It wasn’t too long ago that door drops were seen primarily for takeaway menus from your local pizza place or Chinese restaurant. Where these places would blindly canvas the local area and hope for the best. However, PSE is seeing this trend stepping aside for a highly targeted, precise and cost-effective form of marketing that many brands are starting to utilise to its full abilities. In this blog post, we will explore the world of door drops and how to use them correctly to drive your company forward.
At a glance
- What are Door Drops?
- Door Drop facts
- Utilising incentives
- Improving your targeting
- Creating the perfect Door Drop strategy
What are door drops?
Door drops were historically thought of as a blunt tool. A bit like using a sledgehammer for keyhole surgery blanketing an entire area with the same message trying to convert people.
Traditionally the primary industry that used them was the fast-food/takeaway industry, sending cheap, mass-produced leaflets to thousands of homes in a local area. You know those pizza menus that usually go straight into the recycling.
These menus were traditionally delivered by teams of distributors sometimes even by the people who work at the restaurants to keep costs a low as possible. This is possible because door drops do not use any personal data whatsoever not even addresses, making them totally GDPR compliant.
Door Drop facts
- On average, door drops are kept and remain in the home for 5.4 days, with 14% of them remaining present for over 28 days.
- Mail is generally remembered by customers with research showing it has 35% better recall than social media advertising and 49% more than email.
- Research carried out between 2012 and 2016 showed that 90% of campaigns that included door drops saw an increase in new customers, compared to 59% of those without.
- Additional research also shows that integrated campaigns, including door drops, achieved +18% more frequency, and +7% more reach. This means adding door drops to your overall campaign strategy can help to ensure more customers see and absorb your message.
Incentives
As door drops have no addresses, there are many different ways you can deliver your door drop campaign. There are companies that specialise in leaflet distribution that can deliver these for you. However, why not take advantage of Royal Mail’s pre-existing network and the incentives that they offer. The incentives vary, and new limited-time incentives get added periodically. Below are some of the incentives that are available at time of writing (July 2020)
- NEW USER – If you are new to door drops, you can save 10% of the rate card price.
- TEST & LEARN – If you are innovating and testing a new format, technology (such as QR codes) among other options, you can save a staggering 15% off the rate card price.
- TACTICAL – New/established users seeking short term campaigns to bolster core bookings or to test can save 15% off the rate card.
As we said previously, incentives get added periodically. Get in touch here to find out more.
Targeting with door drops
The targeting of door drops has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years. Targeting is now more accessible and more accurate than ever before. You can target the types of customers you most want, either on a local or national scale. And you can select from almost 30 million households across the UK, choosing the location or demographics of the people you want to reach. You can find people within driving distance of a specific location or from particular demographic groups (e.g. age, location, household consumption, etc.). Door drops can be a cost-effective, impactful way of targeting the people you want to reach and you can take your pick of almost 30 million households.
There are multiple ways to target your door drop campaign.
Distance – You can target areas within a certain radius or drive time. Allowing those who are close to your store to receive your message. This method of targeting is perfect for store openings.
Location – If you know which area you would prefer to target, such as affluent areas. Postcode mapping allows you to select certain houses or regions.
Demographic – You can also break up your targeting by demographic using all the usual filters such as; age, household structure (married, etc.) and so on.
Other Targeting Tools – Use geo-demographic audience targeting tools like CAMEO and Experian to find households.
Mix it up – Use a combination of all the above to create a highly targeted campaign to ensure a high ROI.
Creating the perfect door drop campaign strategy.
Creating the perfect strategy is much like any other campaign. First of all, use the above targeting techniques to ensure that you are only going to be reaching people that your message will resonate with.
An important point to remember is how your door drop campaign will work in tandem with your other active campaigns. If your door drop is driving people to a landing page, ensure that the landing page is similar in tone, and design; otherwise, it could be offputting for customers.
Don’t forget about door drops strengths. Advertising with door drops is ideal for local services such as hotels, restaurants etc. Home-based products work perfectly as door drops go directly into the customers home where and when they consider home improvements. The final ideal advertising opportunity is personal interests and services. Therefore, messages from charities, financial services and lifestyle brands tend to see significant returns on investment.
When designing the door drop, remember that as there is no name and address. You need to work a little harder to catch the readers attention. Make sure your offer is eye-catching. It is usually a good idea to have the offer in a prominent place on the front page.
Don’t forget that door drops are a physical item. We would recommend using the highest-quality paper stock and print quality as your budget allows. Using high-quality paper stock and print will enforce the message that your brand is worth looking at. Plus will give the perception of luxury. The better quality will also make your piece stand out from those pizza menus.
Conclusion
As you can see, door drop campaigns are a cost-effective, versatile marketing channel. When used correctly, can make your brand stand out from the crowd and drive high returns. If you would like more advice on door drops, please get in touch with one of our marketing consultants here.
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