Think of getting people to respond to direct mail as a chess match. If you don’t apply the opening gambit on time or in the right way, the match is lost. The opening gambit in mail is, of course, getting readers inside the envelope – and doing it in a way that enhances the probability of response.
So this issue is devoted to envelope strategies and techniques. If you need convincing about the importance of the subject, consider that Bill Jayme said he spent 50% of his time on getting the envelope right. Given the fees he commands and his batting average in creating controls, there should be no argument about the key element in the package.
THE GREAT DEBATE YESTERDAY
Years ago, the great debate involved the “Envelope as Billboard” school (championed by Jayme) and the “Envelope as One-to-One Communication” (championed by Gary Halbert). The latter’s premise was that the more the envelope looked like personal correspondence, the better the chance of it being opened. The problem today how are you going to deal with deception? How will recipients of the package react to deception once they open the package?
There’s a fine line between deception and curiosity-building. An ersatz air courier packet is clearly deceptive; a blank envelope, or envelope with a teaser but no or sender identification, is not meant to deceive but to build suspense.
SIZE MATTERS
(or sometimes it’s as costly as “Godzilla” but unlike the movie there is a payback)
Most mailers know that flats cost more to mail than letters so they shy away from jumbo envelopes. This creates a wonderful situation for those mailers smart enough to test jumbos against smaller packages. With a 9×12″ envelope (or larger) you stand out from the rest of the mail – you cannot be ignored.
Caveat: think carefully about using jumbos if the predominance of your prospects live in apartment buildings with typically small mailboxes. Your jumbo may be crushed beyond recognition in the box or tossed by the mail deliverer because it doesn’t fit.
If you can’t afford the postage (and lettershop costs) for a jumbo, think about using #14 envelopes (5 x 11 l/2″) or #12s (4 _ x 11″). Both give you an edge over the standard #10s.
At one point, 6×9″ envelopes were requisite for consumer mailers and deadly in business-to-business efforts. They immediately say “Promotion.” Now that so many gatekeepers have disappeared in business (ah the wonders of downsizing), getting the promotion delivered to the addressee is much less problematic.
Then there’s the closed-face monarch envelope. It worked well in the late 80s and early 90s in mailings to executive audiences and upscale consumers, particularly if the lasering was high quality. The trade-off of small size for personal look is no longer worth it.
“COLOR MY WORLD”
It’s not only the title of a great Chicago song, but the way you should be thinking about envelopes. Most that go through the mail are white stock. So to stand out, think about testing brown kraft (and even gray kraft), blue, ivory, whatever.
If the stock isn’t available in colors, use full ink coverage to achieve the effect of a colored envelope. A recent mailing we created for an auto insurance company used a #12 window with a bright yellow background printed on coated stock. It was a big winner.
It May Have Killed the Cat, But in Direct Mail
CURIOSITY DELIVERS PROSPECTS!
One of the reasons people do open envelopes is that they’re just plain curious about what’s inside. They want to find out who and/or what and/or when and/or how much. The envelope has (sorry) enveloped them in a mystery and the clue to the mystery lies inside.
What do you print on an envelope to arouse such curiosity?
Sometimes NOTHING. In certain consumer markets, a totally blank envelope can do wonders for response. If your company mails heavily to the same lists, using a blank envelope might prove a profitable change of pace from your regular envelope.
Sometimes only a “corner card.” Often the most effective corner cards are incomplete: a street address and city, state, zip with no company identification a person’s name with the street address and city, state, zip an instantly-recognizable person’s name (entertainer, sports figure, business leader) with no address or organizational affiliation.
If your company’s name is a “household” word, using your logo alone could work better than any teaser copy. The prospect or even customer thinks “Now why would they be writing to me?” Even if the recipient says “To sell me something of course,” there is enough motivation to open the envelope and see what the product is and what the deal is.
Sometimes a compelling photograph on the envelope itself, or showing through a window. A package created sometime ago for a mortgage insurance marketer had a color photo of a premium showing through a small square window with no identification of the sender and no teaser copy. You had to open it to solve the mystery.
WARNING: Remember the Deception
Factor. Whatever curiosity device you use, make sure it relates to the product or service you are promoting inside the envelope. And don’t wait too long to do the tie-in or you’ll never move the prospect to the response form.
Often terrific copy. The right words can engender tremendous curiosity. Here are a few of the strategies that can be used:
1. THE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION. Questions that the prospect can answer Yes or No without opening the envelope don’t work. You can use a single provocative question or test using a brief quiz (with answers promised inside).
2. AUDIENCE TARGETING. Most of you know that your packages have to concentrate on real prospects and not try to sell everyone. In direct mail (as opposed to print or TV), it is presumed that the list itself does the targeting, but the recipient doesn’t particularly know that. Envelope copy that singles out the prospect as someone special increases the chances that real prospects will open it and that suspects will toss it.
