Your letter signer is a person with a story to tell. A story that may give you new ways to relate to your mailing’s recipients.

Successful direct mail is a conversation between two people – the letter signer and the mailing’s recipient.

The more information you have about the mailing’s recipient, the better the conversation you can have.

Knowing your Letter Signer’s Story Can Help Drive Results

It’s like going to a party and meeting someone new. You can captivate his or her attention for a few moments by talking about yourself. But if you want to hold their attention, you need to ask about their interests and direct the conversation toward them.

This is why successful copywriters study mailing lists.

Understanding the demographics, interests and history of the mailing’s recipients is the listening part of the direct mail conversation.

But your letter also has a voice. It’s the voice of the letter signer.

The copywriter speaks for the letter signer. And by taking time to understand the speaker’s background and experiences, the writer can provide new reasons for the reader to accept the letter signer as “one of us.”

Incorporating elements of the signer’s life and language into the copy builds creditability and trust. Plus, it builds interest that pulls the recipient into the letter and keeps them reading. And the longer the reader holds onto your letter, the more likely they are to respond.

For example …

• For an insurance offer, I learned that the letter signer had 7 children. Because people known to have children were a significant portion of our mailing lists, I dropped the traditional, more formal copy approach and wrote:

“… with 7 children of my own, I wonder what their future will be like once I’m gone. I like to think I’ve provided them with a good life, but …”

The copy went on to describe the policy’s benefits. But early in the letter, I gave readers a reason to identify with the letter signer.

Did it work? Pretests recorded 62% more responses for this personalized copy approach.

• For a membership organization of veterans, I could – and did – write about the benefits of membership. But by quickly mentioning the signer’s experiences at boot camp, readers – who were veterans themselves – saw they shared a common experience with the letter signer, and they responded.

Renewal rates improved by 79%.

Getting to know even the most basic facts about the letter signer can pay big dividends. It helps copywriters write a better story and adds credibility to your offer.

Typically, facts about the letter signer are easy to obtain. The best way is to ask for an interview. Otherwise, I ask for a biography. And if I can’t get that, there’s usually an abundance of information on the Internet.

Check the organization’s website first. If the letter signer is the head of a business unit or organization, you’ll usually find a brief biography. Then search for speeches, articles, interviews and commentaries.

Whatever you find, make note of any themes, phrases or personal experiences that you can use to build rapport with the reader. You’ll gain authenticity in the words you write and discover new stories to relate to your readers.

So as important as list selection is to your mailing’s success – and nothing is more important – take time to gather background information about your letter signer. It will give a more poignant, genuine touch to your copy and help drive results.

Your thoughts?

I’m a strong proponent of testing direct mail premiums. Why? Because they typically increase the mailing’s response rate and its net profit!

Take, for instance, those personalized address labels you receive in mailings. Practically all of us have a use for them. And as soon as we run out, we go looking for more.

Yes, they add to the mailing’s cost. But typically, they also spike the number of people responding, raise the average gift and increase the mailing’s net income.

Premiums work because of what Robert Cialdini, an emeritus psychologist at Arizona State University, calls the “rule of reciprocation.”

According to Cialdini, this is drilled into us as children. He says, “We are obligated to give back to others, the form of behavior that they have first given to us … Essentially thou shall not take without giving in return.”

In a restaurant, we tip the server based on the level of service provided. “But if there’s a mint on the tray,” says Cialdini, “tips go up 3.3 percent.” And those coffee mugs, backpacks and calculators promised to direct mail respondents – for both nonprofit and for-profit offers – all work to increase response.

When someone gives you something, or sends you something, you feel obligated to respond. It’s the rule of reciprocation at work.

Yet while premiums can increase the mailing’s net income, new studies indicate that they may harm the customer’s/donor’s long-term value.

Kevin Schulman of DonorVoice argues this point in a recent post titled “Non Profit Premiums Are Literally Crack Cocaine – the Why and How of Stopping the ‘Drug Trade.’”

Linking direct mail premiums to cocaine certainly grabs your attention. (You can find Kevin’s complete post here.)

Kevin’s point is that premiums, like cocaine, are addictive. His data indicate that “giving people premiums not only fails to deliver the long-term performance we require (long-term value) but, even more insidious, destroys the donor’s innate, natural motivation or incentive to donate.”

To support his findings, Kevin reports that in controlled experiments, scientists using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) found that premium offerings activate the same part of the brain and the same chemicals (dopamine) as does crack cocaine.

