Here they are... 100 ways you can improve your direct
mail response. Please feel free to print them out and see if you can use some of
them. If you'd like them in a different format, like a Word or WordPerfect
document, please
email us.
First Class, Inc.
www.firstclassinc.com
(312) 322-1002
100 Ways to
Improve Your Direct Mail Response
1. Mail to your customers more often. If you are
now mailing four times a year increase the frequency of your mailings to
size or eight times. If you increase your mailings by 25%, you should
increase your sales by at least the same percentage.
2. Use a P.S. on every direct mail letter. The
P.S. is second in importance only to the headline.
3. Don't forget to thank your customers for their
orders by enclosing a message with the orders...and enclose another
merchandise offer with the "thank you" message.
4. Vary your mailing format - use self-mailers,
lettergrams, computer letters, envelope formats, catalogs...change your
format so that prospects don't get in the habit of recognizing your mailing
piece.
5. Ride on the coattails of current events
(energy crisis, elections, cold winters, etc.) When inflation increases,
have an "inflation-cutting" special, etc.
6. Look for other products you can successfully
sell to your customers.
7. Include more offers in your mailing package
than you already are. Study the mailings you get and see if you can adapt
the idea to your own mailings.
8. Think about using simulated handwriting for
emphasis in your letters. Occasionally test a handwritten
letter...particularly if you're soliciting funds for charity.
9. Try an unusual format that you've never used
before.
10. Test selective distribution to your list.
Maybe only a portion of your list should receive more mailings. Other
mailings should go to the entire list.
11. Stimulate off-season business by asking for
it. If you normally have a summer slump have a special "summer sale" mailing
in the summer. You can boost your sales any time of the year you need a
boost through effective direct mail.
12. Word your offer differently - put a unique
twist into it by offering a baker's dozen instead of a regular dozen. Or
sell 110 instead of 100.
13. You can even add a smell to your envelopes.
Check with your envelope manufacturer about special inks that can be used to
make your envelope "smell" the way your product does.
14. 1Change the size of your mailing package
frequently to create interest and appeal.
15. Test credit terms. You'll find that Master
Charge or Visa will result in larger orders than cash terms.
16. Let people "peek" into your envelope with
multiple windows on the face and back.
17. Test buck slip routing for addressing...and
use it to reach multiple prospects.
18. Try using illustrated letterheads and test
them against conventional letterheads.
19. Put a simulated check into your mailings to
emphasize a discount..
20. Consider using stamps, coupons, early
bonuses, etc.
21. Pack order starters - a special offer that
will get a person started on his order - into your catalog.
22. If you can sample your product, test
including a sample in your mailing.
23. Make more sophisticated use of your own list
and the lists you rent by looking for those segments of people in a list who
buy--and forget the rest of them.
24. Test simulated telegrams, mailgrams, and
other similar formats.
25. Test a tiny letter with a tiny pencil
accompanying it. Test a jumbo letter in your envelope...maybe even mail it
in a jumbo envelope.
26. What is your "wastebasket readability factor"
and what can you do to get people to read your mailing piece when it is
sitting on somebody else's desk... or has already landed in his/her
wastebasket?
27. Put a wraparound on your catalog. It gives
you two covers instead of one.
28. Test your catalog mailing and mailing dates.
29. Use teaser copy on your outer envelope and
test it vs. a blind envelope.
30. Acknowledge orders promptly, and include
additional sales literature with your acknowledgement.
31. Periodically send a statement to your
customer that shows they have been missed - even if they don't owe you any
money.
32. Follow up inquiries promptly and
persistently. Make it easy to buy from you by giving the inquirer a return
envelope to send his order back in.
33. Tie in with a timely topic (current events,
special problems, etc.).
34. Get to know your printers - not printer,
printers. Every direct marketer needs different types of printers with
different capabilities to come up with different printed pieces.
35. Test multiple premiums with your offer and
give your prospect a choice of the one (s) he prefers.
36. Put your lettershop on your team – they can
often supply many new ideas.
