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.
48WTGH4Q6BQQ

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.

Too often, we receive direct mail that’s offensive to the eye.

Big blocks of text crowd the page. Narrow left and right margins choke the life from the words. And small sans serif type makes the copy difficult to read.

Visually, these letters are uninviting.

Tips to Increase Readership

Graphic designers may love the look of grey-colored type, but readers need text printed with high contrast. Illustrations and graphics can enhance a mailing, but when overused they pull the reader’s eye in so many directions that it’s virtually impossible

What might appeal to someone’s sense of design doesn’t necessarily help the reader. And with only a few seconds to capture the reader’s attention, any distraction to the eye flow can doom the mailing.

Even when you mail award-winning copy with an offer that meets the recipient’s every need, few people—even those who respond to your mailing—will read the entire direct mail letter. But when you follow a few proven techniques, you can lead more readers to the letter’s most persuasive points and direct them to the call for action.

Here are some basic techniques that you’ll want to see included in your next mailing. They will increase your readership and help you achieve a more profitable campaign.

1. Make the letter look like a letter. People know what to do with a letter—read it. Don’t confuse them with something that looks like a brochure, a flyer or some creative hybrid approach. Most recipients will recognize your letter as being part of a mass mailing, but providing the perception of a personal letter will typically increase results.
2. Provide lots of space for your left and right margins and only justify the left margin—flush left, ragged to the right.
3. Use a serif type for your letter copy. (Serif type has little “feet” at the bottom (Courier, Times New Roman and Georgia are examples.) Virtually every newspaper, magazine and published book uses serif type because has proven to enhance reading flow and reduce eyestrain. If you want it read, use a serif type.
4. Always indent your paragraphs. Studies show that indented paragraphs “catch” the eye moving down the page and make the letter more readable.
5. Single space the letter and put a double space between paragraphs.
6. 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 them turning pages until they reach your call to action.
7. 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.
8. Letters printed in a faux handwriting font have their purpose but keep them short. It’s a struggle to get through four pages of handwritten text.
9. Use nothing smaller than 10-point type (except for disclaimers). For an older audience, you’ll want to use a larger 12-point type.

Direct mail isn’t rocket science. If you’re going to persuade the reader to respond, he or she needs to read your letter—or at least its main points. No one wants to work their way through a letter they didn’t even ask for so keep it simple, stay on point and make it easy to read.

On average, the reader takes no longer than 11 seconds to decide whether to read or trash your letter. Research by Professor Siegfried Vogele found that during this 11-second preview, the reader’s eyes fix only on pictures and headlines—never on the body copy. Knowing this, you can use illustrations to draw the reader’s attention to your most persuasive copy and lead them to the call to action.

1. Typically, readers follow the classic pattern of reading left-to-right, top-to-bottom, but eye flow can be redirected using “pointing devices” with a graphic element. For example, when you place a graphic of people in your letter, the reader’s eyes will follow the eyes of the subjects in the picture. Use this by pointing the subject’s eyes toward your copy.You can use practically any “pointing device” to direct the reader’s eyes. With an illustration showing a model wearing a man-style tie, for example, the eyes of readers will follow the tie right down to its pointed end—and to the copy below.
2. Most illustrations need a caption. To get the caption read, put it below or to the right of the illustration, not above or to the left of it.
3. With 2-page layouts—as in a brochure—you can expand what the reader sees by placing color pictures to the left and black-and-white pictures to the right. Warmer colors will draw the reader’s eyes across the page revealing more of your message. When using pictures with and without people, put the people pictures to the left to encourage the reader’s eyes to go across the page.

People love a good story especially when it’s about them. To increase readership, you want to:

1. 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 than using the recipient’s full name in the salutation. (“Dear Mr. Hugh Chewning,” for example. It’s either “Dear Mr. Chewning” or “Dear Hugh.”) When you can’t assign a title code, use a default—“Dear Member,” “Dear Homeowner” and “Dear Friend” are examples—but say “hello” and welcome the reader before launching your sales pitch.
2. Have the copy written as if it’s a one-on-one conversation between the letter signer and the recipient. Direct mail is an “I” to “you” medium. Not “us” and “we.” People are more comfortable with an individual than a large, impersonal organization, so keep it personal and they’ll keep reading.
3. Personalize the copy with the reader’s name and any other pertinent information that’s available. Properly used, the cost of adding personalization to the letter will almost always pay for itself. And when you’re mailing to customers or donors, recognize the recipient as such early in the copy.
4. Give special attention to the letter’s first paragraph and the P.S. Typically, these areas get the most attention so use them to state the problem your offer will solve, how the reader will benefit by responding and to issue your call to action. If they read nothing else, they’ll know how to respond and why they should respond.
5. Don’t worry about using incomplete sentences, contractions or a preposition at the end of a sentence. Write in a conversational style as if the letter signer is speaking directly to the recipient.
6. Create an image for the reader. If the reader can see him or herself in the situation you describe, they’ll take an interest and continue to read.
7. If you can’t spell a word or need to look up its meaning, don’t use it. You want to give the reader a “warm and fuzzy” feeling not impress him or her with your vocabulary.
8. Don’t let the reader stumble on in-house abbreviations. When using the term for the first time, spell it out. 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 your meaning.

