500 (4k pieces ), me and my wife did all the folding, stamping, sealing and putting the address labels on the envelope. about 20-25 hrs of work I would say. I just felt that we would pay the extra money and just have a mail place send them out. I could then devote my time to other prospecting avenues.
Similar threads
