Daily Marketing Tips

How to Write Great Direct Mail Letters

Compared to email promotion, writing a direct mail letter is a bit like taking a step back in time. The postal address, date and salutation need to be included, together with a headline or “hook” at the start of the letter. What’s the best sign off to use? Yours sincerely? Yours faithfully? Or just “Best wishes”? Do you include an enc. at the bottom for an enclosed item?

In addition to considering these more “technical” issues, here are some suggestions on how to structure the main content of a direct mail letter. Follow these guidelines and you’re well on your way to achieving a great response rate and sales for your business.

1. Grab the reader’s attention. An eye catching headline should do the trick.

2. Attract the reader’s interest by identifying a problem the reader has or a need that must be met. You can do this by making a statement and then posing a question at the end. For example, “Sometimes it can be hard thinking about planning for your retirement when it’s such a long way off. But don’t you think you should do something about it now so you know you won’t struggle with finances when you retire?”

3. Position your product, service or company as the solution to the reader’s problem. For example, if you are a financial planning consultant, your solution to the above could be “Our financial planning services will help you plan for your retirement so you can do all the things you want to without worrying about whether you can afford it…”

4. Offer proof to convince disbelieving readers that your claim you can solve their problem is true. You can do this by providing testimonials from people who have used your product or service or write a case study that demonstrates how your product or service has solved problems similar to the reader’s problem.

5. Invite the reader to take action toward implementing your solution. This might be to request more information or to order the product or service, and is commonly known as a “call to action”.

Consider the length of your letter. Whilst business buyers will read a lot of copy and consumers typically pay more attention to pictures and headlines, in both cases it’s important to keep copy concise and tell the complete story in the fewest possible words.

Get to the point and don’t waste the reader’s time by saying in three paragraphs what you could say in one. Keep content interesting and relevant – the more interesting and relevant it is, the more likely they’ll read it. And make sure that the letter makes sense as a standalone piece – this is particularly important if you are enclosing a brochure or sample with it that could get misplaced.

Finally, don’t forget to spend time carefully checking content looking for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Read your work carefully and if you’ve got time, put it to one side and check it again the next day -your eyes will be fresh and may spot something you have overlooked.

Ruth Barnard, Purple Chameleon Communications
http://www.purplechameleon.com.au
http://www.facebook.com/PurpleChameleonCommunications