The more you create the perception that your direct mail letter is a personal communication from the letter signer to the recipient—and make it easy to read—the more readership you will have.

And the math is simple—greater readership equals higher response.

Getting every possible response is always worth the effort of giving added attention to the package’s layout, its use of graphics and its copy style. Increase readership of your letter and you and your organization will profit.

Whether you’re promoting an idea, a product or a service, successful direct mail copy persuades the reader to take a desired course of action.

Years ago, the televangelist Don Stewart successfully wrote to his supporters saying, “Send $25 now. I’ll explain later.”

But today we live in an “age of skepticism,” and without facts to support the letter’s claims—and a clear understanding of the mailing’s purpose—the direct mail copywriter cannot write his or her most persuasive appeal.

Facts help build creditability, and every promise needs to be supported with believable data. But, to do his or her best work, the direct mail copywriter needs more than product information. Before beginning to write, your copywriter also needs to know:

• What’s the purpose of the mailing?
• Who will receive the mailing?
• How will the offer benefit the reader?
• What are we asking the recipients to do?
• Are there any terms or phrases that must be included or excluded?

Additionally, I want to know current response rates, average order and the cost of the control package so I can estimate how much we can spend on a new test package. Does it make sense to add an insert to the mailing, use a larger format or include a premium? (See my past blog entry, How to Use a Pre-Event Routine for More Profitable Direct Mail Testing.)

Why share mailing list information?

The best direct mail is a one-to-one communication between the letter signer and the mailing’s recipient. And only by understanding who will receive the mailing can the copywriter effectively communicate the offer.

When we meet someone for the first time, our conversation becomes much more effective once we learn a little about each other. The same is true for the copywriter when writing to prospects or customers for the first time.

Understanding which mailing lists or segments are most successful—and least successful—along with all available demographic information and buying/contribution history, can help the copywriter speak more effectively to the mailing’s recipients. Plus, the copywriter can use this information to personalize the letter copy—which typically increases results.

Why mail volume is important to the copywriter

Including involvement techniques—surveys, CDs, samples, admission tickets, address stickers, etc.—in a test package is often a great way to achieve breakthrough results. The same is true of oversize formats and premiums.

All of these add-ons come at a cost, but with the price breaks typically available with large volumes, the copywriter can consider testing “bells and whistles” that would not make sense for a low-volume mailing.

And when knowing there will be more mail volume, the copywriter can propose more tests.

For example, if your mailing is only 100,000 pieces, it doesn’t make sense to mail five different tests of 10,000 names each. This would put half of your total mailing at risk, and that’s not a good idea for cash flow. And, depending upon the response rate, making your test cells smaller might not generate enough responses to achieve statistically valid results.

Yet when mailing a million pieces, assigning the same 50,000 names to testing would only represent one-twentieth of the total mail volume—a far less risky investment.

Sharing potential mail volume can help the copywriter make better use of your test dollars.

More information is better

The more information the copywriter has the better job he or she can do. Here are several other things I want to know before I start to write—and why:

• Who is the letter signer? I ask for a biography of the letter signer because the direct mail copywriter speaks for him or her. And the more the copywriter knows about the person signing the letter, the better he or she can relate the copy to the recipient’s needs.
• Who are the client’s competitors? A competitor presumably shares at least a portion of the audience I’ll be writing to, so I want to see how they present their offer and review the benefits they promise.
• I also want to see samples of the company’s space ads, collateral, and radio and television ads. Direct mail is only part of the organization’s marketing plan, and the copywriter needs to create a synergy between the different advertising mediums. The company’s communication to the targeted audience—whatever the source—needs to share a common image and message.
• Share testimonials and press clippings—both positive and negative. They can add creditability to the copy.
• Provide the copywriter with a sample of the product or let him or her experience the service. Holding, feeling and using the product or service lets the copywriter experience its benefits, and as a result, he or she can then better relate these values to the prospective buyers.
• How will the client judge the package’s success? Will it be net dollars, number of new customers, customers making a second purchase, click-throughs, telephone calls or the number of leads received? The client will judge my performance by the package’s success, and we can avoid disagreements by agreeing on the rules beforehand.

