A campaign effectiveness study conducted by Quadrangle for Royal Mail identified six characteristics of successful direct mailings

1. Use a customer database
   In the case of business to business (B2B) mailings, a bought list is particularly likely to increase success rates. 
   
   
2. Good quality data
   Those undertaking a business to consumer (B2C) campaign can increase their response rates by 50% simply by using good quality data. B2B campaigns with above-average data quality can boost responses by between 20% and 50% more than the norm.
   
   
3. Be creative
   Mailings with a strong creative element can more than double the average response rate.
   
   
4. Cash vs creativity
   Budget is less critical than creativity. However, low-cost mailings (less than 60p per piece of direct mail) have been shown to perform poorly.
   
   
5. Integration
   B2B DM campaigns benefit from integration with wider marketing activity.
   
   
6. Call to action
   Consumer mailings will improve their success rates by using a call to action to drive people to a website or to request information.

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