Pizza man 1984: I recently distributed 1,250 door hangers in one section of my delivery area. The offers are very good, and a menu is included, but I only got back 16 during the next week. Does it usually take several weeks to build momentum with door hangers, or is this a typical response?
jokergerm: Door hangers are slow to build sales, but they can be effective over time.
jerseydevil1977: Hanging in apartment complexes works really well if you can get into them (many complexes won’t allow handbills any more). With apartments, you’ll usually get a more immediate response after distribution. Houses are good for long-term customers, but you won’t get as quick a response. We will usually get a bump in sales after hitting multiple apartment complexes with just our menu and some coupons/deals tied to the menu. Good luck. It’s rewarding when it works, but it’s baffling when it doesn’t.
paul7978: This is why I send a refrigerator magnet out with each and every order—it helps keep my pizzeria on our customers’ minds. I pay around seven cents per magnet when I buy in bulk, and it’s well worth the investment.
Warren: Door hanging is cheaper than direct mail and yields a bigger return. I have three suggestions: 1) Create coupons that are good for six months or use coupons that have a blank expiration date, then change the date as needed with a rubber stamp. Stamp 1,000 or so at a time. The cost plummets when you order 10,000 or more; 2) Make your price point stand out on the printed piece so the customer can’t miss it. Go with figures like $7.99, $8.99 or $9.99—something they can see in less time than it takes to wrinkle the piece up and throw it in the trash; 3) Avoid offers like “$9.99 for any pizza.” Try offering a medium one-topping for $7.99 or a large one-topping for $9.99. You need to give your customers value, but if you groom them to only order when they get a price so cheap that you lose your shorts, you will be forever chasing the next deal-shopper like a hamster in a wheel; and 4) Hang in the same area three or four times in three weeks, then move on to the next area. We found that, the more times we hung in an area, the better the response, at least until the third or fourth time.
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