it depends on your target....direct mail is target marketing....if done consistently,  you'll get good results.... there is no answer to how many responses.... the greater the database, the greater the chance of a good return....if you're mailing to 200 homes, you're wasting your money.... I do many different targets....my land target pays off well.... several responses with every MONTHLY mailing.

Good Morning Nilgun, looks like Praful stole my thunder.  Just contact Barbara Todaro, take her advice and run with it.  

Nilgun,

the best way for you to learn a lot, and I mean A LOT about successful direct marketing, would be to visit Barbara Todaro blog and read her advice.

Nilgun,

It all depends on the marketplace.  It can't be done just once and then you disappear.  Your return is depended on your messaging, and if your target market is well thought out.  Like everyone else, I suggest you read Barbara Todaro 's blog.  A

Hello Nilgun -- no one knows more about direct mail in ActiveRain than Barbara Todaro in my opinion.   If you don't already follow her, I suggest you do so immediately and take advantage of her exceptional and FREE advice.  You'll be glad you did.    

Nilgun Foley - there are ways in which you can get much better response on Direct Mail - it has to be done RIGHT! Ask Barbara Todaro - she is an expert at this and gets excellent return on investment on direct mail!

I would order a custom list that delineates the income level you want. Remember it takes repeated mailings to really get leads - unless you're very lucky.

It needs to be carefully planned. Remove all realtors & recent owners names off the list-to save $ and avoid competition.

A combination of mailing, for sale signs, door knocking will produce amazing results. I preorder postcards when it is on sale to lock in the low rates and mail out when appropriate. I am getting an inquiry is less than your rate(.3%). 

It is the cost of doing business. Expensive as is. if you don't market then you have even less business.   

One brand new agent in No Cal(SF Bay area) took rookie training class. She started mailing. In 6 months she started getting 1st listing.  After 1 year she did $50-90M sales a year. Secret: 3 to 5,000 cards per 2 weeks, year end newsletter showing her report card & free staging.

Like Barbara said, it depends. I find that the minimum that should be mailed is 300. Expect maybe 1.5% response rate, which means you might get 4.5 inquiries. Sometimes I will get none from 300 right away, but I'll get calls a few months down the road because they saved my post cards. Also, it depends on your target communities. I know some neighborhoods with 200 homes, but only 1 or 2 people per year sell. In another nearby neighborhood of 200 homes, 6-9 people have sold every year. So of course I mail to the neighborhood with the highest turnover.

Nilgun Foley, I agree with Barbara Todaro. I have one neighborhood I work where I get a GREAT response. The last mailing I did had around 140 names in it. Initially, I got eight or nine positive responses and got around 12 listings from it. (One owner had more than one property.) I still get calls from this mailing after a full year has gone by. I need to do the mailing again and add a few more "targets."

One of the reasons this mailing works so well is that it is in a neighborhood that I already dominate. I often get comments that "your signs are everywhere." I also get comments on my website that is dedicated to this neighborhood. I am also making more sales in the neighborhood.

Another factor is that the 140 names in my mailing have been "cherry picked" to the BEST properties in the neighborhood. That means that when I sell listings they sell at higher prices than other agent's listings because I started with the best properties.

We mail B'day cards, home anniversary cards and Christmas cards.  It keeps us in front of our data base.

In Denver there is less and less direct mailing, so our ROI is higher, and usually get several calls/listing opportunities off 500 count mailing.

You have to target your recipients and you should see a much higher response rate. Follow Barbara Todaro 

I think that the content of these mailings will determine your response.

I am not a fan.

Barbara nailed this one!

It can get you more than just a small percentage of responses if you have a value message or some intriguing call to action with a promise of something of value.

In 15 years if I got 3 responses from 1,000 mailings, Donald Trump would be my next door neighbor.

Thank You for asking this question.   I wondered about this topic my self and found the answers helpful.

Your response depends on the quality and content of the mailing. 

In our neighborhood, we receive multiple post card market reports from a number of agents. Most of them are well done and it would be hard to select an agent based on mailings alone.