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How to multiply direct mail open rates

by Cataclysm1987
9 replies
I was reading an interesting product the other day. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called local money matrix.

For the record I'm not here to sell either, just thought I'd drop a bit of knowledge on any of you trying to market to local businesses using direct mail.

Well, oddly enough, this guy was talking about how he uses direct mail and how when he hand writes a letter, it gets opened around 5-10 times more.

Yes, that's right. Hand written letters get opened several times more than printed letters from strangers.

It just boils down to human nature really.

If you were a business owner getting crap in your e-mail day after day, you'd throw out a solid 60-95 percent of all the garbage being sent to you to try and market your business, wouldn't you?

So, the best way to get around this is by hand writing the addresses on your letters instead of printing them out.

Only problem is...

It takes way more time.

You might spend days writing letters this way.

So real quick, let me show you how to get those same higher open rates on direct mail without having to sit down and write out every single letter you send, a real pain when doing a mailing to 500 or so local business owners.

Step 1: go to Fontifier - Your own handwriting on your computer!

Fontifier allows you to print out a copy of your own handwriting into a font. You can then print that into a word document and use it on anything you want.

I recommend getting 2 or 3 fonts just to make sure you have the proper amount of letters to remove conspicuous duplicates.

Step 2: Write out addresses in the new font, removing obvious duplicates

If there are two l's right next to each other that look identical, the person opening it will know it wasn't hand written.

So remove the duplicates with a second font to give the writing a look and feel that is genuine.

Step 3: Print them onto envelopes at your local Kinko's or printing store in your area

Plenty of local businesses like Kinko's offer envelope printing services that are great for needs like this.

Just head in, bring your addresses, and get down to business printing everything out. You can even print out your letters while you're there.

Try this one out yourselves and let me know what your results are.
#direct #mail #multiply #open #rates
  • Profile picture of the author Warrior Ben
    This is a great share!! I had never heard of Fontifier before, but there was another thread recently talking about hand writing direct mail pieces... this will definitely save a lot of time while still giving the personalized feel. Kudos on this post!

    -Ben
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Cho
    I use to send out about 500 of my handwritten "fonts" and so far my 100 handwritten (blue pen) converted way more. That's just how my testing went. maybe it's different for others.

    Even the deal that i closed yesterday the guy said, "yano so many people send me letters and tell me they'll give me money back guaranteed, i'll get you on the front page and all that but you're the only one who actually took the time to write me a letter. it showed that you cared."

    My best friend's gf closes 7-10k deals all the time with her letter and it's not a handwritten font or a handwritten letter. So I guess it really depends on the letters too.

    just my two cents
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    • Profile picture of the author Cataclysm1987
      Originally Posted by Warrior Ben View Post

      This is a great share!! I had never heard of Fontifier before, but there was another thread recently talking about hand writing direct mail pieces... this will definitely save a lot of time while still giving the personalized feel. Kudos on this post!

      -Ben
      You're welcome!

      Originally Posted by Chris Cho View Post

      I use to send out about 500 of my handwritten "fonts" and so far my 100 handwritten (blue pen) converted way more. That's just how my testing went. maybe it's different for others.

      Even the deal that i closed yesterday the guy said, "yano so many people send me letters and tell me they'll give me money back guaranteed, i'll get you on the front page and all that but you're the only one who actually took the time to write me a letter. it showed that you cared."

      My best friend's gf closes 7-10k deals all the time with her letter and it's not a handwritten font or a handwritten letter. So I guess it really depends on the letters too.

      just my two cents
      I agree, you can SOMEWHAT tell the difference.

      I wonder which is worth more of your time, the hand written, or the "hand written" letter?

      I am experimenting with both, but for you lazy marketers out there, this might be a lifesaver.
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  • Profile picture of the author Local
    Banned
    Originally Posted by Cataclysm1987 View Post

    I was reading an interesting product the other day. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called local money matrix.

    For the record I'm not here to sell either, just thought I'd drop a bit of knowledge on any of you trying to market to local businesses using direct mail.