You could argue that activating this chemical reward is reason to use premiums. But two behavioral scientists at Yale University support Kevin’s argument by describing a series of experiments that show that in most circumstances, rewarding contributors with a premium cuts donations.

The Agitator, an online newsletter for nonprofit fundraising and marketing strategies, reported that the two Yale researchers, George Newman and Jeremy Shen, found “the counterintuitive effects of thank-you gifts on charitable giving.”

The Yale researchers discovered that the most likely reason for the negative effect on contributions was “crowding out.” In effect, the prospect of receiving a gift activated a feeling of selfishness, which, in turn, reduced altruism and consequently cut the average donation.

Kevin’s report and the findings of the two Yale researchers came to the same conclusion – offering a premium in return for a contribution can reduce a nonprofit’s income.

However, the Yale researchers did suggest several ways premiums can produce positive results. For example:

• Reframe the context. Describe the gifts as a means of furthering the organization’s goals. A tote bag with the organization’s logo, for example, could be offered as a way to spread the group’s message. (This approach ended the negative effect on long-term value, but it did not add to long-term value.) 

• Use a gift that sends a social message. As an example, an invitation to an exclusive group. 

• Surprise the donor. Separate the donation and the gift by sending the premium after the donation as a surprise “thank you.” This could leave a positive impression without crowding out the next appeal.

You can find The Agitator’s complete report here. But, as the article summarizes, its editors do not mean to suggest that premiums are all bad. They do suggest that we need to give more thought to their use.

This I agree with. In 30+ years, I’ve seldom seen a premium test that hurt the mailing’s net profit. But for me, the point of Kevin’s article and The Agitator’s post is that we need to start thinking more about long-term value.

Long-term value escapes the focus of too many organizations. As a society, we think short term and focus on the quarterly, or at best, annual returns. And it’s tough to criticize this thinking when annual return is how our salaries, commissions and royalties are decided.

You can also argue that for many organizations – especially those groups promoting an issue – cash flow is as important as long-term value. After all, you want to deliver your message to as many people as possible, and that takes cash.

Or if you’re trying to grow an organization quickly, cash flow will again take priority – at least temporarily – over long-term value.

And however good the science or behavioral studies, they can’t overrule the findings of a direct mail test.

But at a minimum, any organization that hopes to survive in the long term needs to evaluate the value of its donors acquired with a premium compared to those who came on board without a premium offer. I suspect the findings of each organization will be unique, but the effects of premiums on long-term value is a question each organization must answer.

Your comments?

Whether you’re a direct mail copywriter, an account executive, or a group manager, here are 5 things you’ll want to know when planning — or approving — a test mailing.

1. The mailing’s objective

 Not every direct mailer has the same needs so what makes sense for another mailer may not be advisable for you.

For example, some mailers may be content with tweaking the control with hopes for a 10% – 15% lift in results. Others need breakthrough results.

When you mail millions of pieces per year, beating the control by a few percentage points — or even by half of 1% — can mean big money. But a smaller mailer may need breakthrough results to justify the test costs.

Before you spend a dime to produce a test mailing, everyone needs to agree on what results the mailing needs to achieve before it can be considered a success and how quickly you need to recover your test costs.

 2. Does the proposed test have a chance of winning?

 Rather than become stuck in a “make it cheaper” mode, test adding features and benefits to your package. More often than not, you’ll increase profits by adding features and benefits to the package rather than by taking them away.

But before you commit to any test mailing, get the roll-out cost of each package and calculate how much it must improve results to beat the control.

It doesn’t make sense to test a package that requires an unrealistic rate of response to beat the control — or one that can’t recover its test cost in a reasonable time. (See How to Use a Pre-Event Routine for More Profitable Direct Mail Testing.)

 3. What makes a difference?

 Before you can determine whether the test mailing has a chance of beating the control, you need to understand how particular elements of the mailing can affect results.

Your mailing has 5 major components that affect results. In order of their influence on results — from most to least influential — they are the list, offer, format, copy, and timing.

Consequently, when you need a major breakthrough, test the components that have the greatest influence on the mailing’s success — the lists and the offer.

When you can afford to test for incremental gains, testing a new envelope teaser, formats, copy leads, graphics, and package inserts can have a positive effect on results. But when you need a breakthrough, focus on your lists and your offer. Nothing will make a bigger difference in your mailing’s success.

