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Read the Letter First. Then, Open The Enclosure!

By Nick James

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 05Apr2008
Word count: 771
Viewed: 488 time(s)

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Have you ever opened a direct mail piece where everything inside it fell out like a gushing river?

Where everything get so cluttered and jumbled, that you weren't sure what you were supposed to get to first?

Well, it seems that skimping and saving pennies by walking over pounds, pots of it, seems to be the way many marketers tread.

Imagine this:

You receive a letter in the post. It has multiple picture stamps on it. It has a hand written address on it. There's no other identifying 'clues' to tell you who's sent it.

When you open it, there's a single page letter, attached to a more fuller letter. You look deeper into the envelope where there's another envelope that has a hand written post-it note on it, saying...

... "Please read the letter first. Then open this enclosure."

Here's what that little strategy does:

1. It separates all the 'accessories' from the main selling device -- The SALES LETTER.

2. It tells the recipient that you, the sender, has thought a lot about the sequence you want them to follow re the mail piece.

3. There's no distractions from all the brochures, order forms, testimonial pages, additional flyers, up sell letters. Your focus and attention is systemised for you.

4. There's no " Oh hell, what's all this bumph about" type reaction. (so engendering a positive feeling towards you from the outset).

5. Even if the customer or prospect doesn't buy from you in this instance, you would have planted a seed of warm receptivity in the mind of the reader.

Now, I'm sure that there are some saying, " doing that will murder our margins!" We can't afford the extra expense of doing all that!

Well, it's okay to have that type of response. Especially if you're concerned about only achieving mediocre profits.

The only true decider is, TO TEST!

You see, doing a small sample test to a database or list, will tell us whether this has merit or not. Not doing it could be prove to be MORE COSTLIER than you thought.

Of course, if you're going to mail to a real cold list where there's no affinity or where there's no history of PROVEN BUYING, then, you could be dumping a ton of dough into the rubbish bin.

If you've familiarity with a certain group of people, then this strategy could work, spectacularly.

You see, being taken for granted is not a great feeling to have. And, many businesses are guilty of doing exactly that... taking their existing customers for granted.

Imagine the thoughts that'll run through one of your existing customers if they get a mail like the one described above. What do you think they'll feel?

Giving a WOW! experience to existing customers and clients, is fundamental to keeping them interested, excited and curious to know what you'll be sending them next.

It's what builds the "can't wait what they're going to send me next" type response in their mind.

Getting that type of response is miles ahead from the "oh yuk" type reaction, where the letter flood gates get left open. Don't you think?

Here's a simple test you can try, without ever contemplating breaking open the piggy bank. As, you'll only be writing to ONE PERSON.

Whether to your spouse, partner, children, friends, etc, do the following:

Send them a one-page letter on yellow, pink or green paper. In that letter, tell them how important they are to you, that you may not have paid them enough of the attention that they deserve, and you're planning to make things better.

Tuck that letter into an envelope and address it as mentioned somewhere above. Before sealing though, in the envelope is another envelope that says...

"Please don't open until you read the one-page letter".

After they read the letter, they go to the second envelope. They open it. Inside is a little certificate that says something like;

"For being such a valuable treasure in my life, I'm honoured to be able to spend a whole day with you, anytime you say is okay for you".

I'll leave it up to you to decide whether this'll work, or not, and what'll be the type of reaction on the face of the person who receives it.

P.S. I'd love to hear of any stories regarding the above little technique. Do drop me a line and let me know. Thank you.

Nick James is a UK based direct marketer and product developer. During the last 5 years Nick has sold in excess of �1.6 Million Pounds worth of products and sevices online. Subscribe to his Free Tip Of The Week email at: http://www.Nick-James.com

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