postcard advertising

[Allen S.]

wow! I have to say I was quite pleased to see you're reply to my question and thank you for it. But...one thing puzzles me about it. You actually spent around 4-5 grand on this experiment? HMMM, think you would've reeled it in a bit after the first month. Did you mail to residential or commercial exclusively? And what wording perhaps did you use to generate such poor results?

[StarQuest]

Allen,

Not sure I liked your comment about what I did do to get such poor results! I simply just tried advertising windshield repair only and it didn't work for me in my area. Being a owner and operator of a ten year glass shop where I advertised every month with 5,000 mailers I can honestly say within that time I've learned a few things about advertising. Have you ever spent your own money to advertise?

Where did you come up with this $4000-$5000 dollar figure? 2500 mailings cost me under $400 per month x 3 = $1200 total. If you know anything about advertising you would already know buying a 3 month spread will save you tons of money! My return was around $900, so it was a poor result. Loss of $300. The problem with offering free repair, no matter how you word it or advertise it is the other big replacement facilities advertising 10,000-20,000 mailings per month offering up to $250 waived deductible on replacement. When your talking about putting 500-1,000 mailings that won't get you squat against these guys. Save your money!

Now think about that for a moment Why would they call you first offering only a free repair, when they can simply call a replacement shop offering a free windshield? 90% will choose a new windshield!!!

Do some more research Allen......before you pursue this business.

[StarQuest]

Hey Allen,

Didn't mean to come down on you with my last post.. I must have been in a grumpy mood last night after having to baby sit 3 screaming 4 year olds for 6 hours. Try it sometime, it's lots of fun....NOT!!!

I also forgot to mention that I previously ran a professionally prepared cable spot 4 years back. It ran for 4 months. Now that was expensive It featured window tints, car detailing, security products, remote starters, auto accessories, free cellular phones, glass replacement and free chip repair. After tracking the final results we ended up with only 6 calls about free chip repair. Number one on the list was glass replacement (offering up to $150 off deductible) followed by free cellular phones, window tints, remote starters, car alarms, detailing and free chip repair. Thought we would've had a better response with free repair but truthfully I believe most people don't even care until those buggers start to run.

You may find things changing soon with discounted deductibles because insurance companies keep paying less on replacements. I truly believe their future goal is to have some major suppliers just drop off the glass, urethane and moldings and pay a flat labor rate to replacement shop. If that ever happens quess what? Won't see many independant replacement shops around and repair only will only continue to grow. If your in a state where it's illegal to give out auto glass deductible discounts then maybe advertising free chip repair might work for you. If your not I'd suggest saving your money and wait a little longer for things to change.

My personal opinion is if you really want repairs you'll just have to go out and ask for them. It's not only much cheaper (actually free) but more effective. By simply asking you'll most likely get 1 out of every 4. That's a 25% ratio return on your free efforts. Try sending out 1,000 post cards and you'll maybe get at best 10 responses which is .01%. Not so good is it?

Keep reading through the archives on this forum until your eyes hurt. You'll learn so much and the best part is it's free!!!!!

[gold star wsr]

Direct mail does work, but only if you do it right. A couple of years ago I sent out what has become known as "the fishing letter"... which produced a 17% response. Now I publish a local directory once a year, in which I sell advertising space to other local businesses. I charge enough for their ads, that my own advertising and my printing partner's also, goes out at no cost to us. The new directory is going to be mailed this next week to all the postal customers in the 4 zip codes in my area (1,830 total... like I said... I live in a rural area). It doesnt sound like a whole lot, but it is 100% saturation advertising, and it produces results over the long haul. We use our local business association's bulk mail permit for this project. This year, each piece of mail weighs 2.2 ounces, but will still go out for about 16 cents each. My next letter campaign will coincide with my husband's retirement, and will be an appeal to the recipients to help keep me busy so he doesnt drive me crazy! I expect it to be a lot of fun, but also stimulate more business for us. BTW, in bulk mail, it costs MORE per unit to send post cards than it does to mail a folded flyer... go figger.