What to test

In his book, Secrets of Successful Direct Mail, Dick Benson states, “Any idea you honestly believe can economically increase response is worth testing.”

The key words are “economically increase response.” But what is economical? Typically, the more dramatic a change you make in a package, the more dramatic the difference in results.

For example, when you need a breakthrough, test the components that have the greatest influence on the mailing’s success—lists, offer, format and copy. Forget about testing minor changes on page three or the color of the return envelope. Test big things for big results.

However, for clients mailing larger volumes, “tweaking” the control for incremental gains often makes sense.

For example, Client A and Client B both have an average response rate of 1%, with a $25 average transaction. Both test a new package that lifts results by 10%. The only difference is that Client A has an annual mailing volume of 1 million pieces. Client B mails 10 million pieces every year.

For Client A, with its smaller mailing volume, this 10% lift means an annual difference of $25,000 in income. But for client B, the same 10% lift means $250,000 in additional income.

While the smaller client might appreciate an extra $25,000 to spend, it is probably not going to have a major impact on the organization—especially after accounting for test costs. On the other hand, a quarter of a million dollars is “adult money.”

But whatever you decide to test, do the math first. Even if the test beats your control, it won’t make sense if it takes too long to recover your test costs or requires an unobtainable rate of response.

When to test

The best time to test is when you have a successful control. A too-common mistake is to delay testing new concepts because “our control is still working.” By this reasoning, you wouldn’t test new concepts until the control takes a dive, and this is a disaster for cash flow. You may even find that it’s time to update your résumé, because there’s not going to be enough cash flow to make payroll.

Instead, test from strength, not weakness. Virtually every mailing is an opportunity to test. However successful your control is, and however long it’s been the control, it can be improved.

How much to test

When deciding how many pieces to test, the important thing isn’t how many pieces you mail with your test package. What’s important is how many responses you get back.

Your test volume should be no fewer than the number you need in order to produce statistically reliable results. Mathematicians using formulas I won’t even pretend to understand tell me that as few as 39 responses can be statistically valid with a 90%–95% probability of accuracy. Personally, I’m more comfortable with closer to 100 responses.

You can use an online calculator to tell you how much to mail, but the concept is easy. Just take the control’s response rate and see how much you need to mail in order to produce 100 responses. For example, with a 1% response rate, you would need to mail 10,000 pieces to produce 100 responses.

As a rule of thumb, you’ll want to limit your total test volume to no more than 20%–25% of the total mailing. This way, if the test fails, the returns from your control will help absorb the loss and preserve the operating budget.

Smart testing

Testing is essential to profitable direct mail, but we need to test smart. Evaluate the success of the test based on its rollout cost, but always do the math first and make sure you can pay back your full test costs in a reasonable time.

And remember Dick Benson’s advice and test only what you honestly believe can economically increase response.

Direct mail isn’t a complicated business. If you can get more people to read further into your letter, you’re going to achieve a greater response.

Successful direct mail is a conversation that motivates the reader to take a specific action. If we can get the prospect to listen more, or in our case read further along in our letter, we’ll have a greater chance of getting them to take the desired action.

Here are 18 proven ways you can increase readership of your direct mail letters and achieve a more profitable mailing campaign.

