Increasing Return on Marketing Dollars

A Newsletter Published by
Lee Marc Stein, Ltd.
October 2006 Issue

CONTENTS

• Winning the Game in 10 Seconds
• Trial Balloons
• "Mine!"
• But George, There's Another Side to This
  

Winning the Game in 10 Seconds

Vince Lombardi once said he could win any football game if he had enough time. How would Vince have felt if he were given just 10 seconds to win the game?

That's all the time you have to get recipients to open your direct mail package. If you don't come up with the right play on the envelope, your whole ball game is over.

If you need convincing about the importance of the subject, consider that the immortal Bill Jayme said he spent 50% of his time on getting the envelope right. Given the fees he commanded and his success in creating controls, there should be no argument about the key element in the package.

THE GREAT DEBATE YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Years ago, the great debate involved the "Envelope as Billboard" school (championed by Jayme) and the "Envelope as One-to-One Communication" (championed by Gary Halbert). Today, Halbert was actually closer to having the winning formula. A high percentage of successful packages — particularly those going to prospects instead of customers — utilize an "official" envelope, one that gets recipients to believe an important and personal document is enclosed, rather than a promotional envelope. However, if you look at the total number of envelope packages mailed, the majority are still promotional in nature.

WHAT GETS ENVELOPES OPENED?
There are two factors which determine whether an envelope will be opened:

1. Does it demand ATTENTION? If your piece doesn't stand out from the pile of mail, it is going to be tossed unopened. Intrusiveness is a virtue, but how you achieve intrusiveness determines your success.
2. Does it create TENSION? I had never thought of this as a diagnostic for assessing the power of envelopes, but once I heard Allan Gross, Marketing Strategist for MooreWallace Response Marketing Services, talk about it, I knew it made sense.

Creating envelopes that demand attention

First, SIZE MATTERS. Most mailers know that flats cost more to mail than letters so they shy away from jumbo envelopes. And the disparity will widen with the next postal increase. This creates a wonderful situation for those mailers smart enough to test jumbos against smaller packages. With a 9x12" envelope (or larger) you stand out from the rest of the mail - you cannot be ignored. The folks at MooreWallace Response Marketing Services regularly achieve 20-25% lifts in response with jumbos.

Caveat: think carefully about using jumbos if the predominance of your prospects live in apartment buildings with typically small mailboxes. Your jumbo may be crushed beyond recognition in the box or tossed by the mail deliverer because it doesn't fit.

If you can't afford the postage (and lettershop costs) for a jumbo, think about using #14 envelopes (5 x 11 l/2") or #12s (43/4 x 11"). Both give you an edge over the standard #10s. You can also fold your 9x12" envelope in half to mail it at letter rate.

"COLOR MY WORLD" is not only the title of a great Chicago song, but the way you should be thinking about envelopes. Most that go through the mail are white stock. So to stand out, think about testing brown kraft (and even gray kraft), blue, ivory, whatever. If the stock isn't available in colors, use full ink coverage to achieve the effect of a colored envelope. You can also try metallic stripes across the envelope, and colored little triangles (perhaps saying "Urgent") as a border.

Creating TENSION on the Envelope

What you want to do is have your envelope create tension in the recipient that can only be relieved by opening it. There are a number of strategies for doing that:

It may have killed the cat, but in direct mail CURIOSITY DELIVERS PROSPECTS! One of the reasons people do open envelopes is that they're just plain curious about what's inside. They want to find out who and/or what and/or when and/or how much. The envelope has wrapped (or rapt) them in a mystery and the clue to the mystery lies inside. What do you print on an envelope to arouse such curiosity?

Sometimes NOTHING. In certain consumer markets, a totally blank envelope can do wonders for response. If your company mails heavily to the same lists, using a blank envelope might prove a profitable change of pace from your regular envelope.

Sometimes only a "corner card." Often the most effective corner cards are incomplete: a street address and city, state, zip with no company identification... a person's name with the street address and city, state, zip... an instantly-recognizable person's name (entertainer, sports figure, business leader) with no address or organizational affiliation. If your company's name is a "household" word, using your logo alone could work better than any teaser copy. The prospect or even customer thinks "Now why would they be writing to me?" Even if the recipient says "To sell me something of course," there is enough motivation to open the envelope and see what the product is and what the deal is.

