Our Direct Mail Secrets (and results)

Confused by direct mail? Not sure if you should be sending out leaflets, letters, 20-20s, or something else? Frustrated by how unbelievably expensive it is, for how little return? 

You’re not alone. But don’t worry, Phil and I are not only the owners and founders of AshdownJones, (the Lake District Estate Agents), we are also experts in agency Direct Mail, and we’ve got your back.

Direct Mail – What actually is it?

Firstly, let’s clarify what we mean by ‘direct mail’. The easiest differentiator, is that it’s mail addressed to a person, address, or both. Unlike leaflets, which are usually sent indiscriminately, door-to-door.

So think of Direct Mail as being a letter, in an addressed envelope, and perhaps with the addressees’ name.

Of course leaflets are so much easier –  but are they effective?

Industry response rates for leafletting are dismal: you’re lucky if you get one good enquiry per 10,000 leaflets. That’s a response rate of 0.01%. I know a quality, independent agent who sends out 30,000 leaflets per month in the hope of getting just one market appraisal. With an average fee in her area of around £7k, she can justify it, but I still have a problem with this approach:

What about the other 99.999% of people who didn’t call you?

If you keep sending out thousands of leaflets on a regular basis, you’re simply teaching your audience to ignore your marketing. And that’s a dangerous precedent to set. Mass canvassing damages trust. Not to mention the environment, and your bottom line too. Better by far to be selective in your mailings, targeting small groups of homeowners, with a carefully crafted series of letters. A stamped, handwritten envelope is certain to be opened, and anyone who does take the time to read two or even three pages of a well-written letter, is far more likely to take an action at the end of it. After all, they will have invested several minutes absorbing and engaging with your content, as opposed to a few seconds it would take them to digest the text on a leaflet.

What are you going to say in your direct mail?

The medium of a leaflet tends to lend itself to something urgent, like an offer. We’ve seen dayglo leaflets offering free conveyancing, ‘sell for £999’, half price fees, and worse. With its attention-grabbing font and ‘what should we put on the back?’ approach to design, a leaflet is never going to attract anyone other than a bargain hunter. If that’s the type of client you want, a leaflet campaign should work well for you.

If however you’re looking for quality vendors, like the independent agents we work with are, then it’s time to change your approach: from leaflet to letter; short text to long copy; mass mailing to targeted campaigns.  You need to invest some time and effort into creating the right letter. Thinking carefully about your core message, and spending time writing with your ideal client in mind, means you’ll create a letter that could still be winning you quality instructions years from now.

We should know: the proof is in the pudding

In our first year of opening AshdownJones, Direct Mail was directly responsible for £351,964 in fees for us. In fact, we worked out that every single letter we sent, generated £977 in fees. Not a bad rate of return.

And only last week, we sent out just 55 letters to targeted homeowners, and got back 5 responses; 4 phone calls, and 1 email. So far, 4 valuations booked. And as we’re pretty much converting at 90%, even at 1.5% (highest in our area by far), we know we’ve probably generated at least £30k – £40k – from just 55 letters.

Want to know how we can help you make your Direct Mail a huge success?

If you’ve ever struggled to write a direct mail piece, or sales letter, we understand. It’s hard!! That’s why for some agents, it’s more efficient and effective option to use ours.  We only work with one agent in each postcode district. To check if we already supply one of your competitors, pop in your details here. 

As a Firewave member, not only do you get a supercharged sales letter and designed mailer every single month, you also get a beautiful pack of authority content with graphics, social posts and social designs to make you look awesome online.

And is if that weren’t enough, all our Firewave members get full access to our Firewave Academy, which includes:

? Private Business Strategy Consultation with Sam or Phil

? Quarterly Mastermind day at the AJ offices in Windermere

? Entry to the secret IGNITE group – packed with goodies

? See behind the scenes of all AshdownJones’ marketing

? Fortnightly live Q&A calls (recorded) with Sam & Phil.

Ready to take the next step to shortcut your agency growth? Just click the big button below and pop in your details. We’ll let you know straight away if your area is still available, and if not, we’ll add you to the waitlist.

Speak soon!

Sam and Phil and the Firewave crew