Andover Group Advertising
Direct Marketing
Questions & answers
on direct mail
Q. What are the biggest mistakes advertisers make in designing direct mail?
A. The art direction overwhelms the copy or too much of the budget is spent on 4-color inserts or brochures in lieu of a larger distribution or increased frequency
Q. Does a BRC (bulk response card) work as well as a BRE (bulk reply envelope?)
A. Yes. A card usually pulls just as well and may reduce your costs. You may even add a second pass along response card. (Use a BRE if confidentiality is important. If, for example, a credit card number is required.)
Q. What do most people read first?
A. Most people read the letter before looking at a brochure or information sheet.
Q. How does direct mail differ from traditional advertising?
A. The copy is much hotter. Open with the major benefit and then provide additional benefits. Sell the offer as hard as you sell the product or service.
Q. What font styles work best for direct mail?
A. Copy should be limited to one or two highly-legible type faces. The direct mail letter should be composed in a serif type with a ragged right margin.
Q. Why are paragraphs indented on many direct mail letters and direct marketing brochures?
A. Because this makes the piece easier to read and generally increases the response. Though art directors may protest, underlining, color highlights, bullets, handwriting and callouts also increase readership. This can be done tastefully for major advertisers.
Q. How important is frequency?
A. One time mailings are far more costly per piece than mailing the same piece to the same audience a variety of times. The third mailing may actually generate a higher response than the first. For the sake of economics, mailings can be customized by changing only the letter copy.
A. The art direction overwhelms the copy or too much of the budget is spent on 4-color inserts or brochures in lieu of a larger distribution or increased frequency
Q. Does a BRC (bulk response card) work as well as a BRE (bulk reply envelope?)
A. Yes. A card usually pulls just as well and may reduce your costs. You may even add a second pass along response card. (Use a BRE if confidentiality is important. If, for example, a credit card number is required.)
Q. What do most people read first?
A. Most people read the letter before looking at a brochure or information sheet.
Q. How does direct mail differ from traditional advertising?
A. The copy is much hotter. Open with the major benefit and then provide additional benefits. Sell the offer as hard as you sell the product or service.
Q. What font styles work best for direct mail?
A. Copy should be limited to one or two highly-legible type faces. The direct mail letter should be composed in a serif type with a ragged right margin.
Q. Why are paragraphs indented on many direct mail letters and direct marketing brochures?
A. Because this makes the piece easier to read and generally increases the response. Though art directors may protest, underlining, color highlights, bullets, handwriting and callouts also increase readership. This can be done tastefully for major advertisers.
Q. How important is frequency?
A. One time mailings are far more costly per piece than mailing the same piece to the same audience a variety of times. The third mailing may actually generate a higher response than the first. For the sake of economics, mailings can be customized by changing only the letter copy.
posted by Andover Group Advertising @ 11:05 AM
14 comments
