How to Choose
the Most Powerful Format
For Your Next Direct Mail Promotion
I don’t say it often enough – but THANK YOU, friend!
The greatest rewards of publishing this eLetter each week – by far – are the thousands of kind and complimentary emails you’ve sent, thanking us for THE TOTAL PACKAGE.
It has been a wild ride: Since the first issue of this eLetter quietly schlepped onto the Internet in June 2005, we’ve …
- Published a mind-blowing 31 issues …
- Completed a dozen or so eBooks and reports …
- Conducted in-depth interviews with 20 of the most highly respected direct marketers in America – many of which you’ve read in these pages, and many more that will soon be available to all of you.
- Presented a highly acclaimed teleseminar series for our readers last fall, and …
Plus, for the last three months, we’ve been busily preparing a brand-new website and a passel of valuable new tools for boosting response … for helping copywriters and marketers connect … and even a blog to help you network more efficiently with other direct marketers!
And of course, we’re now in the throes of preparing for my Power Marketing Summit (April 20-22 at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel) – and I am truly gratified by your early response to this first-time-ever meeting of copywriters and their clients!
Many of the biggest direct marketing companies in the U.S. have already reserved their seats. Dr. Martin Weiss of Weiss Research is bringing a half-dozen marketing folks – and Motley Fool, Healthy Directions, Boardroom, Health Resources, Agora and others have each reserved multiple seats as well.
Plus, many of America’s hottest copywriters have locked in their places – luminaries such as Parris Lampropoulos, Carline Anglade-Cole, John Carlton, Kent Komae, David Deutsch, Kim Krausse- Schwalm, Brad Petersen and others.
And I also see a rich mix of small business owners and hot new copywriters are coming – one from as far away as Australia!
My Power Marketing Summit is going to be a great time – with oodles of thoughtful and thought-provoking insights, deep secrets and cutting-edge strategies to help boost your response on the Internet and in the mail. (If you haven’t already reserved your spot, I sincerely hope you do – while there are still seats available!)
None of this would have been possible without your support and encouragement …
… And it’s important to me that you know how thankful I am – and that all of us here at THE TOTAL PACKAGE are redoubling our efforts to make this the most value-packed service of its kind – and to help you get bigger winners, more often.
So, enough of the warm fuzzies – let’s get down to making you some moolah …
Answering “The Format Question”
Once upon a time – in the early 1970s, nearly all promotions for investment newsletters arrived in #10 window envelopes and contained an 8-page sales letter, a lift-note or two, a response device and a Business Reply Envelope.
In the mid- to late ‘70s, Howard Ruff broke away from #10 orthodoxy by using 8- and 12-page self-mailers – to make his Ruff Times America’s largest financial newsletter.
By the early 1980s, KCI was growing Personal Finance by leaps and bounds using 6 x 9 carrier envelopes and 16-page sales letters. I followed suit, testing even longer copy – 24-page sales letters and even a 32 pager in 1982.
In 1983, when Blanchard & Company became my #1 client, copywriter David Galland and designer Ted Kikoler began promoting our NCMR investment conference using full-color self-mailers – if memory serves, they were 16 pagers and later, 24 pagers.
Blanchard’s NCMR conference promotions were clearly sales pieces – they made no attempt to look like a real magazine or to seduce the reader with value-added copy. The first to do that were my friends Jim Rutz and Ed Elliott – in their now-legendary “magalog” promotion for Personal Finance.
By the mid-1990s, 8 ½ x 11 “magalogs” had grown into oversized 10 x 13 24-page “tabloids” and had been shrunk down into 5 ½ x 8 ½ digest size mailers called “bookalogs” – often 48 or 64 pages in length.
As each of these new formats burst onto the scene, it drove response rates through the roof, making all previous formats seem obsolete.
But as time marched on … and as more and more direct mail packages in each new format began appearing in prospects’ mail boxes … their novelty and impact began to dissipate – and the playing field has been more or less leveled.
Instead of asking, “What’s the hottest direct mail format now,” copywriters and mailers are faced with a more difficult question: “What’s the most appropriate format for this product, this message, and for this market?”
Example: I’ve found tremendous success selecting the oversized 24-page tabloid for my first outing on a product. The larger page size gives me all the room I need to include every conceivable sales argument – and the newness of the product offsets the slightly higher mail cost.
Then, every couple of months or so, I introduce the same copy in a new format – first, as a 5 ½ X 8 ½, 64-page bookalog … then, as an 8 ½ X 11, 24-page magalog … and finally, as a 6X9 envelope package with a 16-page sales letter and several other components.
