Effective Direct Mail Letter?

The content to the letter will have to depend on who you are sending to so it's difficult to give you an example to copy as each one will differ greatly. Be polite, informative and humble and check your spelling!. These are basic points but it should give you a decent start.

I have heard about a 4 line direct mail letter? Does anyone have a letter they can show me either here or via PM?

Jacer,
The 4 liner could be used for both. More effective via direct mail.

Matthew Olson has a great WSO on this subject.

The 4 line letter is a bonus for joining Andrew Cavanaugh's membership site

Jacer-you can PM me if you want the facts.

Johnn has some top notch training. I never denied that.

A letter is the most common form of direct mail, and writing a good one isn't easy. These tips can help:

• Write down the most widespread problems your prospects face on a day-to-day basis.
• Begin the letter with a question or statement that directly addresses the most pressing issue you can think of. Immediately grabbing the reader's attention greatly increases your letter's chances of escaping the wastebasket or delete button.
• Once you have their attention, tell them how you can solve their problem with your product or service.

If you are only going to send out 20 letters even a single response requires a 5% response rate. That is considered phenomenal, and it sounds like you are new to the process. People who are seasoned pros would not expect any response at all if that is all they sent out.

The Dan Kennedy approach is to do a sequence of mailers-he does not expect a very high response rate for a single mailing, and would probably tell you to start with at least a couple hundred, and then do a sequence with no less than 3 pieces. You have to really work to stand out as well-a run of the mill piece will not get opened, even if you send out 1000s and a sequence of 7 or more-you really need to entertain, engage, and have a great offer.

I'm new to direct mail as well, but have joined Glazer Kennedy Insider's Circle, and have been learning a lot about this-those guys know their stuff. If you haven't joined already, I recommend a trial membership-great value for 2 months-then they charge you-still worth it imo-this was my first paid month, and I expect to be a member for life. People who apply what they learn get wealthy-the stuff works. I doubt there is a better learning source for direct mail.