Share mail samples

Some organizations worry that sharing past mail samples will limit the copywriter’s creativity and influence the work. But creativity isn’t the job of the copywriter. Increasing response is.

Past mailings should influence the copywriter. After all, the whole concept of direct mail testing is to build on past successes and avoid past mistakes.

If there are particular techniques that consistently work, I want to consider including them. If there are concepts that have consistently proven not to work, I want to avoid them.

And the argument not to share samples because the organization must preserve its confidentiality just doesn’t work. Once the package mails to thousands of complete strangers, it’s not a secret. Share it with your copywriter.

To achieve the highest return on the organization’s test budget, share information, samples and past results with your copywriter. When you do, everyone wins.

Direct mail is a sales medium. We use it to sell ideas, products and services. And like any other form of sales, its success is based on trust.

Regardless of how much the prospect may value your offer, if he or she doesn’t trust the person attempting to make the sale, it’s not going to happen.

In direct mail, our salesperson is the letter signer. And to establish trust we use testimonials, money-back guarantees and clear, straightforward language.

By definition, an asterisk “indicates omission…”

An asterisk signifies that the claim being made isn’t complete. There are qualifications and/or limitations to what you’re being told. In blunt terms, an asterisk says that you’re not being told the whole truth.

Recently, I received a mailing with the headline “Save $1,000.*”

Seeing the asterisk, I read this headline as “Save $1,000? Maybe.”

The headline makes a big claim but the asterisk warns me that I’m not getting the full story. Continuing with the letter, I encountered three more asterisks before I completed the first paragraph.

Where’s my trust level now?

I’ve never been impressed by fast-talking salespeople who oversell and promise something they can’t deliver. If there are restrictions or qualifications to become eligible for an offer, just say so in clear, straightforward language.

Full disclosure is not only a legal responsibility and a matter of conscience, it’s good salesmanship.

I expect that on more than one occasion you’ve walked away from a sale because you sensed the salesperson was more interested in making a sale than giving you all the information you needed to make a good buying decision.

Isn’t this the same message an asterisk delivers to our readers?

There will be times when using an asterisk to direct the reader to the disclosure is your best choice. But too often we use an asterisk because it’s easy. All we need to do is insert an asterisk and drop the legal department’s comments into an endnote and we’re done.

But typically, there’s a more effective way.

• When making a statement that requires a comment, write, “You’ll find the full details and limitations below.” You’ll still have the endnote, but you’ll avoid the asterisk.
• In a four-page letter, try to work the mandatory copy into page two or three where it won’t disrupt the flow of the letter.
• Rather than try to hide the legalese, see if you can find a way to feature the disclosure copy. Be upfront and let the reader know, “Here are facts that you need to know.” People want to do business with people they trust—someone who doesn’t hide information concerning the sale.

Recently, I attached a Post-It note to the letter’s first page and wrote:

As you might expect, with an offer this good—and discounts this huge—there are certain conditions that apply. You’ll find complete details printed on the blue insert I’ve enclosed.

You may not like this particular idea and I can’t say how well it worked because we didn’t test it separately. But my point is that we can meet regulatory and legal requirements without littering our copy with asterisks.

Here are a few examples:

• Often we see an asterisk pointing to a disclosure that reads, “For new customers only.” Instead, try adding copy to the letter that says, “The savings and benefits offered are reserved exclusively for our new customers.” Now, the mandatory copy adds exclusivity to the offer.
• If the offer is only good for a limited time, don’t hide it in the disclosure. Turn the “limited time” into a deadline to respond and add urgency to the offer.
• Using diet products as an example, you often see “With diet and regular exercise” added to the disclosure. But rather than put this into the disclosure, include letter copy that says, “With regular exercise and proper diet, you can see amazing results with XYZ product.” You’re communicating the same message but the qualifying statement is now part of the benefit.
• When promoting Certificates of Deposit rates, financial institutions often add “New Money Only” to the disclosure. Instead, try putting this into your copy: “Because we’re looking to raise money to make new home loans, this special rate is limited to new money—money that’s not already deposited with the bank.” This not only gets rid of an asterisk, it also opens the offer to existing customers.

There will be times when directing the reader to the disclosure with an asterisk is still the best approach. Sometimes there’s just no better way to communicate mandatory information. But don’t make it the first thing you try because more often than not, you can make better use of the disclosure information in the letter copy.

Including required information in your letter copy can increase the believability of your offer and build trust. But using an asterisk to point to a disclosure in eight-point type can only hurt the mailing’s creditability.