Typically, my client’s return on investment rises with each new permutation of my copy … gives him two, three or even four “controls” that he can rotate in his mailings … and has often kept my controls on the top of the heap for two years or even longer.
Thoughts on Choosing Formats
for Mailings to Existing Customers
If I’m talking to my client’s existing customers, I figure I basically have two choices …
1. A personal communication – carried in a letter format is almost always my first choice. Since these people know you, respect you – have a relationship with you – they are most likely respond best to a personal letter from you.
I have had the privilege of creating and testing expensive, highly personalized sales letters against cheaper, unpersonalized packages (window envelopes, names lasered or ink jetted on the order form inside, etc.) on several of my clients’ customer files over the years.
And every single time they’ve been tested heads-up, my more personalized packages have kicked the living daylights out of less-personalized ones – both in terms of overall response and return on investment (ROI).
Furthermore, every time I’ve tested class of mail – First Class versus Standard (or bulk) mail – letters mailed to a customer file via First Class mail have generated a far higher ROI than those mailed at the cheaper bulk rate.
Fact is, I’d want to spend the extra money on personalization and First Class postage even if they didn’t boost ROI.
First, the faster delivery means the money comes back faster – a nice little feature!
Second – and this is somewhat hard to prove, but I believe that giving customers first-class treatment strengthens the company’s bond with them … increases customer longevity … and boosts customer lifetime value.
So long as the numbers work out (so long as your projected average sale is high enough to warrant it), I look for every way to make communication with customers seem absolutely personal – a direct communication between the company’s president or figurehead to his beloved friend, the customer.
I often favor a closed faced envelope, for example, smaller than the standard #10 (perhaps a #9 or monarch size) on tinted, textured “stationery” paper stock … a blow-on return address sticker with an American flag (or other image) … a series of several live stamps (as if you had to rummage through your desk drawer to find enough postage) … a simulated rubber stamp reading “First Class Mail” … and real-looking lasered, “hand-written” customer address … and if possible, NO facing marks!
Inside, a match-printed personalized letter on personal letterhead on matching stock with a believable signature at the close. A typewritten lift note on simulated yellow pad paper. And although it looks standard, the order form is marked up “by hand” in blue ink, giving your beloved customer a lower price.
There are plenty of ways to get creative with personal formats. Over the years, I’ve created simulated “Fed Ex” cardboard envelopes … scores of simulated “Western Union” mailgrams and telegrams, for example.
Once, I sent my client’s customers a “French Postcard” – actually postmarked in Paris – urging them to call their customer rep about a new coin.
Another time, I created an entirely new class of mail: Realizing that nobody ignores a letter marked, “Certified Mail,” I created an almost identical-looking sticker that read “Verified Mail” and displayed an official-looking “Control Number.” Response soared and postmasters from all over the country called to ask where they should record the number!
2. A “value-added” report: Everyone loves a free gift – and your customers are no exception. So sending them a bonus issue, a free booklet or other “surprise” is a great way of presenting the rationale for a sale.
For max effectiveness, the report or bookalog should be chock-full of valuable ideas, recommendations and/or tips that bring value to the customer’s life immediately – whether he buys from you or not. Then, in a final section, a final chapter – or even in a separate, personal letter, you can present your product and ask for the sale.
Of course, there are lots more ways to maximize response in promotions to existing customers – so I’ve included a full section on it later in this volume.
Thoughts on Formats for Mailings to Rented Names
While personalized letters and surprise gifts are great f
or promotions to customer files, creating promotions designed to bring in new customers is an entirely different animal.
My thinking: In my little corner of the world – selling investment, finance and health information products as well as nutritional supplements – long copy nearly always beats shorter copy when it comes to bringing in new customers.
How long is long? In both the 8 ½ x 11 and the larger tabloid self-mailers, about 24 pages seems to be ideal for 90% of the products I promote.
Typically, the copy cuts and readability sacrifices necessary to cram it all into 16 pages seem to cost me more in lost sales than can be saved by lower printing and mailing costs.
And although I’ve tested scores of cheaper-to-print #10 packages containing 8 page sales letters in the past couple of years, they have consistently lost out to my 24 page pieces.
I’ve also tested a couple of 32-page large-format tabloid pieces – and have yet to have one become a control. The extra room simply didn’t generate enough extra sales to offset the added printing and mailing costs.