 4. When is the best time to test?

 The best time to test is when you have a successful control. Waiting for the control to fatigue before you begin testing can destroy your cash flow. Test from strength. However successful your control is, and regardless of how long it’s been the control, it can be beaten.

 5. How much to test?

 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.

But when deciding how many pieces to allocate for each test, keep in mind that the important thing isn’t how many packages you mail but how many responses you get back.

Your test volume should be no less than the number you need to produce statistically reliable results. Personally, I like to see 100 responses. But mathematicians say as few as 39 responses can be statistically valid with a 90% – 95% probability of accuracy.

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 many pieces 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 in order to produce 100 responses.

 Test smart

 Testing is essential to profitable direct mail but test smart. Don’t take shortcuts. Do the math first. Test things that matter most — lists, offer, copy, and format. And don’t be afraid to test things that increase your package cost.

Test smart and have the discipline to act on the results.

It’s said that the purpose of a direct mail letter is to sell, whereas the objective of a mailing’s brochure is to explain.

That said, many mailers seem to have a compulsion to include a brochure in their mailing. But before you join the rush, note that very few of us have mailings whose purpose is to “explain.”

For most of us, the objective is to increase the mailing’s net profit, and too often a brochure distracts the reader’s attention from responding.

Yet adding particular inserts to the mailing can increase response and – despite the added cost – increase the mailing’s net income.

Here are examples of 5 inserts that you should test.

As you’ll see, their purpose isn’t to explain but to enhance the value of the benefits offered and to reduce any reluctance the reader may have to respond.

1. Add an insert to emphasize your guarantee. The mailing’s recipients have plenty of reasons – real or perceived – not to respond to your offer, but a guarantee helps remove any hesitation that might otherwise jeopardize the sale. Featuring your guarantee in a separate insert – in addition to including it within the letter – draws attention to your promise for a good customer experience and can help drive profits.
2. Test an insert to promote your back-end premium. Premiums can motivate the reader to act and can increase the mailing’s net income. Using an insert to promote your premium can enhance its perceived value and give you the opportunity to describe its features fully. As an example, offering a free watch to respondents can motivate fence-sitters to act. But when you display the watch on a color insert and describe how “its quartz movement virtually guarantees dependable accuracy,” it becomes even more appealing to the reader. (If included in the letter, this level of detail can distract the reader from your reason for writing.)
3. Use your insert to add credibility to your appeal with testimonials or endorsements from a third party. Using direct quotes from real people is far more believable than any marketing message you can devise on your own. Nothing gets a prospect to believe in your product or service more than the words of other consumers.

You can include testimonials in your letter, but grouping a number of direct quotes – complete with full attribution of their source – on a separate insert will typically have a greater impact on results. Plus, featuring a number of testimonials on a separate insert can give the quotes added importance.

1. Test using an insert to expand the mailing’s offer. An insert is a great place to introduce additional benefits, discounts, and special privileges. You can do this in your letter, but using a separate insert to expand your offer commands more attention and increases its perceived value.
2. You can also use your insert to customize the offer to particular list segments. When production restraints prevent you from fully personalizing the letter, a personalized insert can provide a cost-effective method to customize your message to different market segments. You can offer different premiums, emphasize different benefits, or simply speak more directly to the needs and interests of the reader.

For example, in a recent mailing for an environmental group, I used a personalized insert to describe the organization’s ongoing projects within the recipient’s home state. I could have included this in the letter, but the detail I wanted to provide would have become a distraction if included in the letter.

When printing your insert, use a paper stock and size that are different from what you use for the mailing’s letter. This will make the insert stand out in the mailing, draw more attention to its message, and increase the number of people who read its content.

Inserts are a powerful, flexible, and cost-effective tool you can use to increase response and drive profits. Yes, they add modestly to your mailing costs, but typically you need only a small increase in response to justify their cost and increase net income – especially when you use the insert to sell rather than to explain.

When attempting to beat the control, the temptation is to focus on new copy. But testing new copy alone has far less potential to influence results than does making changes to the mailing’s offer.

Here are 10 easy ways you can increase direct mail response by revising your offer.

1. Offer something free. Your mailing can include an offer for free shipping, free financing, 3 months’ free membership, address labels, a bookmark, a decal, etc. On the back end, you can fulfill a nearly endless list of gifts – in all price ranges – for those who respond.


If you already offer a premium, test a new one. It doesn’t need to be expensive – or even relate to the organization’s mission – as long as it has a perceived value.

