Do you spend a lot of money in printing and sending out direct mail ... but get few or even no results? Do you know that a large percentage of direct mail sent is thrown directly into the trash? How come? The following article is here to help you send direct mails that will get opened and read.

 

The first thing to remember when developing direct mail is that, when your audience receives your direct mail, you won't be there to walk them through it. So, your package needs to do what YOU would do ... without you. For instance:

 

• It needs to immediately capture the reader's attention.
• It needs to convey your excitement about your offer.
• It needs to show readers how they benefit.
• It needs to be clear in explaining benefits and details.
• It needs to anticipate and answer all of the reader's questions.

 

Plenty of direct mail, however, fails to do the job intended and ends up with a poor response.

 

What's the problem then? Why does so much direct mail end up in trash cans? Because the mail tells us what the speaker wants to say and not what the reader wants to hear. Let's look closer at this problem ... and what you can do about it.

 

Getting the Envelope Right

Though this is only a tip of the iceberg, getting the readers' names right may directly affect whether your targets open up the envelopes. Think of the days you receive direct mail. You don't throw it immediately into the trash. You read the envelope first. After all, you don't want to throw out Aunt Mabel's letter, and you probably shouldn't throw out the bills.

 

So you scan the envelopes. A few of them spell your name incorrectly. Those are junk (unless it's Aunt Mabel's handwriting and she always gets your name wrong). A few more say the same thing as countless other junk you've received. You'll get rid of those. You're pretty sure that two are just credit card applications, but you'll open them to make sure. And one seems to be hand-written, so you'll check it out too.

 

Just WHY Did That Happen?

So what was the obvious mistake made by the direct mail that got pitched?

 

Let's look at the first element -- names. Here's a truth: no one likes their names spelled wrong. In fact, many people hate it. Connie with a "y" instead of "ie". Anna with either one "n" or two. Our names make us different from the people around us. When the envelope says  "Dear Customer," human instinct tells us that we are in that company's targeted category. And you move closer to the dustbin. Try your best to spell your recipients' names, titles, and addresses correctly. This is a little touch that tells your readers they really exist for you.

 

The sender wants a cheap way to get his mail sent to a lot of people, not realizing that saving a few bucks now will make him lose in the long run - when his mail is thrown out because he never considered about his targets, who'd like to see their names spelled correctly.

 

The second element is because it looks like other junk you've seen a thousand times - either a title that reads "You've Won!" or one that says "Final Notice". The sender here is taking off his "grandma mask" too soon, unable to wait till little red riding hood opens the door. Remember to say what the readers want to hear. If you were the boy in the story where he continued to call that the wolf's coming and no one believed him the third time, you should be smart enough to get up to another mountain and yell that the tiger's coming instead.

 

Peek Inside

When you've successfully gotten your targets to open the envelope and take a peek inside, the first thing they'll see is the headline. So the headline should keep them reading.

 

The headline wants to showcase the primary benefit the reader will receive by reading the letter and taking action. This can be done either by stating the benefit outright, or implying a benefit with a question or teaser. It obviously must be appealing. Do you wish your dog could do as many tricks as the dogs on TV? What if you could have that wish inside of 30 days? Have I got an answer for you!"  Your target readers will want to know what you're offering.

 

For the first sentence and paragraph following the headling, a short human interest story often does a great job of keeping the readers' attention. If your recipients can read through this introduction, there is a better chance that they will finish the whole letter. For example, you can start with, "Our new pup had been using our carpet as a bathroom and my wife was so frustrated, she was ready to send him away. My daughter was holding the pup tightly in her hands and you could see a tantrum coming on. I knew I had to think of a solution ... and fast."

 

The rest of the letter can be straight-forward, because once you've hooked the reader's attention (and emotional "wants"), he then wants your information.

 

Bold letters and bullet points are always recommended to keep things clean and easy to read. Every word creates a picture in the reader's mind, so ponder the use of each word carefully. For example, readers may easily link "cheapest" with "poorest quality", and what you really want to convey is "best value." After all ... maybe it's your technology that makes your product less expensive (not cheap) ... and even of better quality!

 

Now that you already know what kind of direct mail ends up in the trash, always keep in mind to state what the readers want to hear, not what you want to say. That, is the art of sales letters.