Here are 11 direct marketing fundamentals to consider when you are planning your next campaign.

• 1. All customers are not created equal. The Pareto principle applies here - 80% of repeat business will come from 20% of your customers.
• 2. The most important order you will ever get from a customer is the second order. Why? Because a two-time buyer is at least twice as likely to buy again as a one-time buyer.
• 3. Maximising direct mail success depends first on the lists you use, second on the offers you make and third on the copy and creative.
• 4. Always de-duplicate the list you are working with.
• 5. Demographic overlays on lists (such as lifestyle characteristics, income, education, age, marital status and propensity to respond by mail or phone) will always improve response.
• 6. Always follow-up a mailed list within 30 days to improve response rates.
• 7. Offers with time limits, particularly those that give a specific date, will outperform offers with no time limit practically every time.
• 8. Free-gift offers, particularly where the gift appeals to self-interest, will outperform discount offers consistently.
• 9. People buy benefits, not products. Sell the benefits.
• 10. The longer you can keep someone reading your copy, the better your chances of success.
• 11. Self-mailers are cheaper to produce but they never outperform envelope-enclosed letter mailings.

These fundamentals have been proven over time by Direct Marketing practitioners all over the world. Make them part of your direct marketing strategy today.

© srt marketing 2009