Unfortunately, many groups – and especially boards of directors – hate premiums, believing they cheapen the organization. But most donors and customers respond to them, and in my experience, when used properly a premium will increase the mailing’s net profit.

Some worry that if you acquire customers with a premium you’ll need to offer another premium to renew them. So what? The issue isn’t how
many premiums you give away but how many net dollars you generate.

If one premium is working for you, test offering two. And with back-end premiums, test including a separate insert to promote the free gift.

2. Provide a guarantee. If you can’t guarantee the buyer’s satisfaction, you shouldn’t be selling the product. Even a nonprofit can guarantee to use the donor’s money wisely or promise to refund the initial contribution if the donor ever becomes dissatisfied with the organization.

Few people will take undue advantage of a guarantee, so if you already offer one, make it stronger. Instead of a “1-Year Guarantee,” test a “3-Year Guarantee.” Or a “Lifetime Guarantee.”

Use the guarantee with your letter’s call to action, mention it in the P.S., and display it on the response form. And test a separate insert to promote the guarantee.

Guarantees overcome buyer resistance and should be included in practically every mailing. Consider them a revenue generator rather than an added cost of doing business. (See How a Guarantee Builds Direct Mail Profits.)

3. Turn your offer upside down. Typically, people respond better to an offer that helps them avoid losing something rather than to an offer that saves them money or protects what they already have. For example, if you say “Save $400 on your auto insurance,” test “You’re paying $400 too much for auto insurance.” And in fundraising, you can raise more money to defeat an enemy than you can to protect or elect a friend.You can sell a product at “50% off” or offer the reader the chance to “Buy one and get one free.” If you offer a product for “$24.99 plus $5 for shipping,” test selling it for “$29.99 with free shipping.” The cost is the same – to the mailer and to the recipient – but repositioning the offer can lead to a big difference in results.
4. Use specifics. Rather than offering to save the reader $400, test offering a savings of $398.43. It’s a smaller savings, but the specific dollar amount can attract more attention and gives the offer added credibility.When possible, avoid using percentages. What does it mean to save 25%? Instead, say “Save $19.” Rather than “Sixty percent of all consumers agree,” use “Three of every five consumers agree.” Use terms people can visualize.
5. Test new prices and/or asking amounts, and show how these amounts relate to the reason you’re writing. For example, rather than asking for $25 in a fundraising package, ask for $24.68 and show how the gift will feed 3 hungry families. (Document your claim.) When selling a product, test lowering $25 to $24.99. And as another test, consider increasing a $25 price to $29.99, because people often associate a higher price with better value.
6. Include a trial offer. Like the guarantee, a 30-day trial offer limits the prospect’s perception of risk. It implies less of a commitment than a purchase does and typically reduces the prospect’s concerns about responding.
7. Make the offer for a limited time only. By including a specific deadline in your offer, you can nudge the prospect into taking action.
8. Offer Early Bird savingsor gifts. (“If you act within the next 10 days, you get …”) Or test a Fast 50 in which the first fifty respondents receive a gift. This is less expensive than offering a premium to all respondents and often generates similar response.
9. Offer a Bill Me Lateroption or installment payments to make large-ticket items seem more affordable.
10. Test a monthly price rather than an annual cost. Recently I refused to renew a subscription because it cost too much –$180 per year. But a few days later, I renewed a similar publication that costs only $15 per month. Go figure.

When you need breakthrough results, test your offer. Other than careful list selection, nothing will make a bigger difference in your success.

You often get the best results by combining two or more unique offers. For example, if you find a premium that works, perhaps adding free shipping or a discount will increase the mailing’s net revenue even more.

Getting every possible response is always worth the effort. But regardless of your offer, sell only one thing at a time. This is one of the oldest rules of sales, and ignoring it can prove costly.

Download as pdf

The purpose of a direct mail letter is to motivate the recipient to take a specific course of action. But to persuade the reader to take action, we must first get him or her to read our letter—or at least its key parts.

Readers typically start at the top of a direct mail letter by reading their name in the address and salutation. From here, they go to the end of the letter to see who signed the letter. After the signature, readers typically go to the P.S.

Let’s see how we can use this reading pattern to increase response.

Addressing your letter

Your direct mail letter is a one-to-one conversation between the letter’s signer and the recipient, and nothing assures the recipient that your message is intended for him better than seeing his name at the beginning of the letter.