1. Make the letter look like a letter. Practically everyone is going to recognize it as a “mass mailing” but create the perception of a personal letter.
2. Include a salutation. You wouldn’t start a conversation without a greeting so include a salutation with your letter. And assign title codes. There is nothing more impersonal tan “Dear Mr. Tom Jones.” (Even if you only have title codes for half your prospects, use them. Getting 50 percent right is much better than 100% wrong.)
3. You’re writing one letter to one person. Good direct mail is an “I” to “you” medium. Not “us” and “we’s.”
4. Sell benefits, not features. You may be proud of what you’re selling but the letter isn’t about you. Write about what’s important to the reader and show them the benefits of responding.
5. Use wide margins and double space between paragraphs. And don’t justify your right margins. Flush left, ragged to the right.
6. Use a serif type for your letter copy – Georgia, Courier and Times Roman are examples. (Serif type has the little “feet” at the bottom and is proven to enhance reading flow and reduce eye strain which is why your newspaper, magazines and published books use serif type.) Graphic designers seem to love sans serif type – Arial, Helvetica and Verdana are examples – but save it for headlines and things you don’t want read like disclosures.
7. Typically, the letter’s first paragraph and the P.S. at the end of the letter get the most attention. Use these areas to capture the reader’s attention and tell them the benefits of responding.
8. Remember, you’re trying to communicate, not impress. Write in a conversational style as if you were speaking face-to-face and if this includes incomplete sentences, the use of contractions or a preposition at the end of a sentence, so be it. As a rule of thumb, if you can’t spell a word or need to look up its meaning, don’t use it.
9. Use your words to create an image for the reader. If the reader can see himself or herself in the situation you create, they’ll take an interest and read on. It’s like selling a house. When you hear the prospective buyers talking about where the sofa will go, you know you’ve got them. Same thing here. With your words, let the reader picture how they’ll benefit by responding today.
10. Use an involvement device – surveys, petitions, punch-out tokens, samples of cloth, address labels, greeting cards, CDs – anything you can use to get the reader involved will increase readership and response.
11. Keep your paragraphs short. You want to vary your paragraph length to keep your copy interesting and flowing. But as a rule of thumb, limit each paragraph to no more than five lines.
12. Always indent your paragraphs. Eye-camera studies show that indented paragraphs “catch” the eye moving down the page and make the letter more readable.
13. Single space the letter. Double space between paragraphs.
14. Don’t end a page with a complete sentence. Look at your newspaper. To finish practically any article, you have to turn the page and that’s exactly what you want the reader to do with your letter – keep reading toward the final call to action.
15. When using abbreviations, always spell the word out when first used. For example, rather than beginning a letter with “ACLU.” you would write, “American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). You’ll lose all momentum if the reader must turn back to the start of the letter to understand what you’re talking about.
16. Remember, as a direct mail copywriter you’re a salesperson competing for the reader’s time. Get to the point and stay with it.
17. When using “handwritten” notes in the margin and/or underlining, be sure the letter signer uses the same pen used to sign the letter. This is one letter, written by one person, to one other person. Make it believable.
18. Use nothing smaller that 10-1point type (except for disclaimers) and for an older audience, you’ll want to use a larger 12-point type.

As direct mail copywriters, we can’t close the sale without getting the prospect to read our letter. Use each of these proven 18 tips to increase readership and you’ll see a positive impact with your response.

The response device is one of the most important components of the mailing. After all, it’s used to complete the sale.

Yet too often, the response device is the last thing we get to when creating the package. Consequently, it’s rushed and doesn’t get the attention it deserves.

We work hard to make sure our envelope design grabs the reader’s attention. And we work and rework our letter copy until we get the reader fired up and ready to part with their money. Unfortunately, the sale is often lost once the reader gets to the response device. Either it’s too confusing, too complicated or it lets them forget why they wanted to respond in the first place.

To help keep this from happening, here are 18 Proven Ideas for a Better Reply Device. You don’t need to test any of these ideas.  Just be sure they are all included when you design your next mailing.

18 Proven Ideas for a Better Reply Device

1. Include one. Make it easy for the respondent to reply. And show them know that a reply is expected.
2. Write the response device before you write the letter. This will force you to describe the offer, benefits and call to action in a brief, concise and easy to understand fashion which, in turn, will help you write a better letter.
3. Title it. And consider your wording. Acceptance Form is better than Application Form because “application” implies possible rejection. Savings Certificate is even better. Some believe that just adding the term “Certificate” to the response device’s title will increase results.
4. Put the recipient’s name, address, and mail code on the reply form – not on the back of the return envelope. And don’t make the recipient write their own name and address. This slows things down and gives the recipient time to reconsider their action.
5. Include the name and mailing address of the organization — the person who is waiting for your reply. Even if they lose the return envelope, the recipient will still be able to reply. While part of the package, the reply should be able to withstand the test of a stand-alone device.
6. Repeated the benefits promised in the letter.
7. Show a guarantee. The reply form is the prospect’s last opportunity for resistance and a guarantee will help overcome this reluctance.
8. Speak in the first person. The reply is the recipient writing back to the letter writer.
9. Tell the reader exactly what to do. (I’m enclosing my check for…”  Note:  the speaker has changed from the letter.)
10. Tell the reader who to pay their check payable to. And it’s “Make Your Check Payable. . .” not “Your Checks.” Then, tell the reader what to do with the check (put it in the enclosed postage-free envelope and mail it back today).
11. For fundraising, list specific asking amounts on the reply form. And when possible, show what these asking amounts will accomplish. ($15 will help seven children receive life-saving vaccines.)
12. Again, for fundraisers, test odd asking amounts – if you can explain the odd amount. For example, “$15.50 will help nine children…”
13. Make sure it stands out. Your reply device should pass the “drop it on the floor test” and be easily identifiable from the other package components.
14. The reply is an action device. Use warm, action colors.
15. Make it easy to use. The type should be no smaller than 10 point – and larger if you’re writing to seniors.
16. When the reader must make choices, use check-off boxes. But don’t give them too many choices. This is when you want them responding, not thinking.
17. Make sure the reply device fits into the return envelope.
18. If you have a tear-off stub on the response device, use it to recap the benefits and guarantee — or even as a free bookmark.

