If you use direct mail it's in your best interest to get as much of it
opened and read as possible. You may have spent a small fortune on the
copywriting and the expensively printed brochure, but if you don't
ensure that as many packs are opened and read as possible, then both
copy and brochure are wasted.
There are two main schools of thought on how to avoid being binned.
The first is to use disguise, and the second to use persuasion.
Using disguise is mainly a business to business approach but it
works for business to consumer mailings too. Business to business
promotional mailings are marked out in that they don't appear to have
been handled individually. This can be indicated by an envelope
pre-printed with a postage mark, and use of a window or address labels
to show an address.
Try one or more of the following to give the envelope a more individual look.
Use stamps. They have to have been put on by hand, so it must be
individual. There's no more obvious an indicator than a pre-printed
stamp impression. When a preprinted impression is used in conjunction
with a window envelope it practically screams advertising so don't do
it.
Hand write the address on the envelope. This is probably only
viable for higher value items but will certainly get more attention
this way. It doesn't have to be copperplate, it just needs to look as
though it's been handled individually.
Use an unusual material for the envelope, say vellum or a textured
paper. In tests conducted by a paper merchant, this alone increased
responses significantly. The additional cost for the special paper was
more than compensated for by the additional revenue generated by the
mailing.
Again, do anything to make your mailing appear more individual and
personal to the recipient. Probably the most important element is the
use of stamps. This on it's own can be enough to get you under the
recipient's radar.
Secondly, use persuasive tactics. This is completely the opposite
from disguise and is used mainly for business to consumer, but again it
works for business to business too. In this instance we mark it out
specifically as commercial by using advertising images, copy and
headlines on the outside of the envelope itself. In this instance it
doesn't matter if you use a printed postal impression.
Unlike the previous method which uses curiosity to get your
envelope opened, we need to give the recipient a good reason to open
the envelope. This can take a variety of forms, but as a couple of
examples you can state a benefit, "Increase sales by 15%", or
alternatively provide an incentive, "Reply by the end of the month and
get 2 for the price of 1".
Be very clear and very specific about what the contents are going to
achieve and remember you are only trying to get the envelope opened and
read. Avoid anything vague. Don't expect to appeal to everyone using
this method. You don't have that much room on the envelope, and you
can't be all things to all people.
Hopefully you will achieve a strong enough response in a small
percentage of recipients that they open, and read the contents. Your
persuasive copy will follow on logically from the envelope copy, and
keep your prospect interested.
There is a lot of advise against this in business to business direct
mail, and there is probably an element of truth in this. If you are
mailing to an executive whose mail is screened then it's likely good
advice. However there are plenty of owner/managers out there that still
open their own mail, if the offer or benefit is clear enough and of
interest, it will get opened. You may well consign your mailing piece
to the bin for the 99.5% of your prospects by doing this, but it wasn't
about them was it?
In summary it's pretty simple. Don't be run of the mill. Step away
from the norm and make sure your envelope is overtly commercial with a
clear benefit or incentive or alternatively make it look it personal.
If you do this you are halfway to getting it read and that's more than
half the battle.
About The Author
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Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run
online business ,matrix,internet marketing solution ,online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer ,computer training ,computer software andpersonal computer,Cyber Forest,internet weapon,talk about business ,business is my blood ,hasan's blog ,cyber business,my net info
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