People love to see their name, and today’s technology makes it cost-effective to personalize your mailing. But when you do personalize, use title codes—Mr., Mrs., Rev., etc.—in the salutation. There’s nothing less personal than a letter beginning with “Dear Hugh Chewning.” Without a title code, the attempt to personalize seems insincere and reeks of a mass mailing.

For names to which you can’t assign a title code, provide a default salutation that puts the reader into as exclusive a group as possible. For example, “Dear Member,” “Dear Homeowner,” or “Dear Veteran.” Whatever you choose, you want the reader to know that your message concerns him or her.

Write in a conversational style as if you were speaking face-to-face with the reader. And, as in a conversation, don’t be concerned about using incomplete sentences, contractions or a preposition at the end of a sentence. You won’t be graded on grammar but on the number and cost per response.

Use your words to create an image for the reader. If the reader can see himself in the situation you create, he’ll take an interest and read on. It’s like selling a house. When you hear the prospective buyers discussing where to put the sofa, you know you’ve made the sale. Same thing here. With your words, let readers picture how they’ll benefit when responding today.

The longer a reader spends with your package the more likely he or she is to respond. So test involvement devices—surveys, petitions, punch-out tokens, address labels, greeting cards—anything that makes sense with your message and gets the reader involved with your letter.

 Make your letter inviting to the reader’s eye

No one wants to read long blocks of copy in a hard-to-read font. To make your letter visually inviting, keep your paragraphs short, left justify your lines and provide plenty of space for your left and right margins.

Indent your paragraphs—they “catch” the reader’s eyes and help lead them down the page—double space between paragraphs and use subheads to show readers what they can expect from your letter.

For enhanced readability, use a serif font—Courier, Times New Roman and Georgia are examples—for the letter. Practically every book, newspaper or magazine printed in the Western world uses serif type because it enhances reading flow and reduces eyestrain. If you want it read, use a serif font. And use a font large enough to be easily read by your audience. If the copy doesn’t fit, add another page or cut the copy. Forcing five pages of copy onto four pages creates a crowded document that visually turns away readers.

And don’t end a page with a complete sentence. Look at your newspaper. To finish practically any article, you must turn the page, and that’s exactly what you want your readers to do–keep turning pages until they reach the call to action.

You’re a salesperson competing for the reader’s time, so get to the point and stay with it. And to pull the reader into your letter, create the perception that your direct mail letter is a personal communication between the letter signer and the recipient. Increased readership translates into greater response.
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We all make mistakes, but years ago a teacher told me, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not doing enough.”

Mistakes can be learning experiences, but as valuable as it is to learn from our own mistakes, it can be more profitable to learn from the mistakes of others.

Throughout my 30-plus years of direct marketing, here are five of the most common mistakes I see mailers make. And regardless of our own experience, we can always profit from the lessons others had to learn the hard way.

1. Refusing to make a long-term commitment to direct mail

Successful direct mail is methodical. It requires a plan and the discipline to follow the plan. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme.

Not everything will go right on every mailing. Whether you are a startup or a mature mailer, some tests will lose money, and your organization needs to have a long-term commitment to its direct mail program in order to get through these situations. You can’t repeatedly start and stop a direct mail program and hope to be successful.

You can test direct mail and if in six months it doesn’t prove profitable, you can get out. But, with very few exceptions, you can’t make direct mail profitable in six months. Successful direct mail is a process of building upon test results from one mailing to another. It takes discipline and commitment. There are no shortcuts.

2. Not doing the math first

Before investing money in a mailing, determine the results you need to justify its costs. Without this information, you can’t make an informed decision on whether the mailing makes sense.

It’s one thing to read test results and acknowledge that a mailing failed, yet it’s far better to avoid any test that has little chance of succeeding.

Too often mailers test offers, formats and premiums that because of their cost require an unrealistic response to beat the control. And just as often I’ve seen mailers reject a promising test because they thought it cost too much.

Performing a few easy calculations–using rollout costs–before you commit to the test will help you determine whether a test makes sense. (See How to Use a Pre-Event Routine for More Profitable Direct Mail Testing.)

3. Ignoring list selection

Nothing plays a greater role in your mailing’s success than list selection. No matter how good the copy or offer, you’re not going to sell lawnmowers to Eskimos. Work closely with a list professional who has experience in your market and who will take the time to learn about your organization, its competitors, the mailing’s offer and your past mailing results.

Yet as invaluable as a good list broker is, don’t make the mistake of forfeiting responsibility for list selection.

