Flipper/Rehabber · Columbus, OH · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 655 votes
I just wanted to share the results from my most recent postcard campaign.
So my first campaign was just over 200 yellow letters to a list of absentee owners with equity and I got above 12% response rate, but most were just tire kickers (I know 200 isn't many but glad I started small because the flood of calls I got were overwhelming the first time). So my second go around I bought a list of 650 absentee owners with equity. I used click2mail.com and created a mail merge postcard with the owners name and property address to catch their attention. With this most recent postcard campaign I received 5 calls. 5 calls on 650 mailers? I double and triple checked to make sure all of the information was correct, and the calls I got were to the correct addresses.
My thinking was that I would get less calls but more interested sellers. The yellow letters create a lot of action but most were just curious.
Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
12y
Your initial 12% response rate seems very high. The lower rate on the second mailing seems more typical.
When you're going this type of marketing, its key to test your mailpiece. Send different cards to different sets of people to test which produces the better result.
And follow up. I've read you'll need to do about six mailings to the same person to really produce results.
Flipper/Rehabber · Columbus, OH · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 655 votes
12y
@Jon Holdman , I chalked the higher response rate up to the first batch being hand written yellow letters, and the second being mail merge postcards. From what I've read 10% - 15% is about normal for yellow letters?
Urbana, IL · Member since 2012 · 1k+ posts · 425 votes
12y
I agree with Jon, your 12% rate was high and once I saw that I thought "DANG, I gotta read this post!" I'm not sure what set your rate that high but 200 is such a small sample size it could have been strange luck of the draw, but I'm not one to rely on luck so figure out what you did. Was it the target audience? Was it the type of initial contact? You may be right that those were tire kickers as opposed to real motivated sellers.
Rental Property Investor · Mercer Island, WA · Member since 2008 · 22k+ posts · 14k+ votes
12y
I don't do direct mail myself. But folks do talk about that here quite a bit. And I've considered giving it a try.
I think a few percent is more typical than 10-15%. But I do think it strongly depends on your mailpiece, your list, and your persistence. If you keep hitting the same list will multiple mailings you might get up to the 10-15% number for that list.
I think this is very much a numbers game. My expectation going in would be that I would need to send thousands of pieces of mail out to get one deal. And that the vast majority of responses would either be from people who did want to sell but wanted retail or that really weren't that interested in selling but would if I would give them a premium price. The need to wade through all that along with the time and expense just to do the mailings is what's put me off trying this.
Landlord and Rehabber · Newton, MA · Member since 2010 · 2k+ posts · 877 votes
12y
I'm new to direct mail but I do think that a >10% response even with a yellow letter to a good list is better than you should expect.
For the postcards that seems just a hair low.
I think for that many pieces I would have expected 10+/-3 calls so not that far off. Also how long ago did you send them, you could get a couple more trickling a little later.
Also what were the quality of the calls? If you got 5 solid prospects and a deal out of it then you got exactly what you wanted, less calls but better ones. If you just got 5 more tire kickers then that is more of an issue.
BTW I have sent out 3,705 pieces recently and have gotten 2 people calling to ask to be taken off the list. Stop whining! :)
Congrats on taking action... Its the first indication of success.
As for response rates... A single mailing doesn't give you a picture painted well enough to evaluate. Its like coloring by dots but only having one dot colored...
Yellow Letters tend to fall somewhere between 8% to 25% although I have had times where customers have had 50%+... However that was luck and not sustainable.
Postcards tend to be in the arena of half of one percent to sometimes 2 percent however two is an anomaly...
Larger cards tend to be better then smaller cards and using embedded commands within your copy tends to increase performance as well as using variable data.. However with all that said no single piece of mail can create the type of motivation required no matter what you say.
Flipper/Rehabber · Bakersfield, CA · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
12y
@Account Closed
Absolutely.... CA$H is king when buying at a discount. I didn't really understand this completely until I began marketing 1800 SELL 4 CASH as my telephone number and brand...
Thanks for all the encouraging words and feedback guys! It is much appreciated!
Of the five calls:
1 was the wrong address
2 asked to take off the list
1 was listed but in foreclosure and we came close to a deal
1 was a duplex that will probably turn into a deal. Worth about $165k and his first asking price was $125K, but needs about $8k in work done to it.
So 40% of your calls were really good prospects and you think there is a good chance you are going to get a deal out of it. That with an overall response rate of just under 1%. Looks pretty good to me.
Say you start to scale up and send 2,000 PCs a month and keep the same basic rates.
You'd be getting about 15 calls with about 6 good leads and 3 turning into deals. I'd call that ECSTASY!
Dallas, TX · Member since 2013 · 4k+ posts · 744 votes
12y
Here is just a thought. Set up a bulk mailing account with the post office and send out your post card to everyone in a city of your choosing, and I am sure you will get a better response.
Here is just a thought. Set up a bulk mailing account with the post office and send out your post card to everyone in a city of your choosing, and I am sure you will get a better response.
This is only me thinking.
Joe Gore
Are you saying that the rate would be higher or the total response would be higher? Doing something like that say with the USPS EDDM would be a cheap way to send out a ton more stuff but since it isn't targeted at all the rate is likely going to be a lot lower. It can be useful depending on your specific strategy since some investors do it.
It does seem that the general concensous on that is it is good for selling pizza but not so much for buying houses.
Flipper/Rehabber · Bakersfield, CA · Member since 2008 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
12y
Joe.
In our current market one should never blanket mail. We don't want calls we want motivated sellers who have the ability to sell to us in a fashion which fits our business model causing us to earn a profit.
I am saying you will reach a lot more people that you might not reach otherwise.
Joe Gore
That is without any doubt going to be true.
However there is a reason that most of these people wouldn't get reached otherwise. They don't have any obvious reason why they would want to sell so they won't show up on lists.
If you want to blanket an area there are more economical ways to do it. Outdoor signage is the most common and talked about way. If you want to hit a house directly better off getting a door hanger. Sticks out more than a PC and you can get them in large quantities for less than $0.04 each.
@Shaun Reilly , honestly I didn't get hardly any good leads out of the 12% on my first campaign.
Out of roughly 25, I would say:
30% were mad/confused
50% curious but had no intention of selling
30% were interested in selling but wanted above retail or just wanted me to make an offer. aka No Motivation
So in hindsight maybe I did accomplish my goal, sent out a less expensive mailer and got more motivated sellers and less tire kickers!
I think it was just frustrating at first because when those YL's hit it was just a flood of calls, and with the Postcards it was almost nothing.
So you got 110% garbage from the YLs? :)
Seriously though it does sound like you actually did what you wanted. A lot less non-motivated calls and some good leads, and hopefully a deal (The only thing that REALLY matters).
I've seen a few threads lately that have talked about how "response rate" is a very overhyped metric. Sure it feels all awesome to get all those people calling but if none of them are even warm leads you are just wasting a lot of time talking with non-prospects.
IMHO you did pretty well with your PCs and had lousy success with the YLs.
Flipper/Rehabber · Columbus, OH · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 655 votes
12y
hahaha, it sure felt like 110% garbage!
The last category should have been 20%.
I think you're exactly right about response rate. There was a guy on a feed who says he staples a $1 bill to every yellow letter and was bragging that he got some obscene response rate. I'd call someone who sent me a $1 bill in the mail, but that doesn't change the fact that I have zero interest in selling my properties!