CREATING YOUR OWN MAILINGS:

THE LETTER Article 4 covered the creation of the flyers or brochures you might include in your mailings. Article 6 will concentrate on letters. Just as the list is the most important external factor in determining whether direct mail will be successful, the letter is almost always the most important internal element within the mailing itself. In our experience, which ranges from self-mailers to catalogs to elaborate multicomponent mail “packages,” every test has shown the cost-effectiveness of including a letter. Most of the letter/nonletter tests were used to convince clients who were new to direct response selling. A mailing prepared by me for Rand McNally offered, in the largest type that would fit on the envelope and cover of the brochure, the biggest discount that company had ever offered on its children’s articles. The mailing, to those on the publisher’s regular customer and prospective customer list, was a resounding flop. Practically no one

ordered. Then the mailing service called. Its staff had just discovered the 5,000 letters that were supposed to be included in the mailing and realized that the mailing had gone out without them! Would Rand permit them to duplicate the mailing at their expense, but this time including the memo? Rand McNally agreed. The result was as dramatic a success as the incomplete predecessor had been a failure. “High” and “low” information. Choice can also depend on what is being tested. For instance, I used postcards to test offers and mailing lists for the Cricket children’s magazine. While none of the card mailings would have paid for themselves, as tests, the “winning” offers and lists produced excellent results from a letter/ brochure package. Postcards were used to explore lists for which the publisher had “low” (little) information. The much more expensive mailing became justified when “high” (tested) results were available.

Writing the Direct Mail Letter

Practically anyone can write a good sales letter, provided that they follow the same two-step approach used by most professionals:

1. Decide what you want the recipient to do.

2. Decide what’s most likely to get the recipient to do it. The writing itself is often the easiest part. Where most of us go wrong is that we try so hard to make our letters sound businesslike and professional, that they seem forced and no longer believable. So if you’re not yet a direct mail pro, don’t write to the person who will actually get the letter. Rather, write to a friend, real or imaginary, who knows just a little bit less about the subject than your real audience. The friendship will provide the warmth in tone. The little bit less will keep you from leaving out anything important. Often we’re so afraid of insulting our recipients’ intelligence that we leave out those “obvious” facts that show we know what we’re talking about!

The Two-List Approach to Letters Start out with two short lists that you keep pinned on the wall, in front of your eyes.

List One

• What, exactly, you want the recipient to do.

• How, exactly, the recipient is to do it.

• How, exactly, you will fulfill your end of the deal, especially if the mailing is more of a success than you expect. Based on a consideration of these three points, you may need to restructure your response to the mailing, especially as the proliferation of response media becomes more important to the sales effort. For instance, are you structured to take orders over the Internet, by e-mail, by phone? Do you wish to be? Test! In case you can’t believe that success can be more of a problem than failure, be warned by the following “success story.” My own worst direct mail disaster involved a business-to-business promotion that promised to “give you the world for 14 minutes of your time.” It also promised to deliver the world—a handsome desk-size globe—through a personal visit from a sales representative. The sales manager, who had no faith in premiuminduced response, agreed to the mailing only to humor my agency. There were 28,000 names on the mailing list, 14 company reps . . . and a 31 percent response. That meant an average of 620 visits per rep with a like number of globes to be delivered. It was the agency’s first mailing for that client and the last one where they had to plead for permission to test for results.

List Two

• The benefits and features used to create the brochure, now to be used in the letter. If no such list exists, because there is no brochure or because you don’t plan to use one, see page 20 and create that list now.

• The three most important benefits from the list. For each of them, find at least three reasons why that specific benefit is more important than the other two.

• A comparison of the benefits, with their supporting reasons, together with a statement of the combination that offers the most for the audience to whom you are writing the letter. If you can’t decide which combination is best, it may not make any difference, but more likely, you need to learn more about your audience and how it benefits from what you are trying to sell. You now have the benefit about which you tell the recipients and at least three reasons they should act to get that benefit now. With both of the aforementioned lists at hand, you are ready to write (or supervise the writing of ) your letter.