Take list selection personally. Marketing directors should understand the list selection process, what the selected lists have in common with existing customers or donors, and where the names originated. (Are these survey names, previous buyers, subscribers, etc.?) Copywriters can’t talk effectively to the recipients without knowing what lists are being mailed. And only by understanding who will receive the mailing can a graphic designer select the proper colors, fonts and graphics.

Stay involved with your mailing’s list selection. There’s nothing more important to your direct mail’s success.

4. Failing to invest in a regular testing program

I’d be a rich man if I had a dime for every time someone said, “I don’t need to test. My control is still working.” Or “I can’t afford to test.”

In truth, you can’t afford not to test. And you certainly don’t want to wait until your control stops working before launching a testing program. That would be like waiting until you crash your car before buying auto insurance.

There are a limited number of people who will respond to your mailing, and that number shrinks each time you mail.

Even the best mailing packages get fatigued. To remain competitive, you must continue to test new lists, offers, formats and copy. Even the few direct mail letters that remain the control year after year need to be “tweaked” to maintain response. A successful direct marketer is always pushing for better results, and you can achieve this only with a disciplined testing program.

5. Don’t ask for the order

Direct response is sales pure and simple. If you’re too embarrassed to ask for the order or contribution, or if you believe that asking doesn’t reflect your organization’s image, then you’re in the wrong business.

As direct marketers, our job is to convince recipients to take a specific action. Whether it’s to buy a product, make a contribution or provide contact information, you need to tell the recipients exactly what you want them to do. Then remind them and, finally, tell them again.

You must ask for the order. Otherwise you’re engaged in a public information or brand-building effort. And while these are both noble exercises, they are not direct-response marketing.

This list of five common direct mail mistakes isn’t intended to be a complete list of “learning experiences.” You probably have an experience or two you want to add to the list, and I would appreciate seeing your comments below.

But let’s all agree that it’s better to learn from the mistakes of others than to pay to make the same mistakes ourselves.

Once during my younger years, I was presenting test results to a client along with recommendations on what we should mail next.

The client acknowledged that the test results supported my recommendation but said, “Our president doesn’t like that particular copy.”

My immediate response was “So?”

Admittedly, it wasn’t my most tactful hour. But when it comes to successful direct mail, it really doesn’t matter what we think is the best offer, copy or package design.

What matters is what our customers and/or donors respond to.

Fortunately, direct mail gives us a reliable method for measuring what motivates our customers to respond. And when we know how new elements of a mailing—lists, offer, copy, format and timing—affect response, we can drive our direct mail campaign toward greater profitability.

What we can’t do is ignore valid test results because they weren’t what we expected. Test results are the voice of our customers and they will lead us to success if we listen.

When to test

 A bad economy isn’t a good reason not to test. In many ways, it makes testing more imperative than ever. Not only will testing make your future mailings more cost effective, it will position you to capitalize on an improving economy.

The best time to test is when you have a successful control.

Too often, clients don’t want to invest in new tests because “our control is still working.” But waiting for the control to fatigue before you begin testing can mean disaster for your cash flow. Test from strength. However successful your control is, and however long it’s been the control, it can be improved.

What to test

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 3 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 while 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—hardly enough to cover the cost of the test. But for client B, the same 10% lift means $250,000 in additional income and that’s enough to have an impact on the organization.

But whatever you decide to test, do the math first. Testing a package that can’t recover its test cost in a reasonable time, or that requires an unrealistic rate of response to beat the control, doesn’t make sense. (See How to Use a Pre-Event Routine for More Profitable Direct Mail Testing.)

How much to test

When deciding how many pieces to test, the important thing isn’t how many test packages you mail but how many responses you get back.

Your test volume should be no fewer than the number you need to produce statistically reliable results. Personally, I like to see 100 responses. But mathematicians, using formulas I won’t even pretend to understand, say as few as 39 responses can be statistically valid with a 90% to 95% probability of accuracy.

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 many pieces 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% to 25% of the total mailing. This way, if the tests fail, the returns from your control will help absorb the loss and preserve the operating budget.

How to Test smart

You will always have someone saying, “We’ve never done this before.” Or “I wouldn’t respond to this.” Or “This isn’t creative enough.”

But you can remind the naysayers that the purpose of testing isn’t to be creative. It’s to make money. And of course we haven’t done this before. That’s why we’re testing it now. And whether the office skeptics would respond to the mailing really doesn’t matter. You’re not mailing to them.

