Posted by Brian Berg Google+
Within the real of furniture store direct mail marketing, there exists a program that most retail future store direct mail marketers adopt, and that is the clearance sale. The almighty “everything must go close out sale”. This direct marketing program works best for the sheer fact that people are always on the hunt for new furniture and those people in close proximity will more likely drop in to take a look around. But not all people will drop in and not all people are likely in the market.
So how does clearance sale direct mail marketer maximize his/her direct marketing return on investment? How do we choose to add to our mailing list, those people more likely to become direct mail responders than those who likely won’t respond?
The answer is in a three part strategy.
Direct Mail Strategy - Part One
The first part of your direct mail marketing strategy is in mailing to your existing customers. Those people, who are familiar with your brand, are more likely to recall your showroom, want something they didn’t purchase the first time, and come back quickly before the showroom is “picked over”. This mailing list should include both previous shoppers as well as lookiloo’s. Anyone who’s familiar and semi-interested in your type of furniture. If you’re making room for the new line of items, everything must go. This message must be expressed in every direct mail piece you mail out, in every print space ad you post, and in every radio spot you air.
Direct Mail Strategy - Part Two
Those people who’ve already shopped and bought at your store all have common interests and buyer ability. They all considered your furniture selection over other stores in the local area. Why? What differentiates you from the furniture stores in the area? And what are they doing to promote their store location? Are they using direct mail marketing? Do they mail to their internal customer database? What are they saying and how do they position themselves to the other competitors? Using your existing internal mailing list of existing customers, you can clone “look-a-likes” of these very same people. You can actually mimic these very same people to find new potential direct mail prospects that have the same characteristics, lifestyle interests, and furniture buying ability. You can also identify how far those best direct mail marketing customers might consider driving to find you. Talk to your mailing list broker for more information on the ability to profile your customers, to find new customers.
Direct Mail Strategy - Part Three
In your review of existing customers, you can use your existing internal customer mailing list to determine how far those customers drove to shop at your store. What you will find is that a large portion of your customers all found you within the same or similar geographic territory. Here you can make the assumption that more people will likely drive the same or similar distance if invited via direct mail. So consider mailing to everyone within the same geographic area’s of your existing customers. Those people who live near the furniture store location and recognize the building, the parking lot, and the big sign outside. These potential direct mail prospects are good prospects because they are local in nature, and are great for walk-in traffic customers on the way to the grocery store.
Going forward
Each year, your potential prospect mailing list will continue to grow. It’s important to keep good records of those people who not only purchase your from your store, what they buy, and how much they spend, but it’s also important to keep tabs on those who stop in the store, what they look at but don’t purchase, how often do they come in? The more you add to your internal mailing list of customers and prospects, the better you can communicate with these prospects. Each of these prospects that stop in to check out your selection from time to time should all receive an invite to the clearance sale. As this mailing list builds over time, semi-sales and special RSVP invites are perfect for this segment of your mailing list.