Sometimes a compelling photograph... on the envelope itself, or showing through a window. A package created sometime ago for a mortgage insurance marketer had a color photo of a premium showing through a small square window with no identification of the sender and no teaser copy. You had to open it to solve the mystery.

Often, "Official" language. This could be anything from "Eligibility Notification," "Important Documents Enclosed" or "Do Not Interrupt Delivery to Receiver" to "Financial Documents For Addressee Only," "Time Sensitive Materials Enclosed" or "Do Not Bend." The tension arises from the prospect thinking "I may miss something important" or "I have to take care of this right away or suffer the consequences."

Often terrific copy.The right words can engender tremendous curiosity. Here are a few of the strategies that can be used:

• THE UNANSWERABLE QUESTION. Questions that the prospect can answer Yes or No without opening the envelope don't work. You can use a single provocative question or test using a brief quiz (with answers promised inside).
• AUDIENCE TARGETING. Envelope copy that singles out the prospect as someone special increases the chances that real prospects will open it... and that suspects will toss it.

An example of Positive Audience Targeting might be: "For all men who want to stay fit after fifty." Presumably, you're mailing to men who have shown an interest in health. So the recipient thinks "Hey, I'm one of those guys. What's the deal?"

Exclusionary Audience Targeting also gets prospects to qualify themselves. An example: "Open only if you are seriously interested in improving the value of your portfolio."

• "ONCE UPON A TIME..." Beginning a story on the envelope can be an interesting change of pace... and highly effective in particular segments of the market. Imagine Caples' famous headline "They laughed when I sat down at the piano..." as an envelope tease.
• "LE MOT JUSTE." Sometimes just one word can generate insatiable curiosity, get the envelope opened and produce astonishing results. A great example is the famous "DAMN" package Bill Jayme did for BusinessWeek almost 30 years ago.

There's a second way to create tension on the envelope, one that is diametrically opposed to arousing curiosity. That is putting a compelling offer on the envelope.

In the Denny Hatch/Don Jackson book, 2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success, Axel Andersson says "Spelling out the offer on the envelope is a dangerous ploy in mailings to cold lists." The question becomes "what's a cold list?" If you're offering a deal on a popular magazine, even though you're mailing to prospect lists, most people have heard of the product so you can proceed with an offer.

In that same book, Herschell Gordon Lewis says you cannot make a sales case on the envelope. The only purpose of the envelope is to get the mailing opened. "For example: 'Save 20% on Your Automobile Insurance' is of interest only to people who have been bothered by the thought that they are paying too much for automobile insurance. A far stronger headline (and promise): 'Put $200 cash in your pocket next week!'" Lewis' teaser may get the envelope opened, but only those who think they may be paying too much for auto insurance are the real prospects anyway. One would contend that Lewis' teaser lacks specificity.

If your offer is strong enough, recipients want to rip the envelope open and get to the response form, or at least read more about what they'll be getting. So a mailing from Cingular with teaser copy that says "2 FREE Phones. FREE Delivery" will get opened. You want to know what you have to do to get this. Other examples:

• "Your FREE CD is enclosed." Merchandising a Freemium contained in the package will always get the envelope opened.
• Guideposts successful "Redeem the enclosed Gift Certificate for 2 FREE issues, FREE scenic wall calendar, FREE "Expect a Miracle" Booklet.

What's the best plan for winning the opening game in 10 seconds? Only testing will tell.

Trial Balloons

Sometimes we're in such a hurry to acquire new customers that we make them offers more suitable for marriage than for a first date. We expect them to commit without experiencing what we have to offer. We forget about the power of trial offers.

Here's a current example. Through one of the design firms we work with, we're talking to a new theater on Long Island. They have the idea of using direct mail to sell a 7-play subscription series, and, cleverly, they will suggest that the series can be shared by family and friends. I assume this will be Broadway-fare rather than anything radical, so prospects will at least have heard of the plays.

But if I'm a prospect, how do I know I'll like the theater? Will the acoustics be good enough? Will there be enough air? How is the stage set up? What about parking? Unless I know the answers to these questions, the chances of committing to a 7-play subscription are minimal. And I certainly don't want to send friends and family before I "check it out."

On the other hand, if I receive direct mail with a special offer to enjoy a particular play, I'm risking only one evening. The one evening is a TRIAL, and if the theater passes the trial, I'm going to be very receptive to subscription offers. I might sign up in the theater right after the performance. I certainly would open any mail, or even take a telephone call.