Testing is essential to profitable direct mail, but test smart.

• Don’t take shortcuts. Do the math first.
• Test things that matter most—lists, offer, copy and format.
• Don’t be afraid to test things that increase your package cost. Typically, you’ll increase profits more by adding features and benefits than by eliminating components and benefits.
• Don’t get “test happy” and schedule tests just to satisfy someone’s curiosity.
• Before you mail, have procedures in place to credit the mailing with responses to the 800 number or website.
• Evaluate test results using rollout costs. Test costs do not accurately reflect how future mailings will perform.

Taking time to understand and practice the fundamentals of direct mail testing goes a long way toward ensuring your campaign’s success. And whether you’re a startup or a “mature” mailer, the three most important rules of direct mail are the same: Test. Test. And Test.

Test smart and have the discipline to act on the results.

Download as pdf

Getting the basics right goes a long way toward achieving direct mail success. In my last post, we discussed 11 strategies that you’ll want to include when planning your next campaign.

You can see these here.

To complete 21 Steps to Direct Mail Success, here are ten more often overlooked strategies that you’ll want to include in your next campaign.

12. Test, test and test are the three most important rules of direct mail; yet mailers regularly claim they can’t afford to test. In truth, you can’t afford not to test. Even the best mailing packages fatigue. There are a finite number of prospects who will respond to any mailing, and each time you mail your control, fewer and fewer people remain in this pool of names. To remain competitive, you must continue to test new lists, offers, formats and copy. Even the few direct mail letters that remain the control year after year are “tweaked” with subtle changes to maintain response. A successful direct marketer is always pushing for better results, and this can be achieved only with a disciplined testing program.
13. Test the big things. When you’re looking for breakthrough results, test the lists, offer, format and copy. Testing minor copy revisions on page 3 or changing the paper stock of the reply form or the color of the return envelope will make a difference only to large-volume mailers. To everyone else, it’s a waste of money.
14. Maintain control of the package design. Don’t surrender control of the package’s design to the graphic designer. Direct response isn’t about looking good or winning awards. It’s about getting results. Understand how people read direct mail and design your layouts accordingly. It may not look “award winning” and the designer may not agree with your choice of type, but readability is more important than pretty. (See How to Use Graphic Devices to Boost Direct Mail Response Rates.)
15. Focus on the letter. Brochures explain while letters sell. There are exceptions, but more often than not, including a brochure will depress results. And, if you don’t make the outer envelope interesting, no one will see your great letter copy. Focus on the letter, the response form and the outer envelope.
16. Ask for the sale. In direct response, your purpose is to convince the recipients to take a specific action. Whether it’s to buy a product, make a contribution or generate a lead, you need to tell the recipients exactly what you want them to do. Then remind them. And tell them once again. To make the sale, you have to ask for the order.
17. Test before you adapt. We can learn from the mistakes of others and we can learn from their success, but every organization is unique, so don’t assume that what works for your competitor will work for you. Test it first.
18. Put the needs of your donors or customers first. You’re not the only one writing to your customers, and more often than not, even your multiple buyers/donors won’t remember your name. In every communication, remind even your most frequent donors/buyers what your organization is, why it’s important to them and how they benefit.
19. Give the copywriter all the information he or she needs. Several clients have told me that they don’t want to prejudice my thinking by sharing package samples or past results. But are you paying the copywriter to be creative or to beat your control? We live in an “age of skepticism,” and the more information the copywriter has, the better the job he or she will do. Besides, an experienced copywriter can often discover new concepts buried in old package samples and research material.
20. Respect your test results. In direct response, we don’t need to decide what lists, offer or copy works best. With proper testing, the customer will tell us what works. Before adopting any major change to your mailing package, double-check the list work for the test, review package samples and confirm your postal receipts. But once everything checks out, don’t second-guess the test results.
21. Deal with the back end before you mail. When accepting orders via phone, everything comes down to one telephone call. And if the person answering the phone isn’t trained, professional and polite, you’ll not only lose the order, you’ll lose the customer. And if you’re directing respondents to a landing page, make certain that its contents and look match that of the mailing piece. Confirm your inventory and work through the entire ordering process to ensure that it gives the customer a good experience. And be certain that procedures are in place to credit telephone and online respondents to the mailing’s results.

Including these essential steps in your direct mail campaign doesn’t guarantee success, but these steps will greatly increase your probability of achieving a successful mailing.