The Three “Tells” In writing your letter, do not try to emulate the pros, with their cascading cornucopias of compelling reasons for complying with your offer. Keep it simple. Use the “what, why, how” technique:

What: Tell your audience what you want it to do. Translate that into a benefit for them, not for you.

Why: Tell them why they should do it. Use the reasons you found to be the strongest for them.

How: Tell them how to do it—how easy, how fast, how safe, and how resounding the benefit is if they act now. The sample letter can serve as a model for applying this technique. It was written not for this article but to help solve a very real business problem faced by one of my clients. Some background information is needed to understand the approach. Background For two decades, the Lectro-Stik hand waxer grew in annual unit sales. Throughout this time, the manufacturer had sold through retail outlets only. Now, for the first time, unit sales did not exceed the previous year’s sales for the same period. The decline was not attributed to competition, because, although a number of competitors had recently appeared on the scene, their much higher retail price and less sophisticated electronics were felt to keep them out of contention. Assignment The agency’s assignment was to discover the reason for the decline in sales and return Lectro-Stik to its previous growth pattern. Approach It took them four weeks to come up with the plan you have probably already formed just from reading the background. It took another month to convince Lectro-Stik to act on the suggested approach—to increase the price, thereby giving retailers the same high profit they were getting from selling the competitors’ models. Because of the industrywide change from “paste-ups” to computer-generated desktop art and film, the need for handheld waxers was lessening every day. With a shrinking market, retailers were attracted to the higher profits from the competitors’ higher-priced models. At the old price, there was no economic advantage to the retailer in recommending Lectro-Stik over the other brands and every economic interest in switching the customer to someone else. The new plan was as follows:

•The strategy. Give retailers and wholesalers an economic reason to push aside the competition and recommend Lectro-Stik.

•The tactic. Let them stock up at the current lower $45 cost and then sell at the new $59 price, which basically marched the competition. The $14 difference between the old and the new price was theirs . . . an unexpected profit bonanza—if they acted now!

•The test. Because the total mailing was less than 5,000, Lectro-Stik tested 10 percent of the list. The test was a success, as was the mailing that followed. The notes explain why the letter was written as it was.

Notes on the Letter for Waxer Mailing

1. Use this box device, called a “Johnson box,” in one of two ways: (a) When you have a single point you wish to emphasize—in this case, the extraordinary profit opportunity—but you want more than just a few words with which to do it. The box focuses your readers’ attention and tells them instantly whether or not the rest of the letter must be read. (b) When you can use a statement from someone other than the person signing the letter—for example, a note from the CEO of your company telling how important this letter is to the reader, or a plea from a local relief worker hoping we’ll listen to the national appeal.

2. All three of your “tell them” reasons are in these three lines:

• What you want is that dealers recommend the Lectro-Stik product rather than the competitions’. In this case, that can be implied rather than stated. Retailers and wholesalers aren’t stupid; they know their profit on the waxer won’t increase unless they do just that.

• Why they should do it—in addition to profits—is detailed later on. Here, we concentrate on the single most important reason: profits!

• How to gain the benefit is made simple and easy: Order now!

3. Personalize the letter—that is, address the dealers individually by name if that is practical. If it is not, note the welcome variation from “Dear dealer.”

4. One of the oldest rules in direct mail selling is to make your most important point(s) at least three times. The theme is profits, but though raising prices and profits to match the competition has to be announced, that alone gives dealers no particular reason to favor Lectro-Stik. It removes the lower profit negative, but what’s needed now is a jump-start to the positive.

5. That jump is here, a reiteration and amplification of point 2. In writing direct mail letters, all the rules are working at the same time—especially the ones that say to keep it simple . . . make it easy . . . and make one point at a time; but where possible, make it in multibenefit fashion. In three short paragraphs, readers have learned (in points 2, 4, and 5) what you want them to do, what’s in it for them (especially in 2 and 5), and how to gain this benefit (also in 2 and 5). Everything else in the letter will reinforce what you have already said.

6. When possible, use a key word loaded with benefits to add even more value to your message. Dozens of words might have substituted for profit, such as “benefit” and “value.” But if profit is the theme, be as generous with the term as clearly understood meaning permits.

Don’t become cute, however: Very few businesses find what they do funny.

