Hey everyone, 

I am in the middle of a direct mail campaign. I am taking all of my advice from a great Joe Fairless article. 

I am set to send out the 3rd round this month. My question is instead of sending out the same exact message every round, what should the progression look like? The first 2 messages were exactly the same just to be sure the post cards got to their destination but now I would like to change the message to make it more effective. Thanks.

Curious what your success rate has been so far? Considered but never followed through on direct mail

Brokers I speak with around here have been mailing monthly for years so I would try to see what would differentiate your message leading to a response. 

Sterling White has some pretty unique ideas of what to add along with the postcard to grab the owner's attention. 

If you really wanted to go all out maybe a $25 gift card added with a note saying it is to cover the lunch you will be taking them out on. Then I would follow up with a call. 

Really depends how aggressive you want to be and how much you are willing to risk in outlay. 

@John Blanton I’m sending out about 90 cards every month so a $25 gift card is out of the question 😂

Not arguing the cost Isn't steep but even 1/90 or a 1.1% hit rate would more than cover the initial outlay. 

Even if they weren't desiring to sell directly to you, you could work to refer the listing to a broker and work out a 'market research fee' to recoup your costs (hopefully more).

Trying to think creatively!

You could try and A/B test your post cards. One batch do what you've been doing as a control and then try a different variation, or several, and see what works better. Try changing up your call to action - it's amazing how changing just one or a few words can increase or decrease your response rate. 

You might even try and "take it away" by asking if they are no longer interested in taking action on this property, you don't want to waste their time and if you get no response you'll assume there is no interest. That doesn't mean you can't still followup in a quarter, but they may think that you'll always be around and there is no sense of urgency.

Creating a sense of urgency and if they want to get a valuation or to sell they better get in touch asap or you are moving on.

This is coming from very little personal experience sending out mailers but lots of online email marketing. 

@Justin G. Who are the people on your list? If you are mailing to Absentee Owners, know that chances are everyone who you are mailing to has probably already gotten multiple offers to buy their house from all the other investors. 

I would mix up your list to target some of the newer motivated lists that haven't been over-mailed yet. A good list broker can point you in the right direction. These might include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership.

I have a blog that can help you to focus in on the benefits YOU offer a homeowner vs the traditional route of listing with a realtor. (for example - no open houses with strangers walking through looking at your stuff)

This is geared toward Seniors but would work with any owner occupied list. https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/11806/84376-your-letter-to-seniors-offer-them-something-they-care-about

Good luck

I would recommend actual offers not neutral cards if that's what you're doing. I also have MUCH better returns doing two page offers over postcards. To kind of piggyback on May's response, don't target just absentee or out of state either. If I did that I would lose 85%+ of my deals.

To be honest too, I don't believe in mailing multiple times like that. Yeah you might get deals, but in my testing I get more deals by picking new areas. Different things work for different people though, that has just been my experience.

If you want to message me at all I can point you in the direction of what I use.