    Well, oddly enough, this guy was talking about how he uses direct mail and how when he hand writes a letter, it gets opened around 5-10 times more.

    Yes, that's right. Hand written letters get opened several times more than printed letters from strangers.

    It just boils down to human nature really.

    If you were a business owner getting crap in your e-mail day after day, you'd throw out a solid 60-95 percent of all the garbage being sent to you to try and market your business, wouldn't you?

    So, the best way to get around this is by hand writing the addresses on your letters instead of printing them out.

    Only problem is...

    It takes way more time.

    You might spend days writing letters this way.

    So real quick, let me show you how to get those same higher open rates on direct mail without having to sit down and write out every single letter you send, a real pain when doing a mailing to 500 or so local business owners.

    Step 1: go to Fontifier - Your own handwriting on your computer!

    Fontifier allows you to print out a copy of your own handwriting into a font. You can then print that into a word document and use it on anything you want.

    I recommend getting 2 or 3 fonts just to make sure you have the proper amount of letters to remove conspicuous duplicates.

    Step 2: Write out addresses in the new font, removing obvious duplicates

    If there are two l's right next to each other that look identical, the person opening it will know it wasn't hand written.

    So remove the duplicates with a second font to give the writing a look and feel that is genuine.

    Step 3: Print them onto envelopes at your local Kinko's or printing store in your area

    Plenty of local businesses like Kinko's offer envelope printing services that are great for needs like this.

    Just head in, bring your addresses, and get down to business printing everything out. You can even print out your letters while you're there.

    Try this one out yourselves and let me know what your results are.
    Very good share!

    We have been testing a direct mail piece that is printed in what appears to be different colored crayons on lined yellow paper, like from a legal pad.

    The envelop looks like a 7 year old addressed it in crayon too.

    So far, I am blown away at the response.

    We even had little coupons for services.

    :-)

    We "borrowed" the idea from Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer.

    Bill has a book at Amazon named "Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get From Their Current Advertising"

    Amazon.com: Outrageous Advertising That's...Amazon.com: Outrageous Advertising That's...
    Which contains the story behind the crayon letter, along with a ton of other ideas to break through all of the white noise, that has become our and our prospects life.

    Ciao,
    Evie
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Clough
      Originally Posted by Local View Post

      Very good share!

      We have been testing a direct mail piece that is printed in what appears to be different colored crayons on lined yellow paper, like from a legal pad.

      The envelop looks like a 7 year old addressed it in crayon too.

      So far, I am blown away at the response.

      We even had little coupons for services.

      :-)

      We "borrowed" the idea from Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer.

      Bill has a book at Amazon named "Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get From Their Current Advertising"

      Amazon.com: Outrageous Advertising That's Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get From Their Current Advertising (9780982379318): Bill Glazer: Books

      Which contains the story behind the crayon letter, along with a ton of other ideas to break through all of the white noise, that has become our and our prospects life.

      Ciao,
      Evie
      That's one terrific book! I own it and there are some good ideas in there....I sometimes send out a simple letter type "flyer" on off-white or gold toned paper then hand address the envelope.

      When my kids were little, we used to have an envelope stuffing party and they would address them for me!

      So, it was addressed by a 7 year old
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesMason
    Thanks for sharing this...

    I too hadn't heard of Fontifier
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesMason
    I'v read Dan Kennedy and Bill Glazer book about Outrageous Advertising... Very good read.

    I have had work for me, on a little test I did with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author JoeLawrence
    I like using the Sweetly Broken Font by Brittney Murphy (Script > Handwritten fonts | dafont.com). It's free and looks good on envelopes.

    Writing your own font is a great idea too, so thanks for sharing, Eric.
    Not sure how you would use multiple fonts though. I assume you mean upload 3 versions and create 3 fonts. But then how would you change each letter to use one of the different fonts? Manually highlighting each letter and changing the font manually would really slow you down with 500 pieces of mail.
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