Direct Mail Marketing Letters - Increase Readership And Response In Direct Mail
The opening paragraph of your direct mail letter? Here's the place to show your biggest benefit. Lead with your best stuff first - did you want to wait till you lose readers? This should be your hottest copy and your most exciting benefit.
"Enjoy the biggest benefit of our new product - and here's our best offer!" - might sound like this: "Enjoy the easy and extra-fast swing of our new ultra-lightweight tennis racquet - and try it FREE for 30 days!"
Show benefits
In any direct mail marketing campaign you show the features in the brochure, and the benefits of those features in the letter. The brochure tells, the letter sells… and asks for the call frequently. Direct mail marketing has it's own set of rules.
You remember the difference between features and benefits, don't you? Products have features - a teacup has a handle, that's a feature. The benefits are what you derive from the features - when you hold the teacup with the handle you don't burn your hands. The benefits - what people get from the features - go in the letter.
Second paragraph. This is a transitional paragraph of your direct mail letter expanding on your biggest benefit. Keep all paragraphs flush left with a 4- or 5-character indent, rag right and under 7 lines.
Third paragraph - a great place to show all your benefits. Best: place a bulleted list of benefits right in the center of your direct mail marketing letters. Showing all benefits here sometimes become too fluffy, so including a few product features is OK in this list.
· Bulleted lists have high readership.
· Show one benefit to a line.
· Everyone likes a bulleted list.
· Know who will read this paragraph? Everyone.
· Even people who just skim your letter read this.
· Don't forget to direct readers to call now & order!
So you need better-than-average copy here, since it is the highest readership in the body of your letter. You need short and sweet killer copy. Each single line drives the reader further into the rest of the letter, closer to buying your product and closer to the phone.
Fourth paragraph. Want to make your direct mail letter visually different? Indent this paragraph and place it in italics. Move the margins in, one inch on BOTH sides, so the paragraph width is about 3 inches at most. And reduce the font size by two points. This gives your letter copy some air - a little breathing room - and makes it look easy to read, even if it isn't. Tout the benefits and ask for the phone call in this foreshortened paragraph.
Fifth paragraph. Here's where you really sell the phone call. "Just pick up the phone and call us right now. Questions, comments - your call is always welcome — here's our phone number: 800-987-6543."
Don't be afraid to ask people to call you several times in any direct mail advertising, and the sales letter is no exception. The fourth and fifth paragraph. This fifth paragraph is where you MUST sell the phone call hard. Remember, no phone calls - no orders = failure.
Also - show your actual phone number in the text of the letter in this body copy of your direct mail letter. Yea yea, I know - it's in the letterhead. Show it again here in the text. And again in the PS. It encourages phone calls. Any arguements?
Signature. Sign legibly. Even if your real signature looks like the X made by Attila the Hun, sign so people can read it. It's a visual hook - keep it legible.
The PS in your direct mail letter is your last chance to briefly restate your one or two biggest benefits, your offer, and ask for the phone call. Last chance - make a great, irresistible call to action.
White space.
Don't forget the other half of your direct mail letter - white space. Keep a lot of breathing room around your copy, let it air out. This may mean reducing your font size from my first preference of 12 points to a slightly smaller 10 point size, but if it makes the letter look light, breezy and easy to read, it's worth it.
BTW, I always prefer Courier typeface to make the letter look like a traditional letter. While the letter may be an ad, to make your direct mail letter the most effective it can possibly be, it's got to look like a letter. Remember, direct mail letters are secretly ads - not really letters. They have their own set of distinct rules. We'll still call our ad a letter, though. OK?
In the next and final article in this series, you'll learn 12 rules to increase letter readership and response.
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
direct mail marketing
,direct mail
,letters
,letter
,marketing tips
,direct marketing
,direct mail advertising
This is the third and final article in the series to help you increase the response from your direct mail marketing letters. In the first article you learned to increase readership in the first 7 seconds. In the second article we discussed increasing mid-line readership and response by fine tuning the body copy of the letter. In this final article learn 12 indispensable rules to draw maximum response from your direct mail marketing letters.
From a fortune cookie direct mail campaign to loyalty programs that help build targeted databases for personalized mailing, savvy retailers are succeeding with direct mail. Direct mail works in retail because consumers increasingly demand to be marketed to as the individuals that they are. Targeted direct mail can be a great way for retailers to do that. Learn how other retailers have succeeded.
smart tactics for you to consider if you are embarking on a direct mail campaign today
Discover new marketing ideas to help you promote your hair or beauty salon or to potential customers in your local area more cost effectively.
Marketing tips for small business owners. Learn 2 ways to make these advertising sources work for you.
Avoid any relative words in advertising. Words like stronger, better, less are relative. Also avoid words indicating an extreme position like "No 1", "the best", "quickest" etc. Quantify any claim and support with a testimonial or certifying agency. Quantify quick delivery by saying how fast, most durable by saying how long. Mind can see and feel only quantified terms. So use quantified terms to make the prospects understand easily.
The most efficient use is to promote your business. Indeed, they have become a cost effective tool in your marketing arsenal.
Generating a particular variety of envelope needs knowledge of the medium, printing procedure, and tools. Recognize the fundamental procedure and components affecting envelope printing to come back up with the sought after consequence.
Even Master Marketers find the subject of writing a sales letter confusing and sometimes intimidating. There are hundreds of books and thousands of articles on the art of writing an effective sales letter, each with its own unique viewpoint.
Stop your prospects in their tracks with powerful headlines and you draw them into your sales message. Here are four proven techniques.
Abstract: Why would you ever pay list price for newspaper advertising space when most newspaper advertising rates are negotiable? Some are highly negotiable. Here are 5 ways to get better discount newspaper advertising rates.
Lead generation programs, when targeted to neighborhood, industry, association, or whatever target group you select, can be proven to be effective, responsive and profitable when customer acquisition is tracked back to the source. Just remember to tailor your lead generation program to specific targets. Here's exactly how in this third article in the series on Lead Generation.
This is the third and final article in the series to help you increase the response from your direct mail marketing letters. In the first article you learned to increase readership in the first 7 seconds. In the second article we discussed increasing mid-line readership and response by fine tuning the body copy of the letter. In this final article learn 12 indispensable rules to draw maximum response from your direct mail marketing letters.
Abstract: Learn how to create the critical 7-second opening of your direct mail marketing letter - to get the highest level of immediate readership. Fine-tune your major opening elements for maximum response. This is the first in a three-article set of marketing tips to increase your direct mail response. In the next article, learn how to increase mid-level readership in the body of your letter. In the third direct marketing article, learn 12 direct mail advertising tips to increase readership.
Discuss this Article
