I'm looking for a little advice on my first direct mail campaign. I've sent 16,000 letters and gotten no deals.

I sent letters to people with equity who are absentee owners who have owned the house more than 4 years or long time owner occupants who are over 65 years old. i used criteria I've heard Michael Quarles mention in his various interviews and podcasts. I mailed to everyone within 5 counties of me that meet that criteria excluding the handful of war zone zipcodes. The list is approx 8k names. I sent out 2k per week. The mail piece is a white envelope with handwritten font on the outside. The letter is as follows. It is a little different for owner occupants but the general message is the same.

10/13/2016

Hello <Contact>!

I want to buy your house at <Property Address> with cash.

I will pay cash and can close quickly. Call me at Number and we can discuss getting you paid and getting rid of the headache of managing a property you don’t live in.

I’ll buy your property “As-Is.” I’ll buy in any condition. No repairs or updating needed! Close on the day of your choice. I’m full time, experienced, local, and I answer my phone.

Give me a call at Number to get a cash offer on <Property Address>!

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Robert “Beau” Kriedermann

Number

Email address

Website

After all the names were hit in the first month, I started again hitting the names a second time. I have now hit my entire list of 8k names twice. I try to live answer the calls and I've called back every person I've missed calls from. I got about 5% response the first month and about 3% the second month. Although, the vast majority of responses are from the edges of those zipcodes I'd rather not buy in. I'll scrub those names from my list if I continue mailing. I keep track of all the contacts in my database and save their phone number when they call and make notes on each contact. I follow up on leads I think have potential. I had a couple of near deals but we couldn't quite come to agreement on price. I know I've heard people like Sharon Vornholt say 80% of deals come after the 5th contact. If I mail this list again I'm going to go with postcards for a couple rounds. I guess I'm looking for someone to tell me I'm doing the right thing and should keep going.

I'm an experienced full time investor. I started in 2008 and went full time in 2010. I've flipped about 50 houses. I know my market and have successfully negotiated deals with many sellers when they are actively searching for someone to buy their house and they find me. The conversation is a lot different when they reach out to you rather than when they respond to you reaching out to them through direct mail. I've put a few houses under contract from other marketing during this direct mail campaign.With direct mail I'm finding everyone is asking me "how much will you pay" and will rarely give me an asking price. I ask them a few questions about condition, why are they selling, etc. I come up with a ballpark number to see if we are close and most of the time we are not. No motivation. That is to be expected but you'd think I'd get one by now!

Do I continue with this campaign? The money is adding up. Should I modify something? I know from my first two months that I'm going to remove all the houses in areas that I know my phone rings off the hook from that are war zone adjacent. Is the 4 years ownership qualifier messing me up? Any advice or encouragement would be appreciated.

Thanks!