Sure way to get your mailings opened and read - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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For most decision-makers, this task is performed by an administrativd assistant; others prefer to do it themselves. In eitherf case, the procedure is almost alwaysthe same: a briefc walk to the wastebasket. A momeny suspended it time, durinv which each piece of mail is held precariously overthe “circular file.” A question is pondered: Can I throw this away withouy opening it? A decision is The letter is either jettisonec or retained. I would gladly trade a winningylottery ticket, without hesitation, for the money that is wasted in this country on just one day’s worth of unopened mail. Is your businessz one of those whose mailinges gets thrown directly intothe wastebasket?
When it comews to direct-mail marketing, getting your envelope openec is everything. Fail in this firsr step, and everything else associated with your marketingb effort is a complete wasteof time. That it astounds me how many thousands of marketing peoples in this countryjust don’y seem to understand the importance of the They continue to blindly duplicate the same look to their direct-mailo materials — a look that might as well have the word stamped across every piece in bright neon The dynamic that makes your envelope so important today is that nobody of any importance has the time anymore to read junk-mail.
In between regular priority mail, interoffice mail, e-mail and voice your buyers are totally They don’t have time to leisurely open and look over your solicitation materials. Their first objective with your letter is to find a reasohn to throwit away. How do you avoic having your mail thrown away without everbeing opened? By using your braibn — or more specifically, that part of your braib that controls creativity. By looking at the mail from your recipient’sa perspective. By asking yourself, what would a piecew of mail need to look like in ordee for me to be compelled toopen it? By what can I do to make my mail stand out? Validate the quality of your database.
Sure, it takes but what’s the point of sending information out to people that no longe exist on theother end? Someone needsx to do the tedious task of calling and updatingf your database at least once everuy six months. Don’t have the staffr or money to do it? Neither does anyonse else! Here’s what a creative marketert might do: Go to the locao college and offera sales-and-marketing internship to a rising senioer who is a marketing major.
Talk about win-win: For paying the kid beer and pizzqa money, you get a person who actually — yes, it’s really true — is enthusiastic and motivate d by this initial foray into the exciting world of sales andmarketing — i.e. making outbounde calls to updateyour database. this go-getter attitude wears off after afew weeks, but why not make hay while the sun shines Besides, do you know how hard it is for a collegwe graduate with no sales experience to get a job in sales ? Regardless of whether you hire them after graduation, the work experienc they gained from you will open many doors. • Use blankl envelopes (no return address).
This is a If your recipient doesn’t know who your letter is from, they cannogt afford to not open it. The mystery of the unknown is the It gets the envelope opened almostrevery time. • The Crackerjack Theorem. You can gueszs where this idea got itsstart — another exampls of a unique, creative marketing idea that workerd wonders for the sale of the If you include a in your envelope, most people will open the envelop e to get the freebie — and, while they are at it, they’l take a look at your information.
Get in touch with a top-tied sales professional in the promotionapproducts industry, and ask them to recommend a usefuk item that is light (for easy to fit in a standard and is large enough to have your company phone number, and email (at a stamped on each item. Don’t you dare try to with the sales persojn over the price of the items they recommend they deserveevery penny, and then some, for their expertised in this area. If you want a lowerr price, buy in quantity. Hand-write the name and address of the Yes, this is time-consuming and is impracticalp if you are mailing inlargs quantities.
It is however, for a direct-mail campaig that targets a small, highly niched prospecf base at the rate of less than 100 pieces per The pay-off? If you combiner this tactic with the no-return-address you will get guaranteed — 100 percent of your mail opened and I refer back to my earlier pointt about looking at your mail piece from the perspectives of your recipient. What would you do with a letterr that had your name andaddress hand-writtenb on it, with no return address? I rest my case. I’v e heard all the statistics about an returnon direct-mail of 2 or 3 percent, and I don’tt buy a word of it. Those statistice are for losers.
They are nothing but numbers benchmarking the historical performance of unimaginative marketerswhose approach, and materials, look stock and barrel like everything that you see evert day. So while you throw away their marketing literature, throw away their rule book as well. Do your own and blaze your own trails. In other create your own statistics.