The recently announced US Postal Service rate hikes will work a hardship on some high volume direct marketers, but will actually help the smaller groups of marketers who market products to smaller, better qualified lists of targeted prospects.
With fewer pieces of mail hitting the mailboxes of prospects, the probability of well designed selling messages being read increases. The odds of a mailing piece getting noticed and read are in some measure dependent on the volume of mail that accompanies them.
Higher mailing costs reduce volumes, but the costs are still a bargain to marketers who are selling specialized or high value products or equipment. The cost of contacting a prospect through space advertising, trade shows, and personal contacts is measured in the hundreds of dollars while mailing a well designed sales piece that creates interest, sales, or website visits can still be measured in amounts closer to a single dollar.
Maybe it’s time to start using business sales letters again, now that fewer and fewer people are getting any substantial amount of mail. Buck the trend to get the bucks.