Frank Kern's 7 page direct mailer deconstructed

11 years ago

First off, that's a great blog and a great video.

Secondly, Frank is from Georgia... we raise 'em smart down here =)

Seriously tho- Frank is one smart cookie.

Jennifer
~PotPieGirl

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The Copy Nazi

Banned 11 years ago

It wasn't FK who thought of attaching a dollar bill to a letter. And it wasn't Gary Halbert. It was Robert Collier 70 or 80 years ago. View topic - Robert Collier - 15 Million Dollar Sales Letters • MarketTorrent

But thanks for this Ewen. Good stuff. Nice concept and nice bit of writing from Frankenstein (as I've been calling him later).

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WinstonTian 11 years ago

Liked the video...

The dollar bill's a grabber, but I really liked the weird stamps &
especially that "international house of ninjas" - totally throws
you off-guard.

He hit the biggest objection (highly predictable from the use of
the grabber)... then "gradualized" his arguments. Then the
classic copy came.

The other vids are worth watching too

Winston Tian
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Winston
The Beginner's Doctor
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Raydal

11 years ago

Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi

It wasn't FK who thought of attaching a dollar bill to a letter. And it wasn't Gary Halbert. It was Robert Collier 70 or 80 years ago. View topic - Robert Collier - 15 Million Dollar Sales Letters • MarketTorrent

But thanks for this Ewen. Good stuff. Nice concept and nice bit of writing from Frankenstein (as I've been calling him later).

This may just be a pet peeve of mine but I don't like seeing
people attribute to later marketers some strategy that they
just copied and not invent. I would hate anyone calling me
a genius for something I copied.

Not that there is anything wrong with swiping a strategy
that works. In fact, it would be foolish not to use a strategy
because some else thought about it first.

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Mr. Subtle

11 years ago

Originally Posted by The Copy Nazi

It wasn't FK who thought of attaching a dollar bill to a letter. And it wasn't Gary Halbert. It was Robert Collier 70 or 80 years ago.

To be 100% correct it wasn't Robert Collier who came up with the idea. In his book he talked to the writer about the letter (how many he mailed/results/etc) and reproduced the letter. Who knows if this unknown writer came up with the idea or if it was someone before him?

When this letter was sent out in 1928 or 1929 gasoline was selling for .21 cents a gallon. Today that "dollar bill" letter should have about $13.50 attached to the top of it to give it the same oomph it had back in the late 20s.

It's also funny that FK was too lazy to order some brand new crisp bills and attached a used bill.

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Pusateri

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Mr. Subtle

To be 100% correct it wasn't Robert Collier who came up with the idea. In his book he talked to the writer about the letter (how many he mailed/results/etc) and reproduced the letter. Who knows if this unknown writer came up with the idea or if it was someone before him?

When this letter was sent out in 1928 or 1929 gasoline was selling for .21 cents a gallon. Today that "dollar bill" letter should have about $13.50 attached to the top of it to give it the same oomph it had back in the late 20s.

It's also funny that FK was too lazy to order some brand new crisp bills and attached a used bill.

Here's the earliest reference I could dig up. It's 1923.

And here's the full text of the letter along with some information about the cumulative size of the mailing and the response rate. It's taken from Successful Collection Letters by William H. Butterfield (1941.)

I love the blunt call to action.

MERCHANTS ICE AND COLD
STORAGE CO.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

Dear Mr. Blank:

Here's a dollar! Yes, it's a REAL dollar
nice and clean and new.

Keep it if you want to, after you've read this
letter. But I don't believe you'll want to
then.

Here's what it's all about:

I've made an investment of a thousand dollars
in human nature human kindness. I've mailed a
thousand dollars in a thousand letters to a
thousand people picked at random. I have done
this because I believe that everyone is REALLY
kind, way down inside that no one is really
heartless and that the only reason why folks do
not help where help is needed is just because
these needs are not IMPRESSED upon them hard
enough .

