Crystal Balls make life easy, especially for the marketers amongst us.

But as they are total figment of our childhood imaginations, we’ll just have to make do with research and copywriting cunning.

Direct mail isn’t easy to write.

Oh yes it is!

No, it isn’t. Because if you think all  you need is a bit of blurb about your product, a price and a way for your customer to order, you’re not going to be very successful.

Basically speaking, for your direct mail campaign to work you must have a brilliant:

• List
• Offer
• Copy
• Format

There are a few ‘magic’ ingredients that are required to make your direct mail letter rock. And as I’m feeling rather generous today, I’ll tell you what they are…

Get your offer out – fast

This is so often overlooked.

Get your offer into your heading and mention it again and again and again. A copywriter is a bit like a storyteller – they’ll create drama by showing the reader what their life would be like with your product and how it would benefit them.

To achieve this you can use two different approaches:

1. A desirable product

If you are selling something people want (e.g. jewellery, holidays, cars etc.) give your reader a vision of owning your product in the header and opening paragraph. Tell them you are offering  them something that will fulfil all their dreams and desires.

2. Overcoming pain

This is great when your product overcomes a problem faced by your reader (e.g. ill health, higher taxes etc.) Begin by describing their pain, then introduce your offer which is the cure and follow up with evidence of how your product will cure their pain.

Carrot and stick

Copywriters love this one. It is a way of telling your reader that great things will happen if they respond to your letter. Of course, bad things might happen if they don’t.

For example, if you’re selling a new brand of washing powder. your offer is that it’s been scientifically proven to get laundry clean first time:

Carrot – buy the washing powder and enjoy amazingly clean clothes every time and you’ll be successful in everything that you do.

Stick – stick to your normal powder, wear dull clothes, amount to nothing while everyone else looks amazing and is incredibly successful.

As you can see, direct mail is far more than just writing a letter. Your words have to convince your reader instantly.

Whether you are talking direct mail campaigns or direct response adverts – this is one form of copywriting that is set to stay.

Many people think that direct response copywriting doesn’t work, but if it doesn’t, why do so many companies continue to use it?

The key to ensuring your direct response campaign works, is to ensure that your copy is compelling, interesting and relevant enough to grab your readers’ attention.

If your writing takes on a friendly tone, it is far more likely to be read than something that is hard sell or ‘high-brow’. As for whether your copy should be long or short – quite simply, it should be as long as it needs to be to get your message across.

The magic formula

This is the science bit – there are 3 main elements to any direct response letter:

1. Headline
2. Offer
3. Postscript

Your headline must be attention grabbing, your offer must be amazing and your postscript will provide the incentive needed to buy.

Other important elements that will help your readers reach a buying decision are testimonials and case studies. People are naturally sceptical about unsolicited offers through the post (or by email) therefore you must earn their trust. And the best way to do that is to show them how other people have benefited from your product or service. But make sure they are genuine.

With a captivating headline and powerful offer, you should be almost at the sale point. But to give an extra push, use your postscript.

Your incentive to buy now could be a time limited discount, or the first 500 customers receive a free bonus…something along those lines.

The key to your direct response letter or email is to get the recipient to take action immediately, and that is what your postscript is designed to do.

Can you guarantee success?

The answer to that is probably no. There are so many factors that come in to play, there can be no guarantees.

However, you can maximise your chances by using a professional copywriter to write your letter. But you must also consider who you are sending it to (an in-house list is likely to bring in a greater return than a bough-in list), when you are sending it, how you are sending it.

If everything goes in your favour, direct response can achieve great results.

For many companies, sales letters (direct mail) are the main thrust of their marketing. But no matter how much you rely on them, you need to know how to write them effectively.

The humble sales letter has been used for many years so I’m not going to reinvent the wheel with this post. What I will aim to do, is to go through the basics of the letter to ensure yours is as powerful as possible.

The 3 main components

There are a number of different components to a sales letter, but here I’m just going to concentrate on the three main elements – the headline, the offer and the call to action.

• Headline

As with most forms of marketing, if you don’t grab your reader’s attention from the outset, they aren’t going to read your copy.

The headline of your letter must drawn them in. If possible use this on the envelope too to maximise your chances of it being opened. Many people have a sixth sense when it comes to spotting mail shots, so having a teaser on the envelope that will encourage them to open it is a great idea.

There is always a temptation to make your headline gimmicky and clever – this rarely works. The best headline to go with is one that’s benefits driven. Make your headline specific, tell them what you’re selling, its price (especially if this is one of the most attractive things about your product), tell them what it will do for them and what will happen if it doesn’t work.

Now that’s a lot to cram into a headline but it can be done. Take this famous example from Domino’s Pizza for example:

Hot Pizza Delivered to Your Door in 30 Minutes or Less or it’s Free

Anyone reading that will know what they’ll get, when they’ll get it and what will happen should something go wrong.

It will take a bit of practice, but see what you can do. Even if your initial attempt is long winded, work on it, refine it and reduce until you have a powerful, snappy message.

Before I move on to the offer, one other thing to remember is never finish your headline with a full stop. The full stop tells you to stop reading and that’s the last thing you want to happen. You want the headline to draw the reader into the rest of your letter.

• Offer

This is the real meat of your sales letter.

Don’t assume your reader knows about your product. Make sure your copy is explicit. Tell them about the benefits of your product, then tell them the features. But remember to keep it interesting. Bombarding them will strong sales patter will turn them off – make it interesting; make them believe they need your product.

When it comes to the specific offer, you have to make it as compelling as possible. Create urgency by limiting it by time, price or number – only 1000 available, special price for first 50 orders only, reduced price only available until 31st May…

• Call to action

This is it; mess this up and you’ve lost them forever.

Your call to action must me clear, concise and compelling. Don’t confuse them – call now, order now, book now. Also make sure you provide them with several ways of buying – order form, phone line or email. Everyone has their own preference for buying so try and cater for all.

The key to a successful direct mail campaign is to keep your letter interesting, relevant and benefits driven. Make sure you have an attention grabbing headline and a strong and clear call to action.

Sally Ormond – freelance copywriter