________________________________________

*To kill the perfect offer, use an asterisk in the headline and letter copy.

Too often, people and organizations put all their attention into getting the big things right, but ignore the details.

There’s a word to describe this. It’s “mediocrity.”

Giving attention to the details can’t ensure your success, but ignoring the small stuff can quickly bring about your downfall.

Every detail has bottom-line repercussions and it’s irresponsible to think of any aspect of direct mail as trivial, unimportant or inconsequential.

Here are a few fine points often overlooked in a mailing. None will ensure your success, but collectively, they can make a huge difference in your mailing’s success.

• Double-check the planning schedule. Don’t assume that someone has selected and ordered the mailing lists. Has the copywriter submitted his or her work in time to get it approved and into production in time to meet your mail date? Have the envelopes been delivered to the mail house? Too many projects never get off the ground—or mail at an unfavorable time—because no one monitors the planning schedule.
• Make certain all the mailing’s components—the outer envelope, the letter, the response form and other components—synergize into one mailing package. It’s one direct mail package, not a collection of individual components.
• Understand that giving attention to detail is not the same as cluttering the package’s design with details. Including too many graphic elements in the design can confuse the eye and keep the reader’s attention away from where you want it to flow.
• Check the art and make certain the letter uses a serif font. If anyone questions the value of using a serif font in the letter, have them pick any book from the library or look at any magazine or newspaper, and they will see that they all use serif fonts. Why? Because a serif font is more readable. And having more people read more of your letter can only increase response. When you want something read, use a serif font.
• You wouldn’t start a conversation without greeting the recipient, so make certain the letter includes a salutation. And give attention to title codes—Mr., Mrs. and Ms., for example. For me, there’s nothing more impersonal as “Dear Hugh Chewning.” It makes everything sound like a sweepstakes letter. Open the letter with “Dear Mr. Chewning” or, when appropriate, “Dear Hugh.” And provide a “default” for names that you can’t match to a title code. For example, “Dear Member,” “Dear Customer,” “Dear Neighbor” or even “Dear Friend.”
• Keep the letter’s paragraphs short and provide plenty of white space for the margins. Wide margins and short paragraphs invite the reader’s eye to the page. Fat paragraphs and long sentences are intimidating and unwelcoming to the reader. You want to get the letter read, so make it warm and comfortable to the recipient. (Compare the pages of a novel written in the 1930s or earlier with those of a contemporary book and see which you find more inviting.)
• Make sure the letter’s paragraphs are indented. Eye-camera studies show that indented paragraphs “catch” the eye moving down the page and make the letter more readable.
• Check for asterisks and, whenever possible, eliminate them. Asterisks are for the lazy and they announce that you’re hiding something. If there’s something you must say, just say it. It’s far better to announce a limitation or condition than for it to appear that you’re hiding the full truth. In a four-page letter, put required legal information on page two or three—very few people read those pages anyway.
• Format the letter as a “friendly” letter rather than a business letter—even for business-to-business mailings. Think of the letter as a one-on-one conversation between the recipient and you—the salesperson. To whom would you be more likely to respond—a salesperson who comes across as warm and friendly, or someone who is formal and distant?
• Read the letter aloud. Its copy is a conversation you’re having with the reader and that’s how you want it to sound.
• Don’t let a page—other than the last—end with a complete sentence. Any newspaper—with the possible exception of USA Today—will force you to turn a page to finish the front-page article. Why? They want you to see the advertisements. In direct mail, we also need the reader to turn the page to discover the benefits of our offer and reach the letter’s call to action.
• Give attention to the letter signer’s signature and any margin notes. The signature needs to be realistic but readable. You don’t want it to look like an artist signed the letter, but the signature needs to be legible or it’s going to hurt the letter’s credibility. And make certain any “handwritten” note in the margin is in the same handwriting and ink color as the signature.
• Has the letter used any in-house words or abbreviations without providing an explanation? Don’t assume the reader—even customers—will understand the terms that are unique to your business. If your spouse, best friend or neighbor aren’t familiar with the term, you need to explain it or omit it from the copy. When you do use 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.
• On the response form, tell the reader to whom their check is to be made payable. Don’t make them guess or give them any reason to hesitate. And it’s not “Make your checks payable to…” You’re only asking for one check, so use, “Make your check payable to…”
• Check the response form and make sure it fits into the return envelope. And, if appropriate, have you included a toll-free telephone number or a website the recipient can use to respond?
• When you do offer a toll-free number or webpage as a method of response, make certain that you have procedures in place to include these responses in the mailing’s results report.
• Finally, have the letter proofread. Don’t expect the copywriter to be the final proofreader of his or her own work.

Managing any one of these details isn’t going to produce a huge lift in your direct mail results. But collectively, getting the details right can be the difference between success and failure. Plus, it’s the professional thing to do.

You’ll often find the greatest success within the smallest details. And when it comes to making a difference in your mailing results, a penny is a penny. And pennies make dimes and dimes make dollars.

Sweat the small stuff. Strive for perfection and you’ll achieve excellence.

With direct mail, it’s often said, “The letter sells while the brochure explains.” With this in mind, it’s important not to let your explanation get in the way of making the sale.

I do a lot of “Beat the Control” work, and whenever I’m up against a package that includes a brochure, my first instinct is to test eliminating the brochure. More times than not, dropping the brochure will increase the mailing’s response.

Why? Because when people are reading your brochure, they aren’t responding. Too often, the brochure becomes a distraction and diverts the reader’s attention from the letter’s call to action.

Yet, there are times when it makes sense to test a brochure.

With some products and services, you can better communicate their benefits with a picture, illustration or graph than you can with just words.

For example, if you want to demonstrate the inner workings of a gadget, exhibit the beauty of a collector’s item or show the photo quality of a travel magazine, a brochure can help you sell your offer.

You use a brochure to document the claims made in your letter.

With a brochure, you can show pictures of customers using your product, include more testimonials, provide a chart comparing your service with that of your competitors, include graphs to validate improved product performance, and deliver product information your prospects can keep or pass along as a reminder of your offer.

Selecting the Right Format

You define your brochure’s format by the job you need it to do. For many offers, a simple flyer is enough, while a tri-fold brochure may work better for others. High-ticket offers may even require a multiple-page booklet.

Whatever the format, the brochure is always part of the total direct mail package and its design must share the image of the mailing’s other components. For example, a glossy, four-color, multiple-page booklet doesn’t fit with most fundraising offers. A tri-fold brochure may be out of place with an offer for gold coins, but it can be the perfect fit for a security alarm company.

When designing your brochure, you also want to consider the following:

• Unlike the letter, design the brochure to be scanned, not read.
• Include a strong headline that tells the “what and why” of your offer. The headline identifies the reader’s problem and suggests that there is a fix.
• Make your first paragraph count. Engage the reader and briefly describe how they will benefit from your product or service.
• Include a strong guarantee. Nothing will overcome the reader’s hesitation more quickly than a strong “No-Risk, Money-Back Guarantee.”
• Issue a clear call to action and tell the reader how to respond—by mail, telephone or via your website. Include a response device at the bottom outside corner of the page, where it’s easy to cut out. Show perforation lines around the response device to suggest what the reader needs to do. Also, include your toll-free number and the URL for the offer’s landing page. The brochure is a stand-alone device and needs to provide all the information necessary for the reader to respond.
• A brochure is a great place for Questions & Answers—written as if the reader is asking and you are answering.
• Increase your credibility with testimonials.
• Use graphs and product reviews to compare your product with those of your competitors. People will scan, not read, your brochure and graphs and charts can often tell your story better—and quicker—than text.

Focus the Reader’s Attention

The brochure is a “show me” component; you want to use its graphics to focus the reader’s attention so they quickly get the information that will motivate them to respond.

Use photos freely because before any word of text is even noted, the reader’s eyes will be pulled to photographs and illustrations.

• Select a readable typeface (serif); use short paragraphs and sub-headlines.
• Include pictures of people using your product or service. Readers will look at pictures with people before they see pictures of products.
• On two-page spreads—the inside of a folded brochure, for example—put your strongest picture as far to the left as possible. In most cases, eye flow begins at the upper right of a two-page spread and continues in a sideways “U” like this . Placing a strong picture to the left pulls the reader’s eyes back across the page and “exposes” more of your message.
• People read captions. Place captions as close to your pictures as possible—below or to the right of the illustration.
• Your reader’s eyes will typically follow the eyes of the people in your photos. You can take advantage of this by, for example, having the models in your photo look to the left when you want to call attention to copy that’s to the left of the picture.
• Place color pictures to the left and 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.
• Readers will see action illustrations before still pictures. Portraits gain attention before full pictures of people and, most often, a larger group of people will gain attention before a smaller group does.

Does It Help or Hurt?

Your brochure can be a great asset, but you do need to test its effect on your mailing. It’s a mistake to assume that the brochure’s four-color beauty, high-quality photos and fancy charts will increase response.

Test and retest your mailing’s brochure. And remember, the brochure’s purpose isn’t to educate, entertain or impress. In a direct response mailing, the brochure has only one purpose: to increase the mailing’s net income.