Excerpted from a post on Melissa Data Blog by Dean Rieck, direct mail copywriter
Here are seven myths that could be causing you to “undercook” your direct mail:
Myth #1—Your goal is to sell to as many people as possible.
People talk about response rates as if the objective is to achieve the highest percentage possible. It’s not. Your goal is to maximize profits. The response numbers are tools for analysis and comparison. They are not a goal. It’s relatively easy to pump up a response rate if all you want is a higher number. Just give away something free. But, if your net profit drops, what’s the point?
If you try to sell to 100 percent of your list, you will actually reduce response, because your message will be diluted in its attempt to be all-inclusive. The most productive mailings talk boldly and directly to the ideal buyer. If that’s just 1 percent of your list, then forget about the other 99 percent. Sell to the people who want to buy what you’re selling. The rest are irrelevant.
As an exercise, try to reverse your thinking about selling to buyers. Consider what you should do to eliminate non-buyers—those who are not interested, don’t have the money, aren’t ready to make a decision, or will not make a good long-term customer.
Myth #2—You can force action with clever techniques.
Don’t get too enamored of your own communication prowess. You can’t make people do anything they don’t want to do. You can’t force a sale. All you can do is get the right offer, into the right hands, at the right time, and use the techniques in your creative tool box to make the transaction as attractive and easy as possible.
Trying to force a sale can lead you to dry, overused techniques. Instead, try to make a genuine effort to be helpful and relevant. For example, if you’re a bank wanting to increase deposits, don’t just send out a sales letter that barks, “Open your new account today!” Offer a free booklet that educates your customers about how to use your services, perhaps with a title such as “How to earn more interest with your money.”
And, remember to remove the barriers to buying. People want to buy things. However, if there’s a good reason not to part with their money, they won’t, no matter how persuasive you are.
The fastest way to succeed is to remove the physical, emotional, and financial reasons not to buy before you tinker with copy. Don’t just club them in the head with verbiage. Make it real and tangible. The introduction of the 800 number, for example, did more for selling success than any flowery 8-page letter, because it was a tangible way to make response free, easy, and fast.
Myth #3—You must turn all features into benefits.
Don’t be too hasty. There are some market segments that thrive on features. It’s part of the “enthusiast” mentality, where dwelling on the objects of affection is the whole point of the experience.
Dedicated wood workers bask in details about carbide-tipped saw blades and chisel sharpening angles. Serious mutual fund investors wallow in verbiage about modern portfolio theory and decile rankings. Avid car buffs revel in talk about horsepower and torque.
This doesn’t mean you forget about benefits. There’s an old saying: People don’t want drills; they want holes. Okay, but for the enthusiast, while you want to talk about the beautifully straight holes, you don’t want to forget about the drill. For many people, the features are a big part of the benefits.
Myth #4—General advertising techniques don’t work in direct marketing.
Don’t you believe it. Many of the most prominent direct marketers came up through the ranks selling books, magazines, and informational products to readers and a core audience of direct mail responsive buyers. There was no need for a carefully crafted image, or for more subtle psychological techniques.
But today, almost every industry is using direct mail at one time or another. Imagine an investment firm sending you a mailer with screaming headlines, big red stickers, and promises of retiring rich. I’m not going to invest with a company like that. Are you? I might be frivolous about subscribing to Trout Fishing Today, but not about buying stocks and bonds. That’s serious business, and I want to deal with a company that looks serious.
Or, let’s say you’re generating inquiries for an assisted living facility. Your copy goes on at length about your attention to detail and the happy, carefree atmosphere. But, the brochure looks cheap, and the photos are snapshots full of frowning old folks sitting in shadowy rooms. A schlocky look makes people think you’re a schlocky operation.
Image is important. To ignore it is arrogant and shortsighted. It’s true that image doesn’t sell. Only words can do that. But, people give a higher belief rating to what they see, than to what they read. So, the image must match or exceed expectations. Otherwise, the words will be ignored.
