9 direct mail “devices” to quickly boost response

One of the primary advantages of using direct mail is your ability to “divide and conquer.”

Your letter delivers a personal message and makes an offer. Your brochure demonstrates features and dramatizes benefits. Your order form calls for action and eases response.

Each piece performs a specific function and, because each is dedicated to that function, does a better job than a mailer attempting to do everything simultaneously.

With that in mind, consider what else you might want to accomplish in your direct mail package. Then consider testing an appropriate insert or involvement device that can boost response enough to offset the additional cost.

Here are just a handful of ideas:

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How to start getting sales leads the easy way

If I could sponsor a national conference on sales lead generation, I would simply fill a room with Rube Goldberg cartoons, herd everyone in, and lock the door for a few hours.

No speakers. No booths. No buffets of cold ham and limp green beans.

And you know what? The effectiveness of lead generation in this country would skyrocket. People would be closing more sales than their companies could handle.

Once I settled all the copyright infringement suits from displaying ol’ Rube’s artwork, I would be rich. I would be hailed as the Peter F. Drucker of sales leads.

Oh, well. I can dream, can’t I?

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14 offers to increase profit and generate sales inquiries

part 4 of a 4-part series

We’ve been looking at offers because offers are the heart of direct response advertising.

In fact, I’ll remind you yet again, there are three absolute requirements if you want to do direct response. You must:

1. Make an offer.
2. Provide sufficient information to allow your prospect to accept your offer.
3. Provide an easy means of responding to your offer.

If you’re not doing all three, you’re not doing direct response.

So far we’ve looked at 14 offers to raise response and lower risk, 17 offers to reduce price and increase urgency, and 13 offers to improve terms and provide services and bribes.

Finally, we’ll look at 14 offers to increase profit (specifically dollars per sale) and generate inquiries for multi-step sales.

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13 offers to improve terms and provide services and bribes

part 3 of a 4-part series

In this series, we’re looking at offers.

Back in part one, we listed three things you must do to create effective direct response advertising:

1. Make an offer.
2. Provide sufficient information to allow your prospect to accept your offer.
3. Provide an easy means of responding to your offer.

Then we looked at 14 offers to raise response and lower risk and 17 offers to reduce price and increase urgency.

Now we’ll consider 13 offers that improve terms and provide services and bribes.

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