Direct Mail Strategy: What’s in Your Wallet?

How to maximize the incentive of discount devices

March 2007 By Pat Friesen

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What do you carry in your wallet? If it’s like mine, it’s filled with discount devices—gift cards, savings certificates, coupons, and other ink-on-paper reminders of money-saving offers you have good intentions of using.

If you’re a direct marketer who sends these incentives to customers and prospects by direct mail, your challenge is three-fold.

First, you’ve got to get your mailing opened and read. Next, you’ve got to communicate your offer in such a way that it’s retained and used. And finally, your discount device has got to be as durable as it is memorable, so it doesn’t disintegrate or get lost in the growing stack of stuff that’s filling your customer’s or prospect’s wallet.

Assuming your discount offer is based on a sound marketing strategy, the key elements of an effective discount device include (1) the name you give it, (2) the manner in which you promote it, and (3) its physical qualities such as size, shape and fabrication.

Name It

As with any component in a direct mail piece, the name you give your discount device establishes its importance and value in the eyes of the recipient. Is it a savings certificate, gift card, reward card, coupon, special offer card, or premium savings certificate? Which has the greatest perceived value? The answer depends, in part, on your target audience and the savings percentage or dollar amount you offer.

A $500 gift card (good on purchases of $2,000 or more) from a furniture store I’ve never frequented may or may not be as valuable to me as the $10 savings certificate (good on any purchase) that I received from my favorite store, Chico’s, tucked inside a birthday card. In most cases, a certificate or gift card generally has a higher perceived value than a coupon that’s commonly associated with supermarket packaged goods. For B-to-B offers, it may be more appropriate to send a savings voucher or credit voucher.

Takeaway Tip: Put some thought into what you name your discount device. Then, consistently refer to it as such in your copy and on the actual device to build perceived value.

Promote It

The obvious place to start promoting your gift card, savings certificate or money-saving coupon normally hidden inside your mail piece is on the outside, in the teaser. Promote it on both outside panels, since you can’t control which panel will be viewed first. Remember, in less than three seconds, your targeted reader will decide whether or not to keep or trash your mailpiece. And ordinarily, this decision is made without opening it.

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