Want Your Mailer Opened? Check These Envelope Teasers

An envelope "teaser" is one way to win attention in the critical seconds determining whether a direct mail piece is opened or tossed. We've watched clients struggle with teaser copy, so we thought it might be useful to offer recent examples that won marketing praise. First, we note that the best teasers often tap into marketing's proven emotional drivers for spending on a product, service or cause. Various marketing pros have identified those drivers as exclusivity, fear, flattery, greed and guilt, and others have expanded the list to include anger and salvation. Recently, a Target Marketing magazine article by Paul Bobnak, director of Who's Mailing What! global mail monitoring, highlighted his selection of the top seven envelope teasers of 2015. Agree or not, they provide food for thought and may inspire imitation. Here is a sample of just four. GEICO leads with the greed-driven "GEICO just made it easier to help you SAVE MONEY on auto insurance," plus a QR code on the envelope for those who don't want to waste a second to hop on the deal via mobile device. California College San Diego uses a teaser to flatter, along with a monetary lure, in "earn your degree and the income you deserve." Lifelock taps into fear, the fear of identity theft, with "Attention: Major Health Care Breach Could Affect Up to 80 Million." Quantum Wellness Botanical Institute knows lots of folks are angry at "big pharma" and their prices, so it teases with "Big Pharma Sparks OUTRAGE Trying to Patent This POWERFUL HERB" (which also implies pharmaceutical value), and then sells the herb curcumin inside. A caveat: A teaser can spark an open, but response requires the rest of the mailer to fulfill expectations! For all seven envelope teaser examples, including nonprofit appeals, go to http://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/the-7-best-direct-mail-teasers-2015/

Why Digital Marketers Should Embrace 'Snail Mail'

As a champion of direct mail, it's great to find support from the digital marketing world where "snail mail" is sometimes dismissed as a "remnant of the past." So I'm happy to pass along this recent article from ClickZ arguing the core value of postal mail to digital marketing fans. In "Seven Reasons to Make Direct Mail Part of Your Digital Marketing Plan," Kevin Lee, a search engine marketing expert, highlights seven reasons to embrace physical mailings: Direct mail can garner true e-mail opt-ins via devices such as PURLs and QR codes; direct mail has a better chance to win notice and response as mail volume declines and digital inboxes crowd; direct mail has gained price advantages for digital marketers with U.S. Postal Service discount programs for use of mobile and emerging print-to-digital technologies; direct mail wins younger response, too, based on research showing millennials and younger age groups respond well to physical mailers; postal mail can be highly localized via the USPS "Every Door Direct Mail" local market saturation; unlike e-mail subject lines, a physical envelope has certain delivery of personalized creative; and, finally, postal mailing lists can be appended to digital contact points for an orchestrated multi-channel response strategy. And, of course, direct mail doesn't have to worry about viewability or bots. Read more at http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2409287/seven-reasons-to-make-direct-mail-part-of-your-digital-marketing-plan