Does the type of postage that you use affect your response rate?

There is a suspicion that it does, but there is no real evidence that this is so.  When research was undertaken on questionnaires it was found that questionnaires sent via air mail or special delivery did indeed get a higher response rate, but otherwise there was no difference.  The situation seems to be the same with direct mail.

As we have seen elsewhere, most people open their direct mail no matter what, so the most you can hope for by using first class instead of mailsort 3 is that a few more open the mail, and those who do open it do so with an extra interest in your product.

But this is not proven - it is just a suggestion, and the extra cost of using a higher class of postage is quite high for such a supposition.

The only point to remember about mailsort 3 is that it is a very unreliable service in terms of delivery date.  The mail can arrive two days later or two weeks later.   What happens is that local delivery offices tend to bunch the mail - sending out all their mailsort 3 post together on a set day, when there is little else to deliver.   So your mail might go flying through the system, or sit waiting.

This tends not to happen with first and second class post, or with mailsort 1 and 2, all of which have much tighter deadlines.  So if time is of the essence, avoid mailsort 3.  Otherwise, it seems to make sense to use the lowest cost mailing system available to you.

Free analysis of your mailshot

This article is written by Tony Attwood, Chairman of Hamilton House Mailings Ltd.  If you would like to discuss the writing or design of your mailing campaign, or indeed a single mailshot, with Tony, without cost or obligation, just call 01536 399 000, or email Creative@hamilton-house.com   You can also send Tony a copy of your latest advert and he will call you back with his thoughts on how your response rate could be raised - again without cost or obligation.