Direct Mail Response Rates. Whats your averages?

General Real Estate Investing
1

We have been sending out high quality 6X4 Postcards via eddm to select neighborhoods/Zip codes. We have been target mailing these neighborhoods for about 3 months, 2 times per month. Our flyer targets sellers interested in listing their homes with us. We started with about .002 percent, but recently we have been averaging about .003.

What would you say your average response rates are for your marketing efforts? Ours has been right at .0025 Percent, so roughly about

2.5 leads per 1000 mailed.

Anyone seeing better results?

2

I’m not sure that simply inquiring about ‘averages’ is helpful.

I sift through a raw list of “prospects” of about a quarter million, and reduce that to a list of approximately 5,000.

My response rate fluctuates somewhere above 5 percent, depending on the time of the year, and how well I continue to sift my list …as ‘good’ prospects morph into ‘less good ones’ over time.

For example, my response rates on expired listings, depend greatly on “how” long the listing has been expired, and/or if the house has been re-listed, or not.

I think a .001% response rate tells me that the list is poorly sifted, and includes a boatload of trash.

However, let’s just pretend we’re gonna send a postcard to all the cigar smokers in our county.

First, we have to have a compelling offer.

Next we sift a mailing list that excludes…
Marlborough Thin smokers (They hate cigar smokers)
Supporters of American Lung Association

Next we sift in…
Those who subscribe to Cigar Aficionado Magazine
Lesbians (they love cigars)

Next, we continue sifting the list, and split-testing our ad copy, until we die, in order to generate the most responses and subsequent conversions.

Comparing response rates is really a non-starter, unless we’re talking about identical lists, identical sifting, and identical products.

Just saying.

3

In San Diego if you don’t do what Javipa suggested then your response rates are 0.005.

Most investors just blast out to a list of absentee owners with postcards and yellow letters.

4

I see what you mean Java… Thank you for your input. I guess with us we are just hammering a whole zip code, not really purchasing and fine tuning a detailed list. I know that sending our postcards to rental homes is not going to get us very far seeing that we are a real estate broker looking for listings. The eddm is much cheaper for us than sending to select targeted areas, but maybe in the long run sending to a targeted list that gets better response rates is more cost effective.

Thanks for your thoughtful reply

5

I would look at the ROI, but I’m a simple numbers guy.

What is a lead worth to you on average and then look at the value of 2.5 leads vs the cost of 1000 flyers.
If there’s a decent ROI, sent out 10.000 instead :wink: If the ROI isnt good, get hold of some better lists.

(Not saying you cant do both, but if mailblasts are making you a decent profit, keep going!)