Low response rate from direct mail campaign (Atlanta metro area)
Woodstock, GA · Member since 2015 · 66 posts · 8 votes
Hello! Last month I sent out about 500 postcards to absentee homeowners in various zip codes around Cobb and Cherokee counties in Georgia (Kennesaw, Marietta, Woodstock, Canton, Acworth, etc.). I received 4 responses (3 calls and 1 website comment) and no deals, which was fine. I sent out postcards to the same list this month and have received only 1 response which was a request to be removed from the list. My criteria are the following:
- 50 to 100% equity
- out of state owners
- last sale date of 3+ years ago
I purchased the list from Listsource and used Click2Mail to send out the postcards (4.25 x 6) with a nice photo and a brief message.
Is this a low response rate? I was ok with the 4 out of 500 from the first mailing, though I obviously wanted higher. However, 1 out of 500 seems very low. Is it a bad time of year for this? I just wanted to see what people usually experienced around here (just north of Atlanta) with their direct mail campaigns.
Thank you!
I disagree with last poster.
There is no way you will get 50-60 or little alone 90% response.
Property owners are NOT standing by to receive a postcard and jump to contact you to sell their property.
Postcards response generally is about 0.5%. I send about 1500-2000 postcards every month.
Hope it helps.
@Eddie AtkinsonYour problem is the last sale date of 3 plus years. That is too soon. Go back to 15 plus years for the last sale date. If someone just purchased their rental only 3 years ago ,they probably have not gone through a bad tenant, or outdated things in the house. The realtors board suggests that people move on average every 7 years. Watch your results change with people who have owned a lot longer.
We are just getting back into investing. My husband started with his first deal at 20 which was a woman 2 years behind in her mortgage. He swears he learned the most out that deal since he was in court for close to 2 years on it but he swears he made a killing.
We use to do direct mail from two lists - non-owner occupied farm lists obtained from a title company. My husband was licensed and also mailed expired listings - if you have a licensed friend ask them. We also purchased data from the credit agencies. All three had different results.
Currently we are getting back into things and have one property as a rental and are in escrow on two more (all rentals for cash flow). Currently we are sticking to SFRs since they are easier to sell. We have found awesome deals right in the MLS and networking with agents. Many agents have pocket listings and can throw them your way and double dip on the commission. The last purchase we closed on was off MLS and was at a 68% ARV. The two current ones we are in escrow on are tenant occupied, section 8, tenants for 7-9 years, rents are 700 and 780, and purchase prices are 21K and 23K. No repairs needed. Homes are worth 30K to 35K depending on marketing time in current condition. One was a listing that said motivated seller the other was a pocket listing. The agent knows we will close and can wire all the money immediately.
We decided to build a portfolio of out of state homes since we can own it free and clear in a relatively short period of time versus having a mortgage. We want the cash flow right now.
Purchase data from credit bureaus. It is simple to set up however you must meet their criteria as a data buyer. PM us if you need information.
I think there are enough investors doing direct mail getting great results that the practice can't be written off as a waste of time and/or money. I've done 4 mailings over the past 2 years of ~1200 post cards, I've had as many as 40-50 calls from one mailing and as low as 5-10. I still consider myself new to this and I know I didn't maximize the potential deals, but I only went and saw 4 houses and closed on 2. One has been rehabbed and rented (could have sold for 70-90k profit) and I'm finishing up on the 2nd one now to rent (could sell for 50-70k profit). The 2nd deal closed because of follow up, I told the seller I would be staying in touch and I called her every two weeks and checked in until she finally called me and said come and get it. My return on investment in direct mail to this point is 25x. My main marketing area where I live is smaller and that is where i got both deals even though I'm mailing to some bigger cities closer by. I did receive a lot of calls from the cities, just didn't close any deals there yet.
I'm ramping up my mailing in January to about 4000 pieces a month, I would like to be closing a minimum of 1 deal a month. However, I also realized after my first mailing 2 years ago how many dollars I'm passing up with all the leads if I'm not able to monetize them as a Realtor, so i got my license. I do not want to list them myself, my broker and I are partnering on this and he will handle the listing side and we will split those profits. I believe there is multiples of 6 figures in listing opportunities each year as the marketing is slowly ramped up.