Ah hah… you came here because you were curious why I needed 15 more minutes, right? Well, let’s assume that’s the case!
This blog is really about the importance of having good teaser copy on your outer envelopes, just as I teased the blog title which made you come here!
As Kris mentioned in his previous blog Treat your envelope like a Christmas present, the envelope is the recipient’s first barrier to entry but also the first point to start engaging the recipient in order to accomplish the goal of getting the envelope opened.
Creating any outer envelope is easy. Creating an effective outer envelope is not that easy. We have to ask ourselves what will make the recipient want to open this. We have to create the perception, an illusion almost, that it’s going to be worth their while to open the envelope. We are basically putting the recipient in the position of “judging a book by its cover” or more fittingly in this case, judging an envelope by its cover.
C’mon, we are all guilty sometimes of “judging a book by its cover”, right? I actually thought about writing this blog when I was Christmas shopping for books! I am not an avid reader so I searched online for book reviews, but ultimately the books I narrowed down and chose were literally based on its cover, and when I mean cover I mean the title and other teasers like the testimonials on its back page.
One of the books I chose was called “The first phone call from heaven”. I knew it was a good book based on it being a New York Times Bestseller, but what sold me was the title on the front of the cover and the testimonials on the back of the cover. The title caught my attention and the testimonials closed the deal!
So just like a good book cover, when you’re thinking of your next outer envelope, make sure to write good ‘barrier breaking’ teaser copy!