37. Remail your mailing to your best customers
three or four weeks later. You'll do 60-75% as well on the second mailing as
you did on the first.
38. Look for creative new ways to increase
catalog sales.
39. Remember the five basic rules - test, test,
test, test, test.
40. Don't be afraid to run without a test if your
gamble is small.
41. Use good judgment in planning your direct
mail and you won't go wrong.
42. Use a bounce-back package enclosure to get an
extra order.
43. State your guarantee in the strongest
possible terms, and state it often.
44. Spotlight your message on your envelope and
lead your reader inside.
45. Spotlight your sales points in your headline.
46. Start your message on your envelope and lead
your reader inside.
47. Feature last-minute merchandise on the back
of your envelope, or on a separate flier enclosed in your package.
48. Offset delays in mail delivery by extending
cutoff dates.
49. Cultivate customers with special savings,
bonuses or premiums.
50. Use lightweight paper to save postage and
allow you to put more in your envelope.
51. Use a "Publisher's Letter" to give the
prospects an extra reason for buying.
52. Put distinctive differences in your catalog
to add interest.
53. Check dimensions of your envelope to make
sure they will conform to new postal requirements.
54. Stimulate action by featuring a time limit at
the top of your letter.
55. Show how merchandise solves problems and
enhances the stature of the user among his or her contemporaries.
56. Use full-view envelopes, shrink-wrap, or poly
bags to display attractive literature.
57. If buying your product spells numerous
benefits, spell them out by number for maximum impact.
58. Increase customer goodwill and purchases with
advance notice of sales.
59. Use stock photos for much less than the cost
of making original shots.
60. Cultivate customers with special catalog
offers directed exclusively to customers.
61. Use unusual techniques to get your customer
to open your envelope.
62. Dramatize big news by using a big format to
present your message.
63. Can you use the inside of your merchandise
carton as part of your media mix?
64. Increase the impact of your advertising with
clip art at minimum expense.
65. Express appreciation to your customers for
their past business! And enclose some extra sell material with your thank
you message.
66. Use match-up and comparison tables to
increase selection ease and accuracy.
67. Offer premiums that are unusual.
68. Include smart “selling stuffers” in
envelopes, packages, etc.
69. Update your catalog with supplements or
newsletters.
70. Use a second letter in the package to
increase the impact.
71. Use a second letter in the package to make a
second offer.
72. Notify the customer if there is going to be a
delay in fulfillment - and include additional merchandise offers with the
notification.
73. Test using a post card deck mailing as an
inexpensive method to get leads/customers.
74. Put an unusual message on the outside of your
envelope.
75. Put an alternative offer in the reply
envelope to create bonus sales.
76. Try using stamps on the outside of your
envelope.
77. Tray a 3-dimensional package for unusual
effect.
78. Tray a pre-holiday mailing to invite a former
customer back.
79. Try a customized response vehicle to get your
customers to respond.
80. Offer to provide specific benefits to the
customers.
81. Offer potential gift lists to both customers
and prospects.
82. Use customer gift lists as future mailing
lists for your prospecting.
83. Test sell your product by phone along with
the mailing.
84. Use a toll free line to get more orders.
85. A double coupon in your package could double
your response.
86. A reply envelope plus loose stamp might be
more effective than a Business Reply Envelope.
87. If a postcard can tell your story ...test it.
88. If a postcards too small, step up to a
self-mailer.
89. Prove to your prospect that your free gifts
are really free.
90. Combine promotion with your shipping and
service information.
91. State your guarantee boldly, in strong
words--and repeat it often.
92. Make major anniversaries a plus factor in
your promotion.
93. Have your reply envelope emphasize your
prompt shipping service.
94. Present outstanding testimonials in a big way
for big impact.
95. Never stop selling the advantages of buying
from you to your customer.
96. Test different length trial periods.
97. Promote seasonal products in off-season times
- and offer alternatives.
98. Ask customers their opinion of a proposed new
product.
