In Praise of Postcard Prospecting

Catalogers naturally prefer to mail catalogs to prospects to give a potential customer a full scope of what it has to offer, and a sense of urgency to place an order.

But mailing post cards to prospects can be as effective, says Joy Gendusa. Of course, as CEO of mail house Postcard Mania, Gendusa is pro-prospecting via post card.

But cards can be cost effective, While a catalog can cost us to $2.00 to produce and mail, a printed 6-in X 8-in postcard can cost as little as 35 cents to produce and send. For the best results, Gendusa says, mailers should showcase two or three top-selling items on a card, and model your list based on those products.

“The trick is not to send out catalogs to mailing lists in order to get prospects, but to instead send postcards to get people to request a catalog from your business,” Gendusa says. “The point is to get them interested and curious enough to call or e-mail your company for the rest of the information.”

If the prospect is interested and requests a catalog, they are more likely to respons when you mail them one.

Gendusa says one of the Clearwater, FL-based mail house’s clients, a linens merchant, has been mailing 6,000 to 18,000 6-in X 8-in postcards every two to three months, depending on what they are offering, consistently since 2004.

Gendusa points out that several big catalog companies – including J.C. Penney, Spiegel and Brighton – have for some time mailed out postcard campaigns in order to get prospects to call them or visit their Website.