When was last time you received a classic long format sales letter in the post?

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I have read several books on traditional style sales letters but I very rarely receive one in the post.

Every time I open my mailbox it is filled to the top with glossy bits of paper with colourful photos and takeaway menus but I don't receive any classic style sales letters.

Virgin credit card occasionally send me a sales letter in the traditional format which is pretty good. And I received one from Labour and the Conservative before the election (Labours offering was absolutely awful, the conservative one was well written with bullet points and on proper paper, 10x better).

Maybe it is the area I live in doesn't get targetted much, I just wondered if anyone received these type of letters often, and if so, what were they selling?
#copywriting #classic #format #letter #long #post #received #sales #time
  • A few days ago I got one from Peter Sun in Australia advertising his upcoming Accidental Millionaire seminar.

    But usually only from him and others who run events through the same company. Yes, its very rare and a reason people should consider moving their online advertising offline. Very uncluttered mailbox compared to a very cluttered Inbox.
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    • Yes, I wonder if open rates are better these days?

      If I get a plain white envelope with a window I will always open it. I would never throw it in the bin. If it has a real stamp stuck to it then I will open it up first as It looks hand posted and more important. If its a letter I will always at least read the first few lines.

      Problem is though that I don't trust the qulity of lists from listbrokers and it is very expensive to send a letter to lots of people. Perhaps people are not doing it for good reason?
  • I get a few from Lawn care companies and also AAA has a nice
    DM package as well. Still, I agree that this form of advertising
    is not as popular as before. A few charities also send some
    out at Christmas time.

    Maybe we are not on the right lists to get these letters.

    About 14 years ago I got a lot of work-at-home opportunity
    letters, but not anymore.

    -Ray Edwards
    • [1] reply
    • A little while back, when I was reading a lot of copywriting books, I called up some list brokers and asked how I could get on some of their lists. The funny thing was that they couldn't tell me.

      There is a list of "IT decision makers" they were trying to sell me. I thought it would be a good idea to get onto the list and see what people were sending out to see the sort of thing people were doing. When they didn't know how the list was made I turned off to the idea as I lost faith the data was accurate.

      I'd still like to workout how to get onto some good lists that DM guys mail to.
  • Buy some products from Agora and Philips Publishing and see what happens...
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    • That's right about Agora I still get stuff from them I was a buyer (who returned actually)

      I don't get as many letters as I used to but being on a few buyers lists in the UK like Andrew Reynolds and Streetwise they still send long sales letters not so much Reynolds but Streetwise do!

      I'm seeing a growing number of small single page type letters that smack new people tying to make some money!

      Lynne
      • [1] reply
  • So pretty much it seems people only mail to house lists these days.
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    • I get a few now and then. But anymore it seems like I mostly get magalog type pieces.
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    • Not sure why you'd say that. Here in the States companies make some nice pocket change selling their lists. Someone is buying and testing these lists.

      Direct mail in the States is big biz. Here's a news release from earlier this year:

      In defiance of predictions about its decline, spending on direct mail marketing is expected to increase by more than $1 billion in 2010, according to an annual study from the Direct Marketing Association.

      The “Power of Direct” economic impact study released earlier this year reports that spending on direct mail will rise from the $44.4 billion doled out in 2009 to $45.5 billion next year.

      The study also reports that noncatalog direct mail continues to boast impressive ROI. According to the report, non-catalog direct mail returned $15.22 for every dollar spent in 2009.

      The report further points out that e-mail, once thought to be next big thing as a prospecting medium, drives fewer sales than most other channels.
  • Purple Shield (coverage for funeral expenses). Was a very well done sales funnel. My spouse and I bought the coverage. Sales pitch, offer, cost was top notch though.
  • there are "tons" of companies that would be willing to test it. AND...if you can convert, get leads, sales or develop a full blown program for a product, even your own...you'll still find a ready, willing and able audience ready to spend their money.

    The preferred way to get on any list is to become a buyer.

    Any other way to get on a list probably isn't going to get you the mailings you want.

    FRONT end pieces are hard to write, that is, to get a letter to a cold list that works, well, it is just too expensive for many companies to test, especially with an unknown copywriter, but, once they have a buyer, I know of very few large companies that would slam the door on your face if you brought them a long letter for back ends which they could test on their house list.

    From my experience, the winners are doing such gangbusters and generating so much income that a marginal product/promotion just won't get a longer ride than they used to get. There appears, from my perspective, to have been a shift away from lifetime value to higher profit/more expensive products and once a customer is identified that way, it is easier to sell them another expensive product, and more profit driven than to involve huge mailings for smaller priced items. But, I could be wrong.

    IF you can write a long letter for a product, I'm of the opinion you'll find a company's ear.

    What I can see is a lot of writing jobs for those of you who can write for the direct marketing companies out there.

    gjabiz
  • I still remember Ken Robert's memorable long copy sales letter I receive for his product, "The World's Most Powerful Money Manual." It was about commodities investing, and the sales letter was so good I bought the course and even used his brokerage firm to invest briefly in commodities. However, May Orange Juice did me in! This was back around 1997 or 1996.

    Still, it was a damned fine sales letter...
    • [ 1 ] Thanks
    • [1] reply
    • Old post, sorry... but any idea where can I get the copy of Ken's sales letter?
      • [1] reply
  • Do you ever get books delivered to you via mail?

    What do you think it is… junk mail? It’s a 300 page sales letter that sells the next book.

    So, to answer your question, I just received a long sales letter last week from Amazon. :-P
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