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Target your audience. Where possible, identify the individuals in specific companies that are most likely to need your product or service. Make sure the list is accurate. If it is not, then send to the office holder, rather than an individual who may have long since departed. This way you’ll get your best sales lead. |
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Headlines are crucial. Use attention getting headlines such as:
3 days only / 50% off / Buy One - Get One FREE |
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The offer. Make a great offer. Customers want low prices, good quality, and terrific service. Price can often be important in the first instance. We had one company recently offer a Mazda MX 5’s on annual lease for less than £160 month! The results were excellent. |
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Go easy on the graphics. If you are going to use graphics try to use simple line drawings or photos converted to solids/lines. Standard half-tone photos will appear blurred and affect the look of your fax as well as slowing transmission. If you do, the incoming result will likely be a blob. |
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Try not to make your fax look too much like an ad. If you can get your fax to look like an article, memo, or editorial your response rate will likely increase. |
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Personalise the ad. This is not always possible. We have a database of around
400,000 companies and can provide
market classification for around 300,000. |
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Create a sense of urgency. Get your prospects to call now because if they don’t, your fax will soon be forgotten. Don’t delay – call today should be the thrust of your message. |
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Aim to get enquiries. Offer an incentive for people to call. It could be something like a Trip to Paris for £9.95. Such incentives will cost you very little, but have a high perceived value in the prospect’s eyes. Once a prospect has called, your salespeople can then explain the benefits of your product or service. For more information on suitable incentives go to
www.toptravelrewards.com. For higher priced items this ‘two-step’ approach is more effective and will attract more sales leads. |
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Create your own database. This way we can send you a full report on both successful and unsuccessful deliveries. If using our database we give you a summary report. |
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Use large, clear typefaces. If you want your fax to be read, don’t send it in 6 point. In fact try to keep at 12 point or above. Some companies seek to cram as much as possible into their fax document. As a result the response rate will likely be a lot lower than it might otherwise have been. Also, avoid thin serifs that will cause the typeface to disappear during broadcast. |
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Leave a generous margin. To ensure that nothing gets cut off we suggest you leave at least a ¾ inch margin on both sides, and 1-inch top and bottom. |
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Pay on a per page basis. Some fax broadcasting companies, particularly in the USA, charge on a per minute basis. If transmission times are slow your costs shoot up. In the UK it is more common to pay on a per page basis. |
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Don’t give up too early. A one-off fax shot is no more effective than a one-off letter or one time advert. You’ll get a few sales or leads, but miss a lot more business. Fax once a week, once a fortnight, once a month. And keep hammering with specific offers. In time you should start gaining a good number of business sales leads. |
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Test different headlines and formats. Don’t re-send the same fax marketing piece to the same list over and over (unless of course you get a great result each time). Test different headlines and formats to find the combination that provides the best response. You can even test during the same fax broadcast by sending half with one headline and the balance with another headline. |
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Timing is everything. For best response we suggest that you do your bulk faxing Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday during business hours. If these slots are full, Mondays after 10am, and Fridays before 3pm are other options. Try not to fax broadcast at night or over the weekend, as your fax will likely be buried in a pile of other faxes. |
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Remember the back-end. Your best prospect base is existing customers. Aim to fax them at regular intervals with new or special offers. It always costs more to acquire a new customer. |
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Be aware of the LIFETIME VALUE OF THE CUSTOMER. This is a concept that not many people understand. If you send out a fax broadcast costing £250 and attract £200 worth of business you may consider the results a failure, but if the customer spends £200 every 2 months for the next 3 years then that’s £3,600 worth of business and it doesn’t take into account any referrals that may have been given by the happy customer along the way which may produce another £3,600 worth of business. |
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Make it easy for people to contact you. Include your phone number as well as your fax number. Perhaps also your email address and web address. |
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Make it easy to be removed. This is a golden rule of fax broadcasting. You should always provide a number (and it should not be a premium rate number) that recipients can call. We can provide you with a local rate fax removal number to go on the bottom of your fax. There is a nominal charge for this service. |
