Be different,
Be continuous

Doubling Response Rates

Hamilton House is dedicated to doubling the response rates of its customers through using email, postal direct mail, web sites and blogs. 
We achieve this through giving our customers 

• The right message
• The right medium
• The right market
• The right design and layout

If you would like to read more about how we double response rates by paying attention to via the message, the medium, the market.

The right message
It is always tempting to write an advertisement in which you describe your product or service and invite the customer to buy.  After all, how can the customer be persuaded to buy, unless he/she knows what you sell. 

But perversely this approach tends to work far less well than approaches in which a lot more time is given over to grabbing attention, and dealing with the issues that your product deals with.

Of course we don’t expect you to take our word for it – and many of our customers start by doing a small mailing testing their preferred approach with our approach, just to see what works. 

In order to help explain how we work, we offer a free introductory service.  You simply email us a copy of your current or last advert, and we’ll call you back and talk through how we might have changed your advert had we been involved.  There’s no obligation and no charge for this service.

The right medium
It is important to make the right choice of medium – whether it is email, postal direct mail, the internet, blogs or a word of mouth approach.  Sometimes it is a good idea to start with a particular medium, sometimes it is worth using several in combination, such as when you email first, then send out a postal mailing, and then complete the sequence with an email.   We often have special offers to help our customers experiment with these approaches that can be very successful.

Obviously each medium has its own benefits.  Email is ideal if you have a web site that you want to send people to, while direct mail may be the best if you have a catalogue to send out.  Blogs are a great way to get double benefits from your email and postal advertisements.  We are always pleased to give advice on this.

For details of which media is right for you, please call and we’ll be pleased to talk this through.

The right market
It may seem obvious who you want to reach, but there can be difficulties.  For example, there can be issues as to who you want to reach within a company, a university or a school.   Some lists are not always immediately available, but can be found with a small amount of research, or by diverting the message via another party.

The right design and layout
It may seem hard to believe but where you put a headline on a page can have a huge impact on your response rate.  It is also a fact that putting a headline in the right font on an email can improve response rates dramatically. 
Likewise, research shows that the length of the paragraph, the opening words of each paragraph, and even the clusion of a PS on a letter can greatly enhance the chances of making a sale.

Further research on colours, illustration, and indeed everything else that might have on a page also shows that tiny changes can make a great diffiercence.   After 30 years in direct marketing Hamilton House has collected all the relevant information and research, and we are always happy to share this with our customers, whether we write for them, or they construct their own campaigns.
If you would like to know more about any of these topics please call 01536 399 000.   There is also more information on http://www.mailings.org.uk/