The last two months of mailings have yielded some of the best response rates so far. I’m very excited about this and even more so because the quality of the responses have been good as well. I have been concentrating my direct mail towards Out of State owners and areas where Lance and I have been driving around and recording addressed of houses that look to have investment potential (I call these Driving for Dollar leads).
Out of State Owners
The Out of State owner lists have given me the best return for my time and money. My very first mailing ever I got a 25% response rate which was crazy! I didn’t expect to get that every time, and as you’ll see I didn’t. I have yet to be able to notice for sure which type of towns have given me the best return, but it’s definitely trending towards the lower end (Level 2 and 3). Take a look…
Driving For Dollars
Pretty much every weekend, lance and I pick a town and drive it to find houses that would be good investment properties. It’s not rocket science, as we write down any house that has more deferred maintenance then the rest of the neighborhood or looks vacant. Sometimes I’ve got to drive 90 minutes from my home to find a good area. The best areas are those where you will write down an address every 2 minutes.
Here is the response rate that I’ve gotten from these lists so far…
Conclusion
I’ve been averaging about 10% response rate so far between the two list types. I’d actually like to see if I can improve the rate for both. I’ll see if I can modify the letter or the envelope a bit to attract more interest. I don’t want to tweek it to much however, just a word here and there to see if it makes a difference. It’ll be easier to know which change made the biggest difference if I use small changes.
I’ve actually gotten a better response rate then the 10%. There are about 10 calls that people just hung up and didn’t leave a message. Also there are 8 messages that I could not make out the name or address spoken in the message and have yet to be able to speak to them to clear up the information.
So if those 18 additional responses where factored in, my percentage would be 12%
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Comments 7
That’s an excellent response. What type of letters and envelopes are you using? My response rate was less the 1% this month.
Jason
My letters are very short and to the point. I pretty much just ask if the lead is interested in selling their house, and if so call me. As for the envelope, it’s a 6 3/4 size. I add some additional things to the outside of the envelope to make it stand out as well.
Wow. That’s an excellent response rate. I am also curious to know what your letters say and which envelopes you are using.
Danny
I’m debating whether or not to put that information out there. If people start doing the same thing as me, my letter won’t stand out.
Hey, are you the person with the post on REIClub forums about “building back up to 30 deals a year”? I’ve been meaning to read that thread. How’s it going?
Yes. Sorry it took a while to respond. I thought I checked to get follow ups. Guess I didn’t.
Things are going great. The build up of marketing has started to pay off and I’m landing deals again. Just got another one yesterday.
I can understand about debating whether to give out that info as I struggle with it as well. I enjoy your blog and like the idea of marketing Mondays.
Hey Scott… Here are some numbers from my current campaigns…
Yellow Letters. Hand written style computer font for the letter. True hand written outer envelope (invitation size). Mailed to pre-foreclosures as soon as the NOD hits. = 4.5%
Postcards. Click2Mail.com. Florescent yellow. 2 rounds out of an 8 round campaign. Mailed to absentee owners. Results are getting better as we send out each round. = 1%
I’ve got a sweetheart deal I’m negotiating right now. Free and clear home. Lead came from postcards.
Those are pretty good numbers, especially the 4.5% from pre-forclosures. I never got much of a return on the yellow postcards though.
Keep us updated on the deal you are working on!