BMV Property Marketing

Next week we’ll be commencing our first BMV direct mail split test consisting of a small sample of leads across the country. The idea is to refine and establish which methods of direct mail generate the most

a) Calls

b) Qualified Deals

Each group will contain 200 leads split over various postcodes, targeted through the following methods:

1) Self Mailer
Spec: A5, 280gsm Double Sided Full Colour Self Mailer (stamp and address on reverse, message on the front with a clear telephone number & URL for further info)

Message: Stop Repossession Now / Quick Cash Purchase Available

Theory: Lack of envelope means message is seen instantly - overcomes ‘mail opening procrastination’ common when respondents are in debt

2) Personal Letter in C5 Window Envelope

Spec: A4, 100gsm Double Sided Full Colour Letter, in a C5 Windowed Envelope.

Message: Stop Repossession Now / Quick Cash Purchase Available

Theory: Self mailer may be disregarded as junk mail / not passed to homeowner. Envelope will possibly ensure safe passage.

3) Personal Letter in C5 Window Envelope (Soft Sell)

Spec: A4, 100gsm Double Sided Full Colour Letter, in a C5 Windowed Envelope.

Message: Introduce ourselves as a property buying company looking for properties in this area to buy for cash. No mention of repossessions.

Theory: Respondents approaching repossession are often sceptical at this stage of any who claims to have an ‘easy solution’. Soft Sell should generate more call volume out of general interest

Once we get the results (we’ll allow a window of 21 days), we’ll post them here, along with samples of each item used.

One of our clients owns a company that generates bmv leads with the intention of qualifying, packaging and selling these leads on to investors.

Without leads, she has no business, so her day to day activity was a frantic mix of random direct marketing activity. During our first chat, she gave the famous and now somewhat clichéd BMV marketing quote “we’ve tried leafleting and stuff but it didn’t really seem to work” At this point, her faith in basic grass roots marketing had clearly been lost, but this was merely down to not understanding the principles behind the golden number.

In below the line marketing (direct marketing using low profile media), there is always the principle of a golden number – i.e. you perform X actions Y times you get Z results. The Holy Grail is knowing your golden number for any particular marketing activity.

For example, if you print and distribute 10,000 leaflets for £700, you may receive 25 calls (new enquiries) in a week that came directly from seeing the leaflet. If you have an average conversion of 25 calls to 1 deal (removing deals that do not have enough equity, unrealistic asking prices etc) then your response rate is 0.25 % (25/10000) and your conversion rate is 0.01%.

If your average net profit after duties / fees / taxes per deal in that area is £25,000 then you can assume that this advert, generating 25 calls will make you £25,000

This simplistic example shows how it would work in an ideal world…but I’m sure we all know that this very rarely happens. Where disillusion begins to set in is if for example, you distribute 5000 leaflets rather than ten, or as it most often happens, print 10K but only distribute the first 5,000. Using the figures above, this would generate 12 calls but none of them ‘deal-worthy’ resulting in disappointment and often the disposal of the remaining 5,000 flyers.

There is no solution to getting to your golden number, but the two rules of ample time and a large enough sample will always help. Remember

• If leaflet dropping, research your sample area well. Avoid areas that have an abundance of student occupied or multi tenanted properties or large numbers of properties under £150K
• If using direct mail to a repossession list, use a sample large enough to get a realistic result – 50 - 100 is a good amount to start with to estimate a response.
• Don’t give up immediately - try to monitor your response over a period of at least 8 weeks.