Ten features not to include in your next newsletter DM offer.This is my current list of pet peeves that I would attempt to avoid in designing direct mail packages. * Mystery envelopes. I think prospects have since figured out that a blank envelope--or one with only a P.O. box address--contains a selling message, "Intrigued by the blank envelope, they'll 'have to' go inside," is no longer true if it ever was. Either go First Class with an ink-jetted address--this is what real "personal" business mail usually looks like, or admit it's an ad and use some interesting teaser teaser an animal used to sexually tease but not to impregnate the members of the opposite sex. Usually males and they may be surgically prepared to ensure that they cannot mate or are not fertile. copy. * Preprinted postal indicia Signs; indications. Circumstances that point to the existence of a given fact as probable, but not certain. For example, indicia of partnership are any circumstances which would induce the belief that a given person was in reality, though not technically, a member of a given . If you're using teaser copy and a window envelope, no one isn't going to know that the contents are advertising mail... but in all tests, especially in the consumer market, this is the least desirable format. * Leading with the savings offer. When I see teaser shouting "Save $600" on the carrier, it only tells me whatever this is it is expensive. Why headline "Save $40" or even put in into the lead graf of the letter before I even know what the product is. This seems ill-advised. Also, discounts offered for many b-to-b products seem minimal. How motivating is $40 off a $377 price? Especially when the prospects are not spending their own money? Now, moving all the way down to $277 might make a real difference. Exception: If your product is universally known to prospects, Playboy, Sports Illustrated Sports Illustrated is the largest weekly American sports magazine owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. It has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men, 19% of the adult males in the country. , then you can lead with a great price--but few newsletters meet this test. * Too much emphasis. A sales letter should still "look like a letter," although I'm less sure that still means "typewriter" type. However, even though you can do it on your PC, too much use of bold, underlining un·der·lin·ing n. 1. The act of drawing a line under; underscoring. 2. Emphasis or stress, as in instruction or argument. and italics destroy the point. Handwritten hand·write tr.v. hand·wrote , hand·writ·ten , hand·writ·ing, hand·writes To write by hand. [Back-formation from handwritten.] Adj. 1. notations and color highlighting need to be used even more sparingly spar·ing adj. 1. Given to or marked by prudence and restraint in the use of material resources. 2. Deficient or limited in quantity, fullness, or extent. 3. Forbearing; lenient. . On the other hand, Smithsonian magazine keeps mailing me what is obviously their control--a 4-page letter that contains no fewer than 19 "handwritten" highlights. Language that intimates that if I don't order quickly enough, I might not get the premium. "Quantities are limited." In creating newsletter packages, I often "sell" the premium very heavily, but why would I want to create an iota of doubt in propects' minds that when they order they might not get this great report? * Undated un·dat·ed adj. 1. Not marked with or showing a date: an undated letter; an undated portrait. 2. deadlines. To me, "Respond within 10 days" is the same class of direct mail as the pre-printed postal indicia above. But I have talked to DMers who swear it works, including a pro who worked with some of the Phillips Publishing health titles. He'd seen test results that showed the undated deadline copy outpulled the "no deadline offer," so I should bow to superior experience... I guess. * Lack of testimonials. I want to know that you have satisfied customers. I never write a package without using testimonials if possible. I even wrote a launch package for a golf newsletter whose celeb ce·leb n. Informal A celebrity. editor had great testimonials--including one from Bob Hope (and the publisher insisted to my dismay on adding a "Famous Comedian and Golfer" cutline to his testimonial). * "Your first issue will arrive in 4-6 weeks." How anachronistic a·nach·ro·nism n. 1. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order. 2. is this in today's dot-com world where customers expect "real time" responses to their e-mails! One of the most successful publishers I know insists first issues (and sample requests) go in the mail within 24 hours. * Whimpy guarantees. "Unmailed issues." A strong guarantee is what enables us to convince persons who may never have seen our publication to pay in advance for a year's subscription--secure in the conviction that if it isn't as good as we say it is, they can get their money back. Top cataloguers lead the way in strong guarantees. I cringe cringe intr.v. cringed, cring·ing, cring·es 1. To shrink back, as in fear; cower. 2. To behave in a servile way; fawn. n. An act or instance of cringing. when I see copy like, "Returns, Call for authorization." * Finally The dreaded asterick. The savvy prospect Who knows a blank envelope contains an ad also knows that the appearance of an asterick means "the offer to which this is attached is not true." Fred Goss Fred Arlo Goss (born March 25, 1961, Orchard Lake, Michigan), an American TV actor, writer, and comedian. Personal Goss and wife Arlene live together with their three children in the San Fernando Valley community of Sherman Oaks in Los Angeles, California. , a member of NL/NL's editorial advisory board, publishes Fred Goss' What's Working in Direct Marketing. |
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