Direct Mail Formats: How to Choose
the Right One for Your Next Mailing
by Alan Sharpe
Which pulls the best response, a postcard, a self-mailer or a
letter? The answer, you’ll be irritated to know, is clear. It depends.
The success of your mailing depends on who you mail to (your
list), what you promise (your offer), when you mail (your timing), and what you
mail (your format and creative). Here are a few questions to ask yourself to
decide which format is likely the best one to use for your next mailing.
Letter
Does your sales message need to come from one
person by name? Does it need to be addressed to a person by name? Is privacy or
confidentiality a concern? Then a sales letter inside an envelope is the way to
go.
Postcard
Is your sales message short and simple, and
designed to motivate your prospect to visit your website to hear your full
pitch (and place an order)? A postcard is a good option.
Self-mailer
Do you need to illustrate your sales
message while keeping printing and mailing costs down? Then try a self-mailer
(a document that mails without an envelope, such as an 8 ½ x 11 sheet of
card stock, folded once on itself and sealed with a tab).
Classic direct mail package
Do you have things to say
that do not really fit in a letter (technical specifications, for example)? Is
your sales message longer than 600 words? Does your prospect need to mail back
a check or order form? Then a classic direct mail package is your best choice,
consisting of a mailing envelope, letter, brochure, business reply card or
order form, and business reply envelope.
Dimensional mailer
Do you need to reach C-level
executives in Fortune 500 companies? Executives who have mailroom staff and
executive secretaries who screen their mail? Then a dimensional mailer may be
the most effective way to reach their desk with your sales message. One firm
recently mailed a portable DVD player in a high-end box, and enclosed a sales
letter explaining that the executive could get the remote control unit (without
which the player did not work) by meeting with a sales rep from the company who
mailed the package. The response rate was high.
Catalog
Do you have a lot to sell? Do you need to show
the color, shape or quality of your product? Mail a catalog.
Unaddressed flyer
Do you have a message that needs to
reach everyone in a given geographic area, such as a business park, for the
least amount of money? Consider mailing a simple 8 ½ x 11 sheet with
copy and design on one or both sides.
Email
Do you have a short sales message for your
existing customers? Send them an email (with their permission, of course).
Buckslip
Do you have a short announcement for your
existing customers? Do you need to remind them about something? Include a
buckslip in your next mailing. A buckslip is a slip of paper the size of a
dollar bill, with copy and graphics on one or both sides, that is enclosed in a
mailing envelope with other materials).
About the author: Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business
direct mail copywriter, lead generation specialist and publisher of
“Sharpe & Direct: The B2B direct mail marketing e-newsletter.”
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