Three Quick Tips to Smooth DM Production

Three Quick Tips to Smooth DM Production

April 18, 2006

By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor

When it comes to making the direct-mail production process smoother, the following three tips are a good start, says David Hazeltine, president and CEO of Boston-based full-service direct-marketing agency Yellowfin Direct Marketing.

1) Make sure that you see proofs. Hazeltine says that printers often will send the organization PDFs, which it can print and proof, but the problem is that the colors often are not exact. "Oftentimes PDF proofs are provided to save time, but I think it's still advisable to get a hard-copy proof when possible," Hazeltine says. "Once [the document] goes to production, sometimes it's a mistake to take the short-cut route and just get a PDF printer's proof because it isn't as representative a sample of the printed product as a real old-fashioned printer's proof."

2) Get a live mail sample. Hazeltine says it's important for organizations to ask their mail houses or agencies to send them a finished sample of the mailing to approve before the drop. "Some nonprofits or clients leave it up to the printer," Hazeltine says. "Once they see printer's proofs, they basically say, 'Call me when it's in the mail.'"

Once the package is trimmed and folded and inserted, Hazeltine says he insists that clients receive a live mail sample. "We pull one live sample and send it to the client overnight and have them inspect it so they get a mailpiece almost as if they're getting it in their mailbox and pull it out of the envelope, make sure it's folded the way they expected it would be, that the envelope colors match the form colors so they're not getting any surprises after it's too late."

3) Test. When in doubt about whether it could save money on production, an organization should test, Hazeltine says. But, he says, when testing, organizations should be more concerned with the overall effectiveness of the mailpiece and not just focus on the costs. "Oftentimes the additional expense of color or a closed-face envelope vs. a window envelope will raise the response far more than enough to justify the extra expense," Hazeltine says.

"Test up. Test more expensive," he adds. "Don't let cost consciousness drive your mail. You want to test for effectiveness and the best ROI. A lot of [organizations] will always try to get the best ROI, but they are always constantly trying to save money as well, and most of the time the more expensive production elements will raise the response enough to easily justify them."

David Hazeltine can be reached via http://www.yellowfindirect.com