STAND OUT

U.S. households received 100 billion pieces of direct mail in 2008, according to the recent U.S. Postal Service Household Diary Study. Not surprisingly, an overwhelming percentage arrived in an envelope. While there may be less in your snail mailbox today than even a year ago, those envelopes must work harder to get noticed — and opened.

Here are seven proven ways to push your envelope to prominence.

1. THE STEALTH APPROACH

   It may seem counterintuitive, but a white envelope with a return address is more intriguing than a colorful, splashy envelope. The reason is simple: The white envelope suggests official correspondence, while the colorful, splashy envelope screams “promotion.”

   Include a promotional “credit card” type piece and the envelope will be opened to see if that card is important, has value and/or needs to be activated.

2. SIZE MATTERS

   Studies show most people fan through a pile of mail looking for items of importance (like bills), items of interest (like special offers or sales), and items of intimacy (greeting cards or personal notes). Varying the size of the envelope adds another element: intrigue. An envelope that is larger or smaller than most of the stack stands out in the pile.

   Taking advantage of Letter Rate mail with a “stretch” envelope is a proven method of getting the envelope noticed while yielding dramatic postage savings.

3. THE BIG TEASE

   Copy on the outer envelope should be intriguing, irresistible, personal and specific. It should provide a compelling reason to open the envelope. “Information You Requested” is like the aroma of bread baking as you walk past a bakery — it lures you in.

   The element of relevance in the teaser copy is particularly important for trigger mailings. For example, if the trigger was the purchase of a new house, teaser copy might say, “What’s missing in your new home?” The recipient needs to open the envelope for the answer.

4. PULL MY STRING

   Involvement devices like pull strings, window reveals and unusual ways to open the envelope can make the mailing work harder and, often, with little additional cost. Place an envelope that opens by pulling a string in the hands of most people and they can’t resist pulling the string.

5. THE BIG PICTURE WINDOW

   For affinity programs, the same large window envelope can be used for multiple versions of letters with different logos, different brands and different return addresses. Cost savings and easier inventory management are just two benefits of this approach.

   Using a large window on the back of an envelope allows your multi-color brochure, letter or form to work double-duty by acting as the marquee for your mailing.

6. IT’S A PRIVATE MATTER

   While self-mailers and postcards are effective for some markets and offers, information that comes in an envelope feels more private, more secure and more protected from peering eyes. Using a kraft envelope with a teaser like, “Important Documents Enclosed” adds to the sense of authority and importance.

7. THE DIES HAVE IT

   The window on your envelope doesn’t have to be a rectangle. The cost of a special die to create an unusually shaped window or to trace the edge of an image is minimal when amortized over the cost of the entire mailing. Experiment, but be sure to work closely with both your envelope manufacturer and your lettershop to ensure the shaped window can be patched and won’t interfere with the inserting process.

Your outer envelope is your first, best and sometimes last chance to get your offer noticed. Make it work for you.
— DEBORA HASKEL, vice president of marketing at IWCO Direct, Chanhassen, MN

IN SNAIL MAIL WE TRUST

Here’s something for banks and credit card marketers to think about as they move away from direct mail to electronic communications.

A recent survey from InfoPrint Solutions Co. of 1,050 men and women age 25 to 70 found that 71% of respondents said they always open e-mail containing a monthly bill and 60% will always open an e-mail containing a bank statement.

But — 92% said they always open monthly bills and 83% always open bank statements received in the mail. This shows a higher level of trust attached to traditional mail versus e-mail, according to the survey.
— LARRY RIGGS

Got a direct mail tip to share? Contact Larry Riggs at [email protected]

DM Backlash YOU NEVER KNOW what you’re going to find in your mailbox.

A survey distributed by the American Immigration Control Foundation (AICF) asked some 200,000 people nationwide such questions as, “Are too many immigrants coming into America?”

The response was not quite what the group had hoped for.

The New Immigrant Community Empowerment (NICE), a coalition of 20 community groups, asked people to reply to the survey via a “rapid response” postcard from its home page.

Some 1,200 e-mails flew to the desktops of the AICF’s organizers.

“We were barraged with hate e-mails,” says John Vincent, editor of the Immigration Watch newsletter at the Washington-based organization.

The pre-scripted postcard, sent by a single mouse-click, spread the message: “Your anti-immigrant campaign is anything but patriotic and is truly un-American.”

“Every now and then some ugliness rears its head and we react,” says Bryan Pu-Folkes, founder of NICE and a lawyer for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

“I was offended and disgusted,” he adds, “and when I see hateful speech I think the best way to deal with it is to counter it with the facts and to dispel myth with truth.”

Of course, the AICF has its supporters as well.

Vincent says the mailings target those believed to be interested in the group’s cause and others involved in patriotic organizations such as veterans’ groups. “If we hear from someone who is unhappy with the mailing and asks to be taken off the list, that’s what we do,” he says. “But for the most part, the ones who call are happy to receive the mail.”

Vincent says the foundation doesn’t plan to change its tactics.

“Why should we?” he asks.

Politically Incorrect New York’s Time Warner Cable stopped a direct mail campaign last month after New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman complained it was offensive to the citizens of her state.

One of the statements in the mailing piece – a brochure promoting digital TV – read, “A picture-in-picture guide that’s so simple even somebody from New Jersey can use it.”

Whitman got wind of the slight when she received an outraged letter – from a New Yorker.

“The governor thought it was totally inappropriate,” said her spokeswoman Jayne O’Connor. “There are many ways Time Warner can promote its product without bashing New Jersey.”

When Whitman complained to the company, it stopped the mailing that day, according to Gerri Warren-Merrick, a Time Warner rep.

“The advertisement referred to by Gov. Whitman was written solely in the spirit of the well-known, lighthearted New York-New Jersey rivalry,” wrote Time Warner Cable president Barry Rosenblum in a statement released to the press. “We did not mean to offend anyone and as a result of [her] concerns, it will be discontinued.”

The campaign had been going on since February.

“It was not a real smart move, since they have subscribers in New Jersey,” O’Connor remarked. The mailing only went to New Yorkers, Warren-Merrick said.