You can make an educated guess, but there is no formula to forecast the results of a mailing.

Think about it - if a Pizza Restaurant mails out 5000 postcards, would the response rate be the same as a Dentist who mails 5000 postcards?

There are probably a lot more folks ready to eat a pizza than to have a tooth pulled. The good news for the Dentist is that he doesn't need as many responses to make his mailing cost effective.

Here are just few of the things that can affect response rates:

• The Product or Service Offered

• Competition

• Reputation

• Time of Year

• Special Offers

• The Weather

• The Mailing List

• Political Events

• Postcard Design

So what can you do?

You can:

A) Track Response Carefully
Whatever your response rate - it can be improved.

B) Fine Tune Your Message Accordingly
Keep track of what works and get rid of what doesn't.

C) Mail Regularly
Over time, you will find that response rates will become predictable.