7. The six features that follow grew out of a feature-benefit analysis like the one explained on pages 20–23. Notice how they let dealers justify—to themselves and their customers—their recommendation of Lectro-Stik without any mention of price. Note, too, that every point gives both the feature (presenting the dealer as expert) and the benefit (presenting the dealer as the customer’s friend), in language that does not demand great technical expertise. When—as sometimes does happen—a feature and benefit are exactly the same, leave them that way. We seldom gain from making things more complicated than need be!

8. A repetition of the “how to take advantage” information. Always put it just before the signature, no matter how often it’s mentioned elsewhere. That’s where your readers will look for it. Don’t disappoint them.

9. In the final version of this letter, one sentence was added immediately before this call to action. It said, “A preaddressed order form is enclosed.” And don’t think you are insulting your readers by statements like “Do it now.” Repeated tests have shown that they will; or worse yet, if the exhortation is left out . . . that they won’t!

10. Postscripts (P.S.s) tend to be the best-read portions of letters, so they are often used to give one more repetition of the writer’s single most important point. In this instance, the news of a national advertising campaign was felt to be even more important. The additional offer of free reprints is well understood by the industry and needed no further explanation.

For your mailings, get written clearance from the post office as a first step, not as the last. Show those in charge at the post office a layout of the envelope or selfmailer with the key words in place, and request approval for mailing the items. They will date, indicate “OK,” and sign that layout. If they refuse, find out why. The reason may be an easily changed technical detail, not the mailing itself. When they approve, ask whether there is any way to make postal charges less costly— from changing the size of the self-mailer or envelope to changing the way it is addressed. Legal clearance is next. But keep in mind that there’s little point in asking—and paying for—legal guidance before you’ve taken advantage of the free and generally very able assistance from your postal staff. Always remember you are legally bound to any commitment promised by your mailing. Make certain that you know the implications of what you are offering and what you must do to make good on the promise. Don’t guess. Know! When planning a look-alike simulation, such as a window envelope’s seethrough “check” or a seeming legal or governmental notice, consider both the percentage you anticipate will respond and the percentage you anticipate will have a negative reaction because they have been “fooled.” John Dewey’s warning that we are responsible for the foreseeable consequences of our actions applies to business as well as morals. Fortunately, in direct mail, it’s easier to foresee the consequences. Test!

ENVELOPES AND TEASERS The “teaser” is the message—actual or implied—by which you, the sender, gets someone to open an envelope or to look through a self-mailer. Like the headline in our ads, its job is to capture their attention—to separate a particular piece of mail from all the others and get them to explore it a bit further. The majority of teasers, especially in business-to-business mailings, can be do-it-yourself projects. Others should be attempted only by professionals, with you responsible for overall supervision.

SUMMARY

• Include a letter in any mailing you do. It’s what transforms mass mail into personal communication.

• Be absolutely clear about what you want the recipients to do . . . and that you can handle the response if they agree to do it.

• Translate your self-interest into benefits for your prospective customers. Don’t tell them about your wonderful seeds, tell them about their glorious garden

For Professional Pens Only Some mailings tease us with offers we cannot refuse, in giant type right on the envelope or the front of the self-mailer. Other mailings tease with the look of important documents, legal forms, or checks, and the simple request: POSTMASTER: Dated material. Please expedite.

The Other 90 Percent Set aside the mailings you’ll assign to the pros: anything to do with insurance, finance, and banking; contests, games, and sweepstakes; clubs (for articles, foods, or records), continuity programs, and negative options; fund raising and politics, and almost all consumer direct response. That still leaves 90 percent to get done. Most are business-to-business mailings, and you can do those yourself by applying some businesslike techniques. If you are writing the mailing yourself and are not a direct mail professional, leave the envelope blank. No teaser is almost always better than any teaser that is poorly done. Would you throw away a plain envelope without any teaser—without even looking inside? Well, neither will your recipients. If you do decide to use a teaser, here are some guidelines:

•Make your message instantly compelling. In larger companies, it’s likely that it will be screened by a mail clerk, secretary, and administrative assistant. That doesn’t mean it will be dumped. It does mean that the teaser message must offer a benefit worth investigating by the person to whom it is addressed. If there’s more than a single major benefit, or more than one way to sell it, don’t guess. Test!