An example of Positive Audience Targeting might be: “For all men who want to stay fit after fifty.” Presumably, you’re mailing to men who have shown an interest in health. So the recipient thinks “Hey, I’m one of those guys. What’s the deal?”
Exclusionary Audience Targeting also gets prospects to qualify themselves. An example: “Open only if you are seriously interested in improving the value of your portfolio.”
3. “ONCE UPON A TIME” Beginning a story (or in business, a case history) on the envelope can be an interesting change of pace and highly effective in particular segments of the market. Imagine Caples’ famous headline “They laughed when I sat down at the piano” as an envelope tease.
4. “LE MOT JUSTE.” Sometimes just one word can generate insatiable curiosity, get the envelope opened and produce astonishing results. A great example is the famous “DAMN” package Bill Jayme did for BusinessWeek two decades ago.
THE “THE HELL WITH IT, LET’S TELL THEM EVERYTHING” SCHOOL
Exactly how much copy should you put on the carrier? In the Denny Hatch/Don Jackson book, 2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success, Axel Andersson says “Spelling out the offer on the envelope is a dangerous ploy in mailings to cold lists.”
The question becomes “what’s a cold list?” If you’re offering a deal on a popular magazine, even though you’re mailing to prospect lists, most people have heard of the product so you can proceed with an offer.
In the work we did for Lawyers Diary and Manual, an annual directory for attorneys, the control package we developed for prospect mailings was a 9×12″ envelope with a strong testimonial and the words “You can profit,too. Try it for 30 days FREE” as the teaser copy. There was no identification of the sender.
After two years of testing complete packages against it, we did some teaser testing. This one – SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER – Save $10.00 on this proven-time saver for attorneys and legal professionals” – beat the control by 20%.
In the Hatch/Jackson book, Herschell Gordon Lewis says you cannot make a sales case on the envelope. The only purpose of the envelope is to get the mailing opened. “For example: Save 20% on Your Automobile Insurance’ is of interest only to people who have been bothered by the thought that they are paying too much for automobile insurance. A far stronger headline (and promise): Put $200 cash in your pocket next week!'”
Lewis’ teaser may get the envelope opened, but only those who think they may be paying too much for auto insurance are the real prospects anyway. One would contend that Lewis’ teaser lacks specificity. Look at what Colonial Penn says on their envelope:
“Want to save $224.00 a year on your auto insurance?
“(A Survey Shows on Average Our New California Customers Do.)”
Obviously, copy is personalized by state. It tells all and it has worked extremely well over a number of years. The inside of the envelope contains sales support – testimonials, checklists of benefits and discounts, etc – and a Request for Quote. But since the three most important factors in auto insurance marketing are price, price, price, Colonial Penn’s advantage is pressed right on the envelope.
SOME RECENT EXAMPLES OF STRONG ENVELOPES
These packages have been received in the past few weeks:
Nightingale-Conant/Unlimited Power: A gray kraft 9×12″ window envelope. No ID of company or product. Copy reads:
The general figured he had nothing to lose.
When the brash young man who’d never held a pistol in his life boasted that he could cut training time IN HALF for the United States Army’s pistol-shooting program, the General smiled.
When he vowed that the would raise its success rate at the same time, the General laughed.
But when the man insisted he wouldn’t take a penny in payment unless he was 100% satisfied, the General said “You’re on!”
Using the very same techniques that would make him a millionaire before his 29th birthday (continued inside)
The Ken Roberts Institute: A 9×12″ closed-face white envelope printed vertically. A
corner card not only has the name of the “Institute” but shows a vignette drawing of a building. Teaser copy, set in no more than 12 pt. type and placed under the address reads:
I PUT ONE MILLION DOLLARS ON THE TABLE FOR YOU.
THEN I GO ONE STEP FURTHER
Newsweek: A standard #10 window, but on blue stock. This is their Professional Courtesy Discount Package. The corner card reads:
Executive and Professional Relations
P.O. Box 59947
Boulder, CO 80322
Reply Requested
Hideaways International: A 6×9″ window. The front has a corner card, a ghosted drawing of a palm tree and teaser copy reading: “Never, Never Again Vacation Like the Masses.” The back of the envelope (we neglect using this too often) has three bullets referring to the inside of the package. The first: “What do the rich & famous do with their hideaways when they’re not using them? See inside, page 2.”
AND THE WINNER IS
The marketer who makes envelope testing one of business life’s priorities.
Lee Marc Stein heads his own direct marketing strategy and creative services firm. The consultancy contributes to its clients’ profitable growth through sound marketing and test plans, creative development and execution, database and media maximization, and customer nurturing programs. Lee works with all size companies in both consumer and business markets. Contact Lee at 631 724-3765, lmstein@optonline.net, or through http://www.leemarcstein.com/.
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