And that's the mission of each of my thousand
dollars to impress the importance of a need.
This thousand dollars is my subscription to the
Orthopaedic Hospital-School for crippled chil-
dren and I'm investing in the belief that EVERY
ONE will come back in the stamped return enve-
lopes I am inclosing and that each dollar will
bring back several more at least another with
it. So our subscription, which I'm starting in
this way, will be at least two thousand maybe
five for there are going to be a lot of you who
send a five or a ten or more when you mail my
dollar back.

Remember both my dollar and your dollars go
to help crippled children.

Will EVERY ONE come back? Will every one bring
something more? Are people really kind or
REALLY heartless? Have I made a good investment?

What is YOUR answer?

Sincerely yours,
F. G. Calkins
President

Tested Pulling Power: 96%

The acid test in collection writing is the successful
solicitation of funds for a charitable enterprise. The
writer of an appeal for contributions to an orphans' home,
a school for the blind, or a children's hospital cannot
appeal to his readers' sense of self-interest or fear; he
cannot exert any collection pressure, since there is no
obligation involved. Those who receive his letter do not
owe him anything not even the time required to read
his message. Moreover, he cannot appeal to their ac-
quisitive impulse, for he has nothing tangible to offer
them in exchange for their contributions.

The problem involved in such a letter is the most diffi-
cult type of selling job. People will contribute funds to a
charity home, school, or hospital only if they are com-
pletely "sold" on the idea. Even a small contribution,
such as fifty cents, represents enough purchasing power
to buy a variety of tangible articles. So the solicitor must
convince them that they will derive more satisfaction
from supporting a worthy cause than they could gain
from any other use of their contributions. The best
approach to the problem is usually that which credits
them with a sincere desire to aid public welfare to what-
ever extent they can.

Yes, this is the most difficult kind of collection work.
But it can be done! The famous "dollar bill letter,"
written by the late Mr. F. G. Calkins, it has been called
"the most successful collection letter ever written."

It was mailed entirely without selection to 178,000
persons whose names were acquired from telephone
directories. Inclosed in each letter was a genuine dollar
bill. The pulling power of this letter was 96%, and the
contributions which it collected amounted to a third of
a million dollars. What more convincing proof could one
find that human nature makes a person want to live up
to an expression of confidence in his honesty ?

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ewenmack 11 years ago

Originally Posted by Pusateri

I believe that everyone is REALLY
kind, way down inside that no one is really
heartless

Now that's a killer punch right there.

It implies to the reader if "you don't donate you are mean and heartless".

Ouch!

Thanks,
Ewen
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colmodwyer

11 years ago

I'd like to see how he transitioned from "This is NOT a sales letter" to a $97 offer...

Colm

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Don Grace

11 years ago

I've always loved Kern's stuff and It's done well for me. But as far as being original... These days there are really very few original ideas. Shoot, look at movies... I can't believe how many are remakes from stuff all the way back to the 30's sometimes.

Just about everything we see is a re-work of someone else's work. If you know Kern's talks about character development then you know one is "Us VS Them". You can trace that back to Homer in ancient Greece.

Doesn't matter though, because when I first started learning about story lines and characters it was brand new to me.

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xlfutur1

11 years ago

I believe that original letter was written by Robert Collier. It had to be a serious test of confidence to send out letters with a dollar bill attached back in 1923! If the mailing flopped it would have cost a small fortune back then.

Its pretty cool to see that Frank would do a direct mail letter like that in this internet age. (Must be the Dan Kennedy influence rubbing off.) He is a brilliant marketer, and after all of these years I still enjoy getting his emails. You never know what they hell he is going to say in them.

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Mr. Subtle 11 years ago

Originally Posted by xlfutur1

I believe that original letter was written by Robert Collier.

And you would be incorrect. (You only had to read the second post above yours and you'd know.)

.
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RedShifted

11 years ago

Yep this is great saw it a few months ago. I've also seen all his other videos too. I'm not going to lie, but any video on youtube with the name "Frank Kern" in it.... I have seen already.