Design Direct Mail Postcards Back-to-Front to Boost Response RatesWritten by Alan Sharpe
Conventional wisdom says that front of a direct mail postcard is for picture and back is for address, stamp and a short message.But some savvy direct marketers design their postcards other way around—and boost response rates as a result. The goal of front of postcard is to grab attention long enough to arouse curiosity and motivate your prospect to turn card over and continue reading. But postcards are usually delivered with back of postcard showing, not front. Check today’s mail. You’ll notice that letter carrier delivered your mail with address facing up (unless it fell through your mail slot in a random pile). The letter carrier reads name and address for each piece of mail and, without turning them over, places them in your mail box. That means that first thing your prospect sees of your postcard is back, not front. And you can take advantage of this fact.
| | How to Write a Direct Mail Fundraising Letter (Four Tips)Written by Alan Sharpe
1. Address your reader as a friend, not as “Friend.”
When was last time you received a letter from someone dear to you, addressing you as “Dear Friend?” Never, right? The days of Dear Friend letter are dead. I heard recently of a chairman of board of a national charity who has given his charity millions of dollars and hundreds of hours of his time, yet he still receives fundraising appeals from this charity addressing him as “Dear Friend.” Ouch. 2. Arrest attention with an opening that resonates with your donors.
Assume your reader is standing over a trash can with a stack of today’s mail, reading opening sentence of each letter before deciding its fate. You have only a few seconds to grab reader’s interest. So make it a zinger. Here are two openings for same non-profit. Which one grabs your attention and makes you want to read on? