Posts Tagged ‘how increase readership’

How to Make Your Direct Mail More Readable and Achieve Greater Response

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Download as pdf

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

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 (more…)

DeliciousTwitterFacebookStumbleUponRedditDiggLinkedInShare

For Direct Mail Success, Sweat the Details

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

Download as pdf

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.”
For direct mail success, sweat the details
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 (more…)

DeliciousTwitterFacebookStumbleUponRedditDiggLinkedInShare

18 Ways to Increase Readership of Your Direct Mail Letter and Achieve Greater Response

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Click to download as pdf

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

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

Here are 18 proven ways you can increase readership of your direct mail letters and (more…)

DeliciousTwitterFacebookStumbleUponRedditDiggLinkedInShare

How to Use Graphic Devices to Boost Direct Mail Response Rates

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Click to download in pdf

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

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

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

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

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

DeliciousTwitterFacebookStumbleUponRedditDiggLinkedInShare