More Direct Mail Test Results
I love testing! Every marketer/fundraiser should have an addiction to testing built into their genes.
Here are some tests reported on SOFII by Willis Turner, senior copywriter at Huntsinger & Jeffer.
His examples — all dealing with direct mail acquisition packages — cover …
- Two-color vs four-color carrier
- Short vs long letter
- Mailing labels gift vs ‘invoice’ package
- Mailing labels gift vs out-of-the-box paper lunch bag package
- ‘Plain & simple’ vs ‘fancy’
I’ll bet many of you have tested the same kinds of options, one way or the other.
Concludes Willis: “If there’s one thing you can rely on, it’s that conventional wisdom is unreliable. Except, that is, for the one piece of conventional wisdom that really has stood the test of time: When in doubt… TEST!”
Amen.
Tom
P.S. While you’re pondering the efficacy of your direct mail, read this rant — Let’s Be Direct About It: Junk Mail Sucks — by Scott Donaton writing in Direct Marketing News. Says Scott: “Most pieces of direct mail are poorly designed, off-target messages easily separated into a trash pile without a second glance. Some of these mailbox missives move past irrelevance and inch close to the border of sleazy, trying to appear “official” or as a “last notice” that can’t be ignored.” He can’t be talking about fundraising mail, can he?
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