Now going the TRIAL/single performance rout may not be necessary after a few years. If the theater is exceeding expectations, word gets around and theater management can mail into a community that is pre-conditioned.

Coffee or Coffeemaker

I always wondered whether Gevalia would be better off offering a single shipment of coffee to let coffee lovers experience the quality, instead of going immediate to a continuity (automatic shipment) plan.
Who would want to commit to continuity up front without tasting the coffee? Millions of people, that's who, because Gevalia does two things that make a difference —

1. They offer a great premium. In most cases, it's great coffeemaker. Yes, a high percentage of people respond because they simply want the coffeemaker, but the numbers must work for Gevalia.
2. They let you cancel at any time and keep the coffeemaker. You get — and have to pay for — one shipment, but you can call and cancel after that.

So this is a different kind of trial. And prospects are heavily rewarded for responding to what I call conditional continuity.

Stamp of Approval

Here's another way to let prospects experience trial. Postal Commemorative Society offers its members First Day Covers, but they do a good job of wooing members before they ask for the commitment.

First, there is a lead generation mailing. They offer prospects a free, real First Day Cover with no commitment necessary. Those who respond to this mailing then receive a masterful fulfillment kit that contains the First Day Cover. Only then does the Society push for commitment to continuity shipments.

The "Ouch" of Voucher Packages

Publishers have adored voucher packages because they don't offer trial copies of the magazine. So pay up percentages on voucher packages is very high. The "ouch" comes because voucher packages don't generate enough of a gross response.

Publishers whose product exceeds promotional promises are beginning to return to trial offers. If they target their mail correctly, they know a profitable percentage of those on trial offers will indeed pay up and become subscribers. Strong money-back guarantee offers are implicitly free trial offers, but being explicit is better.

Response Processing As the Trial

Sometimes you just can't offer prospects a true trial. But you can tell them they can experience what it's like to deal with your company just by calling you.

In health insurance, for example, your direct mail piece can say something like "find out how helpful we can be, how quickly we respond, just by calling for your free quote."

Want more response? Send up trial balloons before you ask prospects to commit to anything more.

"Mine!"

My youngest grandchild, Samantha, will turn two at Thanksgiving time. She's just starting to speak words adults can recognize. Of course, the first words were "Mama" and "Dada," but the word she now says most distinctly and emphatically is "Mine!"

This is her first four-letter street word. Or maybe she learned it from the other children in the day care facility. Whatever the origin, it's now her word, and her thought.

What does this have to do with marketing? Remember the Wordsworth line "the child is father of the man." If a two year old expresses feelings about ownership, what do disenfranchised 20 year olds or 50 year olds feel? The average American can't own something big. If it's a house, for example, the bank really owns it most of the time. Perhaps that's why collectables still have such appeal, and why timeshares (both vacation homes and now super luxury automobiles) are booming.

When you have mass advertising and mass production, it is difficult to convey ownership. It's difficult for a buyer to say "Mine!" when everyone on the block has the same product in the same color. Customization allows the buyer to say "Mine!", and the marketing that works conveys that as a benefit of purchase.

Out of the mouths of babes...

But George, There's Another Side to This

On September 19^th, the entry on my George Carlin daily calendar pad read "The worst thing about e-mail is that you can't interrupt the other person. You have to read the whole thing, and then e-mail them back, pointing out their mistakes and faulty assumptions. It's frustrating and it's time-consuming. God bless phone calls."

Obviously, George is taking a consumer's point of view here. When you receive a telemarketing call, you can make it a living hell for the telemarketer.

With emails, you really conduct monologues that are linked rather than true dialogues. You don't have a dialogue upon receipt of direct mail, upon hearing a radio ad, or seeing a TV spot.

Now let's look at the marketer's side. There are two major forces working in successful direct marketing: disruption and dialogue. The telephone is still the most disruptive medium and lends itself, as George advises, to the most dialogue.

Direct mail works best when it is a disruption in the pile of bills and other ads. If you establish a tacit dialogue with recipients — get them nodding their heads "Yes, that's me" within the first minutes, you win.

Network TV advertising doesn't disrupt much any more, simply because it's too easy to tune out. Except when (and if) George Carlin does spots playing the Hippy, Dippy Weatherman.

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