Split Testing Your Direct Mail, How Can You Afford Not To?

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with a few business owners about their marketing, and specifically about their direct mail strategies.  Some of the business owners I talked to are getting a "GREAT" response from their direct mail.  Some are getting an "OK" response and a few others are getting a "TERRIBLE" response.  After hearing this, I asked a few generic questions to try and learn more and offer some advice for improving their mail performance.

I asked about consistency, and it seemed that everyone was sending enough mail, about 500 - 2500 pieces per month.  I asked about availability for responses and everyone had a secretary answering the phone or a marketing number forwarded to their personal cell phone.  I didn't critique their mailers, and I didn't investigate their lists, but I did ask about split testing.  I asked "Have you done any split testing, to see if a specific color, graphic, or message got a better response rate than others you have tried.  The answer from everyone was "NO". They continued to use the same mailer and accept the same below average response rates.

Honestly, I was kind of shocked.  I can understand that some office were getting a "GREAT" response and happy with their mailers,  but the other offices had no excuses. Obviously, they were not happy with their response, but they continued to spend money on mail and receive a less than desirable return on investment. Here are 4 reasons why real estate professionals don't integrate split testing into their direct mail marketing.

#1 - TIME.  All the offices I talked to said that they didn't split test because they didn't have the time. To me, this means they didn't "make the time".  Most of the extra time comes from the management of all the extra mail (see #3 below).  If you are spending hundreds or thousands of dollars each month sending mail, wouldn't you want to maximize your return and minimize your waste?  I have worked hard to do that in my own direct mail, and now I have confidence that my mailers will produce the response I need for the leads I want to generate.

#2 - MONEY.  Depending on how many pieces you are sending, it may cost a little more to do some split testing.  Instead of mailing one big list of 2,000 pieces, you are mailing two lists of 1,000 pieces. No matter how you fulfill your direct mail, it always costs a little more to send smaller quantities. However, a little added cost now, could save you hundreds in mailing cost, and make you thousands later, because of  better response rates.  If you can’t fit split testing into your current mail budget, send smaller quantities, split test those, and then increase your quantities in the future using the mail pieces that gave you the better response rate.

#3 - MANAGEMENT.  There is no doubt about it, split testing means more mail; and more mail usually means bigger management headaches.  If you wanted to split test, you might as well double all your current mail pieces. Meaning, If you were originally planning to mail one active campaign, split testing means you now have two, if you had three mailers within that one campaign, you now have six mailers within two campaigns. As you can see, getting the right mail out, at the right time, to the right list, could be a management nightmare.  But this should not deter you from split testing and to learn what mailers produce the best response.

#4 - SPLIT TESTING?  What? Surprisingly, there were a few offices who had never entertained the idea of split testing. They had never even heard of it. In their minds, the strategy is to create the best mail pieces they could and that was it. This is NOT how you improve response rates, and it’s also how so many offices continue to accept less than desirable response from their mailers.

Depending on the size of your business, the size of your marketing budget, and who you’re trying to get a response from, split testing may present its own unique set of challenges to you. No matter what you do, don't give up. Keep making changes until you get the response rates you are happy with.  Happy investing!