Designing a winning mail piece can be a tough task, and it’s easy to fixate on certain elements and let other parts fall by the wayside. When planning your next direct mail piece, start with solid foundation and keep these three core elements in mind.
A Envelope
I’ve seen some great offers buried in unappealing envelopes. Sometimes simple can perform better than flashy, but if you’ve chosen a simple envelope without thorough testing you may want to examine your options.
Envelopes come in many sizes and shapes, and give you the opportunity to increase open rates with compelling teaser text. Write a great teaser and the reader may open the envelope, write a great letter and they may reply or purchase. Every element is important for driving the reader’s attention to the next stage, so if your envelope teaser isn’t compelling they will never open the envelope, see your great copy or respond. It’s important to spend time on your envelope getting the details right and examining what works from past promotions. Continue to refining your approach and you will maximize your open rates.
B Offer
You probably want to tell your customers everything about your product or service but you probably shouldn’t. For the most part customers really only need to know the benefits you provide. While it’s great that the service your offering has 35 locations, 10 different service plans, and a table showing what’s included in each, sometimes customers just need to know you offer a variety of locations to fit with their busy schedule and service plans that are customized to their unique needs. Focus on the benefits and show your customers how you fit within their lives.
Your reader will only be so patient with your offer, white space, lists and diagrams are great for breaking up your text and drawing the reader in. If you can boil down a paragraph into a bulleted list or even a simple diagram your reader will thank you. No one enjoys seeing a text wall, keep things interesting and keep your reader engaged. Your mailing is not their favorite novel, your mailing will be skimmed, design it with this thought in mind.
C Reply
You’ve wooed your reader and it’s time to close the deal, so what now? No really, what would you like them to do? You should have a very clear answer to this question, do you want them to reply by mail, visit you online or send a donation? Whatever you want, your job is to make it easy and clear for the reader to reply. This may seem very simple but you would be surprised by the amount of letters I see without a clear call to action.
Using multiple channels can give your readers options but it’s also important to make each of those options easy to reply to and understand. Avoid questions that may be seen as obstacles to the customer, don’t ask for sensitive information unless you really need it, if you already have their name and contact information don’t ask them to fill it in.
When possible include an addressed return envelope, no one wants to go rummaging around for an envelope. Prepaid envelopes can be costly so you will have to factor this in when making the decision to use them or not. We all have budgets to stick to.
So the next time you plan a mailing, remember your Direct Mail ABC’s. Be creative, but make sure you have covered all the basics first. Good luck on your next mailing.