You can download the complete list of “21 Steps to Direct Mail Success” as one document in my Direct Mail Resource Center.

Download as a pdf

The key to success is to avoid making mistakes. And with direct mail, getting the basics right accounts for 95% of all successes.

21 Steps to Direct Mail Success

You can find many articles about effective direct mail testing, copy and design in my other posts, but here I focus on key–but often overlooked–elements of a successful direct mail campaign.

Below are 11 essential elements of a successful direct response campaign. In my next post, I’ll follow up with an additional ten steps that you’ll want to incorporate in every direct mail campaign.

1. State the campaign’s objective clearly. Get everyone focused on the same goal before launching the campaign. Generating a lead is quite different from closing a sale with a prospect or cross-selling to a customer. Each effort has its own expectations and everyone needs to understand how to measure success.
2. Start with a budget. Every direct response campaign is measured by its results. Know how much you can spend to meet these expectations, and before you mail, establish how much money you’ll have to follow up on your initial tests. It doesn’t do you any good to achieve breakthrough results unless you have the resources–time, money and personnel–to exploit your success.
3. Establish a mailing schedule. Knowing that even the best plans will change, I schedule mailings twelve months out. Holidays, annual events, anniversaries, etc., often inspire donor and customer mailings, and these dates can become the core of your schedule with other “To Be Announced” mailings planned around them. For acquisition mailings, schedule follow-up mailings 45-60 days after the test is in the mail–or the number of days it will take to receive, process and analyze the returns plus the time required to produce the follow-up mailing. Without a schedule, project dates quickly begin to slide and things just don’t get done. A schedule is one of your strongest planning tools.
4. Do the math first. There is no reason to spend money on a direct mail campaign if the results needed to turn a profit are unrealistic. We all enjoy a challenge, but, for example, a 20 percent break-even response on an acquisition mailing isn’t realistic. Do the math first and avoid any mailing that has little chance of success. (See How to Use a Pre-Event Routine for More Profitable Direct Mail Testing.)
5. Focus on the mailing lists. The creative portion of the mailing may be the most fun, but it’s not the most important. Turn your attention to selection of the mailing lists. Nothing will play a greater role in your success or failure than list selection. No matter how good the copy or offer, you’re not going to sell lawn mowers to Eskimos. Work with a list professional who has experience in your market and will take the time to learn about your company, its competitors, the mailing’s offer and your past mailing results.
6. Show the benefits. No one really cares what your gadget does or how worthy your organization is. What they care about is how they will benefit from responding. The benefit can be tangible or intangible, but fulfilling the prospect’s needs is far more important than anything you’re selling. Show how your offer meets the prospect’s needs and you’ll make the sale.
7. Don’t reject a promising test based on price alone. Just because a test cost 50 percent more than the control doesn’t necessarily mean you need to increase response by 50 percent or more. Rather than ask how much the test costs, ask, “What response does this test need to beat my control?” (See link provided above in #3.)
8. Test new offers. The offer is what you promise the recipient and what you ask in return. And your offer is second only to the mailing list in terms of its effect on the campaign’s success. If you’re looking for breakthrough results, test the offer. (For ideas on offer tests, see 17 Ways to Improve Your Direct Mail Offer.
9. Test enhancing your mailing package. You’re more likely to increase net profit by adding to the package than you are by eliminating a component. Test new package components that promote the premium, display testimonials, emphasize the guarantee, and add credibility to the organization or letter signer. “Bells and whistles” like address labels and peel-off stickers for the prospect to move to the response form still work and often give you a big bang for the buck. (The one component you probably don’t want to add is a brochure. If you use a brochure now, see what happens when you drop it. It’s likely a drag on results.)
10. Hire a professional direct response copywriter. You may have someone within the organization who, because of his or her intimate involvement with the group and the sincerity of his or her beliefs, can produce a letter that outperforms copy written by a professional direct mail copywriter. But these people are few and far between. Hire a professional direct response writer. It will be money well spent. And recognize that copywriting for general advertising and direct response copywriting are two different skill sets.
11. Now is the time to test. Don’t wait until your control stops working before testing new lists, offers, formats and copy. If you do, cash flow will come to a halt and you’ll feel like you’re standing in a hole trying to dig yourself out. It’s not a career-enhancing move.

In my next post, I’ll publish ten more easy steps to take to achieve direct mail success. (Subscribe to my blog–see sign-up in the navigation column to the left–and you’ll receive this next post automatically.) In the meantime, best wishes for your continued success.