whats more effective....

[newbeats4u]

Is it more effective to contact people for the first time by email or by good old fashioned snail mail?

I have done a mixture of the two, well in the process of doing so. I have sentemails out to people explaining what i want to achieve. So far response has been average.

So I decided to buy 400 pre paid envelopes and send 200 letters out with a questionnaire and self addressed envelope. To be honest im sick of writing my own address, i need to invest in a stamp, but back to the serious question....

Are people more likely to ignore an email from a random email address than a typed letter in a hand written envelope?

My target audience are pubs and small venues.

[cmcp]

If either were targeted correctly then they should get a reaction.

You've gotta weigh up the costs of sending out 200 letters Vs 200 emails. Think about time and money.

[newbeats4u]

I have been forced to send out letters as alot of the target audience dont have websites or emails. It has cost me a little bit to send out these letters but hopefully it will work out to be money well spent.

But i do think i will have to rethink the email that i send. Thanks for your feedback

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

Generally speaking a hand written letter (with a hand written address) will have more attention paid to it than an E-mail. They're difficult to compare though and you still need to have the right sales copy in place to get results.

One thing I will say is that a powerful attention grabbing headline is very important for both forms of marketing but especially when it comes to E-mails. It doesn't have to be a hard selling 'WOW LOOK AT THIS' type headline but something within the letter right at the very beginning which will hook their attention.

It can be after the 'Dear sir/madam' part but, especially when it comes to E-mails, if they have to look past more than a few words to find out what you're doing and how it can benefit them they won't bother reading any further.

[newbeats4u]

thanks, i think my letter is much more attention grabbing as i am offering a way to advertise free and i pretty much go sraight in the deep end on that fact after introdcuing who i am

[LowcostPR]

Generally speaking, I have to agree with Scott with snail-mail, but it really depends on what you are doing and how you do it.

Whereas it is cheap and easy to send sales copy to millions of email addresses in a few seconds (thus saving you time, energy and money, while reaching a lot of people) you have the issue of overactive spam filters and the good ol' delete button.

While sending letters takes far more time, energy and money, you can be very creative with them and include either freebies or attractive attention grabbers (I'm not telling you what our attention grabber is, but if you've had it then you'll know it).

Personally I'd do both, but make sure they compliment each other. Send an attention grabber telling them that you'll be in contact shortly, and then follow it up via email after then.

[Call Tracker]

If these contacts have never heard of you before, you will need to contact them more than once to get noticed. It takes a cold contact an average of seven contacts to get a reaction so I were you I would use direct mail, email and follow-up with a telephone call and repeat!

[newbeats4u]

in honesty im hoping that one letter will do it and then ill be able to contact them by phone or by email as it would be alot cheaper and quicker. However I am dealing with people who dont have websites and things so i guess im stuck with the mixture of the two.

I hope they see the hand written envelope and the handwritten self address envelope and think wow he has done some work here (which i doubt).. coz that is a nightmare to do. Its safe to say i wont be forgetting my address any time soon.

Thanks for your help and advice.

[LowcostPR]

To be honest, if you are hoping that a single mail shot will work then you are certainly optimistic. being persistent is the key, so keep at it.

Hand-written envelopes are good as well, not because they will be impressed (they will probably not notice) but they are more likely to open it, as "traditionally" mail shots have printed addresses on them.

[newbeats4u]

What i mean by one mail will be enough, i mean im hoping that the people interested will contact via telephone or email.

Im only sending out 200 letters and only targetting a small amount of the market. I aim to visit places in person to pitch my concept. im hoping for about a 50% hit rate on these letters. Is that too optomistic? my friend said last night the stats for a respone is 1 letter in 10 letters. if thats true then it looks like i will be dissapointed.

[LowcostPR]

That is what I mean by being very (read too) optimistic. It is extremely rare for someone to use your services following a single mail shot/call/email.

To be very blunt, a 50% return is pie-in-the-sky thinking. Not gonna happen I'm afraid. Your friend is a bit closer with 10%, but I personally use the "rule of 1%". Organise the volume of contact expecting only 1% of the people to respond. Some well written sales copy and a well organised campaign will increase the return, but if you are going on a 50% return then you are setting yourself up for disappointment I'm afraid.

Sending sales letters is a galling task (having done it more times than I care to remember, and shudder every time it comes around) but it yields good results when done well, so keep at it and you will see the return eventually.

Let me know if you need a hand with the sales copy as well. We've been doing them for clients for goodness knows how many years. I may even organise one of our sales letters to be sent to you, just so you can see the impact they can have.

[Hogrill]

What i mean by one mail will be enough, i mean im hoping that the people interested will contact via telephone or email.

Im only sending out 200 letters and only targetting a small amount of the market. I aim to visit places in person to pitch my concept. im hoping for about a 50% hit rate on these letters. Is that too optomistic? my friend said last night the stats for a respone is 1 letter in 10 letters. if thats true then it looks like i will be dissapointed.

I did a mail shot recently and received about 4% response. Now that may not seem much but I gained enough business from 1 response to make it profitable.

As im hoping for repeat business as well then im happy with the ROI and will continue to do more in the futute.

I would say if you are relying on a 50% response to make money then that wont happen.

[newbeats4u]

its not really making money i am after from this 50% return. Im not selling anything. well not just yet. It is a a communitty based project.

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

What i mean by one mail will be enough, i mean im hoping that the people interested will contact via telephone or email.

Im only sending out 200 letters and only targetting a small amount of the market. I aim to visit places in person to pitch my concept. im hoping for about a 50% hit rate on these letters. Is that too optomistic? my friend said last night the stats for a respone is 1 letter in 10 letters. if thats true then it looks like i will be dissapointed.

Unless you have top copywriting skills the average response rate is about 1-3%. If you're giving away something for free it will most likely be a bit higher but it's still surprisingly difficult to sell something for nothing as you must still convince them to invest their time.

[newbeats4u]

*chris - brought back down to earth*

I hope my letter outlines the reasons why they should invest their time. It also clearly states its a family run business which should appeal to the people i am dealing with at it is mainlyrevolved round local communities

[Cornish Steve]

Personally, I prefer to pick up the phone and call people. It takes a little more courage, but I can interact, address any misperceptions, and get to the right person (or at least find out who the right person is). Usually, if I ask for that person's email address, I get it. When I send an email at that point, I have more confidence it will be read.

[newbeats4u]

thats a good point and a point i agree with. I will be switching to phoning people aswell as i want to reach as many people as possible thanks for your advice