Most postcard direct mailers send countless postcards to strangers and friends alike and never receive a response. However, a well-structured postcard with a convincing call to action can dramatically increase response rates and, more importantly, reduce your expenses. So, what does it take to create a killer, cost-effective postcard? Let's find out.
1. Keep It Simple
Part of having a very effective postcard for direct mail is making sure that it has a single, clear-cut objective. The design should be simple, easy to understand, and very direct. When your postcard has a lot going on, it tends to crowd the intended meaning with distracting content, which may include one-too-many colors. Finally, let your customers know where to find you. They can either call, email, or check out your website.
2. Make The Most Important Information A Priority
Your top-tier info is what you want to market to your customers and how to present it. It should be on the front page with eye-catching graphics. For example, you should highlight a 30% discount on a product or service to get the client's attention and pique their interest. Prioritize your message.
3. Take Good Pictures
"Pictures are worth a thousand words" ~ Fred R. Barnard. This quote rings especially true in this case. While your target audience may not be physically present to see the product for themselves, the pictures on the postcard are the next best thing. In addition, the quality of the picture may reflect on their perception of the quality of the product. So, if you have a great product but a poor-quality photo, you may end up losing prospective customers.
4. Go Big
As we saw earlier in this article, postcards have one purpose. This is to send a direct, clear-cut message to your audience. "Shouting," as it's known in the graphics design world, is the art of creating big, attention-seeking graphics that cannot go unnoticed. This means big fonts, big letters, bright colors, and everything else it takes to get attention.
You want your audience to get the information they need without going through any other steps. That means you should avoid any interactions that will force them to spend more time trying to complete a call-to-action.
5. Remember Industry Standards
If you want to use a program to build and design your postcard, remember that standards have been put in place. Deviating from these standards may result in high costs or a change in the design altogether. Therefore, you need to make your message clear and know how you would like it to look beforehand.
A postcard's dimensions is 4 inches by 6 inches. This is the most budget-friendly standard in the market. Of course, the size depends on how much information you want on it. If you had text as the only graphic element on the postcard, it would be wise to make the dimensions smaller.
As you can see, it takes a lot more than a message to make your postcard relevant. A lot of thought and work goes into the design process for the most effective results.