So given the choice, I pretty much assume that special reports, magalogs and tabloids I’m going to write will probably run about 24 pages when mailed. My bookalogs, which have a page size half that of the typical 8 ½ x 11 special report or magalog, tend to have about double the number of pages – around 48, but I’ve also had some huge bookalog controls at 64 pages.
OK. So I know how long my final copy is going to be. Now, my mission is to kick the living daylights out of venerable control. So what should my piece look like?
Well, right off the bat, I have four, basic choices:
- Go bigger than the control: Spend more money on a larger page size and/or full color printing and gamble that increased visibility in the mailbox will get more attention – and that the added space to fully develop my benefits and “reason-why” copy will generate more than enough additional sales to offset the extra expense.
- Go smaller than the control: Spend less money, and go with a simpler looking one- or two-color piece, smaller page size and/or fewer pages, hoping the reduced cost will give me a big leg up on beating the control.
- Go with a different format at the same cost: Spend the same amount, but attempt to re-energize my prospects with a different look: A smaller page size and more pages (a bookalog instead of a magalog) – or a larger page size and fewer pages (a 16-page tabloid instead of a 24-page magalog, for example.
- Chicken out: Spend exactly the same amount as the control by duplicating its page count, page size and color use – and pray that my copy alone will win the day.
All other things being equal, many writers have found by hard trial and error that the smartest choices are usually #3 and #4 above.
There’s a better way …
Let Your Message Dictate Your Format
I struggled with “The Format Question” for years – until I realized IT’S A TRICK QUESTION!
Trying to make this decision at the outset of the writing process is a monumental blunder. It forces me into making choices that couldn’t possibly be made intelligently until my copy begins taking shape! Asking …
Should this be a component package – a direct mail piece containing a carrier envelope, sales letter, brochure, lift letter, response device and return envelope?
Should it be a high-percieved-value bookalog?
Should it be a quiet, serious, somber, low-key, self-mailed special report?
Should it be a slightly more colorful and consumer-friendly but still credible-looking magalog?
Or should it be a big, gaudy, voluptuous tabloid that virtually dances into your hand?
… is missing the point entirely.
The right questions are, “What look and feel fits best with my approach and my prospects’ feelings towards the subject at hand?”
And, “What can the promotion’s appearance do to present my copy with the greatest impact, credibility and readability?”
Imagine for a moment that, driving down a busy city street, you encounter a familiar sight: A clown waving cars into a roadside business.
He’s replete with a funny hat, a bright red shock wig, a huge red rubber ball for a nose, big, floppy shoes and a handful of balloons. But as you draw nearer you realize, to your horror, that the business he’s waving cars into – is a mortuary!
By way of contrast, try to imagine a grave, solemn, ponderous, Lurch-like “mortician” of a man on television – attempting to attract customers to a sexy lingerie shop.
Wouldn’t work too well – right?
But why?
Simple: If the tone, look and feel of a promotion is inappropriate for the subject matter and the prospect’s attitudes towards it, you might as well scrape your fingernails across a chalkboard!
And conversely, when the tone, look and feel of your promotion is appropriate to your subject matter and your prospect’s attitudes towards it, your copy has far greater impact and credibility.
Another way of saying the same thing: The look and feel of the promotion will both validate and add credibility to your sales copy, or it will undermine it.
Sometimes, though, your product isn’t aimed at serious investors or somber health-conscious people.
Sometimes, you get to talk to regular people about something a bit lighter. Like saving money on fun things like airfare and hotels and cruises and Broadway shows. Or getting revenge on greedy bankers and all the other bloodsuckers who fee them half to death. Or building a sexier, leaner body. Or becoming a better lover.
And that’s where the irresistibly flamboyant tabloid is queen. She’s big, colorful, outrageous, extravagant. She’s the biggest, fattest, happiest floozy in the whole biker bar. In a word, she’s FUN!
Not only does she do a great job at catching the consumer’s wandering eye, she also knows how to keep him faithful – with eye candy galore. And, when done right – with the perfect mix of credibility and proof elements – she’s every bit as convincing as any other format idea you’re flirting with.
THE BOTTOM LINE: When selecting your format, don’t worry about the control. Instead, ask yourself two questions:
- Start With The Prospect: Is he a customer with whom you already have a relationship? If so, my advice is to keep it personal – or deepen the relationship with a free gift – a report, booklet, something worthy of a gift for a friend.
- Let Your Message Determine Your Choice of Media: Remember that the medium – the look and feel of your package – is just as much a message as your copy is. For maximum effectiveness, the two must support each other.
Hope this helps – see you next time!
Yours for Bigger Winners, More Often,
Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
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