The postcard I am talking about had many of the things that should be on a direct mail piece, including photos and a map of the location, images of the business owner, contact information, etc. What really threw me was the image of the Chapel at the funeral home (similar to the image here) as well as three different "Funeral Packages" and pricing for each, incluuding a Traditional Funeral, A Complete Memorial Service with Cremation, or a Complete Direct Cremation With a Wood Urn. (prices ranged from around $1800 up to around $3500 in case you were curious)
In their defense, there is also a message for converting other Pre-Need plans to one associated with their business. Solicitation for pre-need funeral is a fantastic idea using direct mail. It allows you to target the right audience, offer peace of mind to make all arrangements before a time of loss, etc. But the amount of space dedicated to this was about the size of two postage stamps, clearly not the main focus. It was clearly trying to sell Funerals. The worst part was that they used a resident file - which offers some great discounts on postage, but allows almost no targeting to ensure you reach your target audience.
Are they hoping to reach a large group of people that just suffered a loss? Or do they expect people to save the postcard and call them in the future when their spouse dies? The whole thing just seems to miss the mark for me. How will they measure the success of this piece? Number of phone calls, number of funerals?
I think a better approach would be to leave off the pricing, and focus on the beauty and service offered by the location, along with the ease of doing business with them. After all, does anyone really price compare when planning a funeral? Or is it more about getting through a difficult time with nice people, in a beautiful setting to create a positive memory of the event?
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment