Did you know 56% of consumers consider direct mail to be more trustworthy than emails? Or that 70% find it more personal?
As a financial advisor or wealth manager, you know that building trust with your leads and clients is key. So is establishing communication that feels personal.
As the above statistics just revealed, snail mail is the perfect way to achieve both of these things in your marketing.
Direct mail may have gone out of fashion, but it is still a highly valuable marketing tool—something many people don’t realize.
If you don’t want to miss out on the rewards that direct mail marketing can bring, don’t go anywhere. Because we are about to walk you through the top benefits of direct mail marketing for financial advisors as well as the top direct mail marketing tips.
Why Use Direct Mail Marketing?
Before we get into how to implement a successful direct mail campaign, let’s take a closer look at the benefits of direct mail for financial advisors.
Besides being more personal, direct mail is also less saturated, can have a good ROI, is easier to read, longer-lasting, and has better open, read, and response rates.
It’s More Personal
As mentioned above, direct mail marketing is more personal than email, according to consumers. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly, receiving a physical letter in the post feels much more one-on-one than an email in this day and age. The tangible nature of direct mail feels infinitely less spammy than an email blast, especially in the financial niche.
The other reason why direct mail is more personal is that fewer people are doing it. Therefore, it feels like you specifically reached out to your client or lead, rather than just hitting send on another round of mails in an email drip campaign.
There’s Less Competition
Although email marketing is relatively new, it’s one of the current marketing trends that have completely eclipsed the old strategies we previously used, namely, direct mail.
Everyone and their aunt has turned to email marketing and completely forgotten about direct mail marketing. Many people might even laugh at the idea.
However, the fact is direct mail marketing is a highly effective strategy. This is amplified by the fact that very few are taking advantage of it.
When your letter or card hits your recipient’s inbox, it’s going to make your name and services stand out from all the other financial advisors because your promotional mail is not competing for attention.
The ROI Is Good
An attractive benefit of direct mail is that the ROI is good.
Email marketing is typically cheaper. However, direct mail campaigns often have higher open rates, get read more, and trigger higher conversions.
Statistics show that 80-90% of direct mail is opened, while the email’s open rate is 20-30%. Simultaneously, direct mail has a response rate of 370% more than email and 1,850% more than display ads.
These kinds of results drive up ROI and make direct mail marketing a highly cost-effective tool.
The exact ROI you receive will depend on your campaign results. Over time you may be able to optimize further by doing testing.
It’s Easier for Clients to Read
Another perk of direct mail marketing? It’s easier for clients to read. According to reports, it takes consumers 21% less cognitive effort to read direct mail than it does email.
This means there’s a far higher chance of your mail getting read and your lead absorbing and acting on the information.
Direct Mail Appeals to Both Young and Old
If you are targeting an older audience, there is a good chance that they will prefer and respond well to direct mail. It is something they are familiar with. They may feel more comfortable with it, and it might be more accessible for them.
At the same time, millennials also react well to direct mail. One of the reasons for this can be put down to digital fatigue. Thanks to the plethora of digital content we engage with every day, many younger people appreciate the chance to read something in physical form.
Research has shown that millennials actually like junk mail and spend more time opening and reading it than other generations.
Direct Mail Lasts Longer
This may sound a little counterintuitive, but direct mail typically has a longer lifespan than email. Why?
Because emails are easy to ignore. They simply get pushed down by more new emails and disappear automatically into the inbox abyss.
On the other hand, direct mail has a physical presence. Unless the recipient chucks it in the bin immediately, it will sit on their counter, hall table, desk, dining table, etc., until they either act on it, file it, or toss it.
During this time, it will continue to brand you and keeps your presence at the forefront of the recipient’s mind.
How to Start Implementing Direct Mail Marketing
Now that you know about some of the advantages of direct mail marketing let’s look at how you can successfully implement a physical mail campaign.
There are a few key steps and tips to keep in mind. They are as follows.
Gather Addresses
The first task to setting up a direct mail campaign is to gather a list of physical addresses. For most financial advisors, this won’t be too tough.
In finance, there’s a much higher chance that you already have some of your client’s physical addresses. This is known as your “house list” in the marketing industry.
Besides this, you can also choose to rent or buy an address list if you wish to reach new leads. Renting is typically cheaper than buying. There are also a couple of different types of lists you can select.
The two main types are response lists and compiled lists. Response lists are lists of addresses whose recipients have in the past responded to offers similar to yours. These leads are more qualified.
Compiled lists are made up of consumers with similar interests, such as golf, real estate, etc.
There are numerous sources where you can buy address lists. These include list brokers, compilers, and managers.
Use Targeted Mailing
Besides assembling your lists, you will also want to segment them and target your mails.
Depending on what you are sending out, you may want to target only specific receivers who are most qualified. For instance, if you are marketing an offering with a high minimum capital investment, you’ll want to send material only to individuals who might be able to meet this.
In this case, you may be able to segment your house list based on the investment information you have on your current clients.
Plan a Direct Mail Campaign
Another important step is to plan out your direct mail campaign in advance. Optimally, your campaign should work in a similar way to email marketing. What it shouldn’t do is send out mails randomly or incessantly promote financial products.
You want to establish and nurture a relationship with your leads. To do this, you should aim to send out a series of mails that give them value and do not hard-sell immediately. Once you have built up this relationship, you guide them further down your funnel with calls-to-action on certain offerings.
Integrate Direct Mail With Your Digital Marketing Campaign
You should ensure that your mail campaign integrates with any email marketing campaigns you have running. Optimally, the two should play off each other.
This is a form of multichannel marketing, a rewarding strategy that has long term payoffs. Multichannel marketing is great for retaining customer loyalty, trust, and engagement. This is proved by research, which found that consumers spend 25% more when direct mail was used in conjunction with email marketing.
Test Different Formats
Once you have gotten your direct mail marketing campaign ready to go, you should also plan to test different formats.
Just like with email marketing, there is a lot to play with when it comes to direct mail. You can choose between postcards and envelopes, different promotional designs, and various calls-to-action.
If you want to increase your ROI, you must create engaging mail. The best way to do this is to know what your leads like. The only way to know what they truly respond best to, is to test out different formats.
Include Digital Elements
Lastly, make sure you include digital elements in your direct mail campaigns. These include:
- Your email address
- Your website address
- Funnel links
- QR codes for easy scanning and access
QR codes are particularly effective for conversion, as they offer receivers an effortless way to pass on to the next stage of your funnel. If they wish to view the landing page for your offer or financial product, they can simply scan the QR code.
Having to manually type in a web link can pose a big barrier in your funnel for leads. Therefore, make sure you take advantage of the convenience of QR codes.
Are You Itching to Take Your Advisor Practice to the Next Level?
Direct mail marketing is just one of many little-known ways to increase conversions for your financial advisor business.
Do you want to take your revenue to the next level? Do you want to double your income in the next 12 months?
If yes, lead your business off its plateau and sign up for a free business evaluation by contacting us. Let us help you create the business you deserve!
