Investor Psychology - Direct Mail Campaign
Hello to you direct mailers. I was doing a little research and came across this bazaar but interesting mailing technique that I want to share and would like feedback on...
This is a technique to almost guarantee that your letter will be opened by the seller and not be tossed in the trash with the other junk mail. At least it would work on me...so I'm sure it would work on others. (I did not try this yet)
It isn't free, but also not very expensive either...
What I am talking about is to add something solid into the envelope along with the letter. For example, you can go out and buy a pack of dice, or pencils, or even if you have a bag of marbles laying around. I wouldn't suggest using anything of true value such as coins, it may be understood as a bribe. Don't use anything sharp, illegal, or dangerous either.
If you put 2 marbles or just a pencil or even two small dice in the envelope, when the seller feels the envelope it will certainly stand out and boost curiosity.
"What could this be"
"It certainly isn't paper"
**opens envelope**
"Oh, it's just a...marble?"
"Hmm I wonder what this paper in the envelope says"
**reads letter offering to buy house**
Yes this is kind of strange, but out of all the direct mail you send, you will get some responses, and for the remaining obviously you didn't. Did you not get a response because the seller wasn't interested in your offer? Or did you not get a response because the seller didn't care to read the "junk mail" (that's what we call it in my house anyway). My point is, if you send out 100 letters, and receive 30 leads, what happened to the other 70? Were they not interested? Or was the seller expecting my letter to be junk mail and never even seen that I was offering to buy their home...
Even if they are not interested in selling their home to you at the time, that will stick with them in their mind when they are ready to sell.
"Hey, remember that letter we got a few weeks ago with the marbles in it to buy our house, yeah where is that letter?"
To me it seems like investor psychology...it will be much more likely to stick in the mind of a seller more than just a letter by itself...
Would others care to share their experience if you've done this, and for those who haven't, what do you think about it?
Damon
A small add on just to put things into perspective...
I am 17 years old and I live with my parents...I do not handle any mail that comes into our mailbox...the most I do is go get the mail when my parents tell me too. With that being said, if I went check the mail and felt one that was really lumpy, my full attention would be on that envelope wondering what it is...I'd probably hand it to my dad and say dad I don't know what all of this is but check this one out, it's got something else in it. Or if he checked the mail and was sorting through it and found one with one or 2 unknown items in it, chances are he is going to open that one FIRST...before the magazines...before the bills, probably even before scholarship letters! LOL. My point is, would you open it? Of course you would! This is just a small mind game you can use to spark curiosity in your mail, and set it aside from the other junk mail in the mail box!
@Damon Armstrong cool marketing idea! It's always good to stand out.
Damon - Read Robert Cialdini's book Influence to understand why this works. At 17, you're way ahead of the game! Well done! Keep working hard!
Hey man, not sure why it took so long for my email to let me know you responded to this. Weird...Anyway I'm going to buy that book online tonight and read it. Thanks for the support! Have to try and stay ahead of the game early on because I want to be retired EARLY ON. Always excersizing the mind!!
IMHO handwritten envelopes would get the same open rates, seems like a waste of dice and marbles :)
@Damon Armstrong hey Damon. Good to see you in a good conversation. I think they call this a blog but don't know for sure. If you are planning on using mail outs. You have know way to know how the response will be until you send them out. So go for it. Not sure how postal service will appreciate marbles through their system but I think ink pens or pencils work pretty good. Most of all. "niche marketing, and multiple touches goes a long way". Keep up the good work.
Tom & Roni
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion.
That makes sense as to why I couldn't find out what it is...thanks @Tom Scott
Reminds me of this:
http://www.wrigley.com/global/about-us/ourfounder....
Hopefully the marble business does not out strip real estate.. or maybe it will.
Good luck with the mailers.
Wow! I've never heard of that before, interesting story.
Interesting story...wao!!! You never know what you are working for, just keep your mind open and everything will come together.
The only issue I see with this is that your mail costs per piece might go up with a marble or a pen because of the thickness of the envelope. I have tried this with a nickel and figured it would be killer....but to my surprise it didn't really make any difference. Granted it was a small sample size, i'm going to give it another shot though with a bigger list soon.
I'm never surprised at what people respond to and the creative ideas that marketers come up with. With that being said I'm always trying to mix it up and keep track of response rates. It's funny what a difference font types, wordage, and even colors can make so it's certainly worth a shot. @Damon Armstrong thanks for sharing.
I'm going to try these out:
http://www.amazon.com/Amscan-Gold-Coins-Value-Pack...
Just be sure you don't put food in your Lumpy Mail. I know an investor marketing to pre-foreclosures with the message "Don't get paid peanuts for your house!" and put peanuts in each letter... The post office rejected all of them! Thousands of marketing dollars down the drain.