The 12 Most Common Direct Mail Mistakes ... And How To Avoid Them

1. Ignoring The Most Important Factor In Direct Mail Success,
2. Not Testing,
3. Not using a letter in your mailing package,
4. Features vs. Benefits,
5. Not having an offer,
6. Superficial copy,
7. Saving the best for last,
8. Poor follow-up,
9. The magic words,
10. Starting with the product -- not the prospect,
11. Failing to appeal to all five senses,
12. Creating and reviewing direct mail by committee,

Mistake No. 3: Not using a letter in your mailing package

The sales letter--not the outer envelope, the brochure, or even the reply form--is the most important part of your direct-mail package.

A package with a letter will nearly always outpull a postcard, a self-mailer, or a brochure or ad reprint mailed without a letter.

Recently, a company tested two packages offering, for $1, a copy of its mail-order tool catalog. Package "A" consisted of a sales letter and reply form. Package "B" was a double post-card. The result? "A" out pulled "B" by a 3-to-1 ratio.

Why do letters pull so well? Because a letter creates the illusion of personal communication. We are trained to view letters as "real" mail, brochures as "advertising." Which is more important to you?

One recommendation I often give clients is to try an old-fashioned sales letter first. Go to a fancier package once you start making some money.

Mistake No. 4: Features vs. Benefits

Perhaps the oldest and most widely embraced rule for writing direct-mail copy is, "Stress benefits, not features." But in business-to-business marketing, that doesn't always hold true.

In certain situations, features must be given equal (if not top) billing over benefits.

For example, if you've ever advertised semiconductors, you know that design engineers are hungry for specs. They want hard data on drain-source, voltage, power dissipation, input capacitance, and rise-and-fall time...not broad advertising claims about how the product helps save time and money or improves performance.

"I've tested many mailings selling engineering components and products to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)," says Don Jay Smith, president of the Chatham, NJ-based ad agency The Wordsmith. "I've found that features and specs outpull benefits almost every time."

Vivian Sudhalter, Director of Marketing for New York-based Macmillan Software Co., agrees.

"Despite what tradition tells you," says Ms. Sudhalter, "the engineering and scientific marketplace does not respond to promise--or benefit--oriented copy. They respond to features. Your copy must tell them exactly what they are getting and what your product can do. Scientists and engineers are put off by copy that sounds like advertising jargon."

In the same way, I suspect that doctors are swayed more by hard medical data than by advertising claims, and that industrial chemists are eager to learn about complex formulations that the average advertising writer might reject as "too technical."

In short, the copywriter's real challenge is to find out what the customer wants to know about your product--and then tell him in your mailing.

Mistake No. 5: Not having an offer >>

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