•Relate the teaser to what comes next. Or relate what comes next to the teaser. When your readers open the envelope or self-mailer, continue the message

of the teaser. Before you go on to anything else, expand on, expound on, and solidify the benefit hinted at or promised in the teaser. The fastest way to lose your audience is to remove the reason you gave them for paying attention.

•Make it easy to read. Be as creative as your imagination and skills permit, but relate the message to your audience. Be aware that art directors and interstate trucking firms may require a different approach, but don’t take that for granted. Prepare several versions, make copies, and ask a dozen members of the group to whom you are mailing your promotion which version they like best. Then, after they have told you, ask them why they like it best. There is no statistical validity in the responses, but you should at least learn whether you are totally off base. You’re not trying to eliminate the test; you just want to zero in on what to test.

The Response: More Than Just a BRC Busy readers, especially in the business community, often go directly from the teaser to the BRC—the business reply card or coupon. Before spending time learning all the details, they want to discover what the offer is going to cost them—in dollars, time, effort, or some other commitment. So many of us now do this from force of habit, that mailers load the BRC with the key benefits. . The BRC is so important that many direct marketing copywriters do the response card or order form first. It forces them to summarize the offer and turn it into benefits that sell the target audience. Once you can do that, you’ve solved a major part of the direct response problem.

To Card . . . or Not to Card The format and media you choose for your customer’s reply, whether a card, an order form, an Internet address or something else, will depend on what you can get your readers to do and the impression you want them to have about you. For many business mailings, practically no one uses the response form you enclose; they use their own purchase orders instead. But don’t eliminate the BRC. It’s what gets sent to the purchasing department with instructions to “order this.” The more complicated the offer, the more important it is that there’s fully spelled-out agreement for your recipients to copy or to return. Make it easy. Let them fax—toll-free:

•Use a reply card when the offer is simple and there’s no need for privacy or confidential information, such as credit card or personal phone numbers. An increasing number of businesses ask us to give our credit card numbers and signature on the back of a reply card. You have an obligation to protect a customer who might not know better, so don’t do this in mailings you prepare.

•Use an order form when the offer is complicated, there is a need for privacy, or confidential information is requested.

•Use the order form also to survey customers and prospects. (Yes, even nonordering prospects will respond, if properly motivated.) This is delicate customer relations. Get professional help.

•Include a postage prepaid envelope when asking for payment by credit card number, check, or money order; or when multiple pieces or order forms need to be returned.

•With multiple-product mailings, especially if the items being sold are similar, illustrate them on the order form when possible. (As advertising manager for Rand McNally, I dramatically increased sales of premium atlases by picturing similar-sounding atlases on the order form. Being new to the company, I could not immediately connect product names with the stock numbers then used as the only way to identify them on order forms. Pictures made the connection instantly obvious. My assumption that some buyers might have the same difficulty, especially when a sales representative was not present to assist in ordering, proved correct.)

•As a multiple-product (or service) supplier doing a single-product mailing, list other products on the order form, too. Doing so can have astonishingly positive results. Feature the subject of the mailing by framing it within a Johnson box, used in the letter then list as many other items as you wish. Use very short descriptions if names are not self-explanatory. Thus, if you are a manufacturer of bicycles introducing a new model, you might also list other models and peripheral equipment, such as helmets, pumps, and tool kits. If you have not done this before . . . test! In our experience with a variety of companies, the results have been positive, but each distinctly grouped “universe” of mail recipients is different. Always remember that with direct mail, you do not have to take anything for granted. Test!

Give all the options you have available. If you do not have toll-free or Internet order taking capability, use a teleservice firm (Article 9) for a test. Encourage tollfree phone—and fax—ordering, especially if your competitors don’t and, even more important, if they do. The fear that you’ll be faxed lots of advertising literature is largely unfounded. Most advertisers are too smart to make you pay toll-free line charges for something they’re trying to sell. For outside handling of toll-free orders, check with your direct response association or see the Yellow Pages. Suppliers are becoming increasingly competitive in price and service. Shop before you buy. Put your agreement in writing.