What day of week for delivery?

[Ryan Ward]

I have been mailing my 800 or so $.39 postcards for about 4 months now. I generally have them delivered on Saturday with the idea that people will have more time to read through their mail. I have read elsewhere that the best days are tue. and wed. as those are generally the days with the least amount of mail delivered. Does anyone have any thoughts on what days have been most succesful for them? Any resources on this topic?
Thanks

[AaronSOLD]

The big question I have is why aren't you bulk mailing the cards? For 250+ cards, if you zip-sort them & go through a few hoops with the USPS, you can mail them for $.25 instead.

Save $112/mailing

[Ryan Ward]

I just picked up the USPS form yesterday. I had no idea that there would be such a big savings. I thought it would be $.34. I have to jump through a couple more hoops with Pitney Bowes as well. I will do all of this today. Any thoughts on what day would be best to deliver?

[AaronSOLD]

With bulk you don't have that much control. In my area bulk only takes 1-2 days to deliver but it can take a week or more if they want it to.

My thought would be near the weekend since people many times think about houses and going to Sunday opens. I think message and consistency are more important that day it gets delivered.

[Ryan Ward]

That's a little bit unfortunate that you cannot control the delivery better. I agree that it is more important that they receive the message consistently than on a particular day. I have three cards. They are all basically the same. A small postard and a large postcard that are identical in design with a short article real estate related and an 8.5 X 11 of the same design as the big postcard with more "stuff" inside. I alternate sizes but not design or basic message.

[AaronSOLD]

Excellent. Consisten message. Look at Coke & others... branding works.

I will warn you it takes quite a long time to see strong results... 12 months+

[ResaleBroker]

Excellent. Consisten message. Look at Coke & others... branding works.

I will warn you it takes quite a long time to see strong results... 12 months+

Aaron and Ryan, you might check into "Direct Response Marketing". The results are measurable and if it took you 12 months+ to see strong results it would most likely be because of your own doing (timing, audience, message, etc.).

[Ryan Ward]

I am alright with 12 months or so. It is important to me to expand my business and I know this is a tried and true method if done properly. Hey Resale, can you throw out a little more info or some resources on "direct response marketing" so I can look into it?

[ResaleBroker]

Hey Resale, can you throw out a little more info or some resources on "direct response marketing" so I can look into it?

You can probably find more information on the Internet about Direct Response Marketing than you'll have time or inclination to read. Here are a few quick links:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/advertis...icle79448.html
http://www.hobbsherder.com/features/dr/dr.htm
http://www.dcmg.com/primer.htm
http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/2003...ctresponse.htm

[Ryan Ward]

Thanks for the headstart with the articles. I really get from this that the message has to be relevant, have a useful offer and a strong call to action. A useful (and unique) offer is where my imagination seems to run dry sometimes. Anyone can do a CMA and sellers think they can do it themselves now, besides, everyone offers that. I have thought about offering a home inspection and a couple of other things. I am uncomfortable with reducing a commission in an offer as I think that could really come back to bite all of us. So this is where finding a niche comes in. In my market, the burbs, the community is segmented into subdivisions that are for the most part free and clear from what is right down the street in the next subdiv. I fell like there has to something in this fact that is relevant to potential sellers. Maybe side by side comparisons. I don't know... It's late and I think I will sleep on it