I’m a great believer in testing. However, each of these 18 ideas have been tested and retested. Ignore them at your own risk.

This is Part 2 of the findings of an extensive series of eye-camera tests conducted by Professor Siegfried Vogele of the Institute for Direct Marketing in Munich, West Germany. The tests traced eye movements as thousands of men and women opened and read all types of direct mailings and, at the same time, studied emotional reactions by observing body and hand movements.

Once your reader opens the envelope, they take no longer that 11 seconds to decide whether to read your letter or trash it

During this 11-second preview, Professor Vogele found that the reader’s eyes fix only on pictures and headlines — never on the body copy.

The Professor’s findings demonstrated that illustrations play a greater role in determining how the recipient reads your direct mail than any other graphic device.

Before any word of text is even noted, the reader’s eyes will be pulled to photographs and/or drawings. And by understanding the affects of graphics on eye flow, we can boost response rates by directing our reader’s attention to our most powerful sales copy.

How to use illustrations

• Large pictures will get attention before smaller pictures.
• Color pictures will be noted before black-and-white pictures.
• Warm colors attract attention before middle tones or cooler colors.
• A sequence of pictures will be noted before individual pictures.
• Action illustrations will be seen before still pictures.
• Pictures with people will be looked at before pictures of products.
• Children will attract attention before adults.
• Portraits will gain attention before full pictures of people.
• Eyes will be the first thing focused upon.
• Most often, a larger group of people will gain attention before a smaller group.
• Outline illustrations will generally be noted before square halftones.

Focusing the reader’s attention

• A reader will typically follow the direction in which eyes in the illustration are focused.

• When an object within an illustration “points,” the eyes will generally flow in that direction. For example, in an illustration of a model wearing a man-style tie, the eyes of readers follow the tie right down to its pointed end.

• Place captions as close to pictures as possible. Captions should always be below or to the right of an illustration, not above or to the left.

Expand what the reader sees

On two-page spreads, the inside of a folded brochure, for example –put your strongest picture as far to the left as possible.

Why? In most cases, eye flow begins at the upper right of a two-page spread and continues in a sideways “U” like this – . Typically, however, the eyes stop just to the left of the gutter between the two pages and then exit at the lower right.

To expand the reader’s scan of the entire page:

• Put a “commanding” illustration at the far left. It will draw the reader’s eye and expand the viewing area allowing the reader to see more of the left-hand page.

• You can get similar results by placing color pictures to the left with black-and-white pictures to the right. Warmer colors draw the reader’s eye to the left and they will see more of your message.

• If you have pictures with and without people, put the people pictures to the left and they will encourage the eyes to go in that direction.

But be careful not to place an eye-grabbing illustration at the lower right. It will draw the eyes immediately to the exit position of the page and reduce the amount of attention given to your entire presentation.

Shapes

Vogele’s eye-camera studies also show how shapes affect readership.

• 80 percent of readers will go to a vertical shape before a horizontal shape.
• Even more eye compelling is a diagonal shape.
• Readers generally note circled areas before square-cornered ones.
• Closed shapes are observed before partially open shapes. People typically read copy within a border before “open” text.
• “Bursts” get immediate attention, but they can often be distracting by re-attracting the eyes and drawing the reader’s attention from the copy that you want them to read.

Without graphic elements to draw the eye, reading generally follows the classic pattern of left to right, top to bottom. But when we add eye-compelling graphic elements to the page – and understand how to use them to draw the reader’s attention to our most powerful sales message – the result is often a welcomed boost to our response rates.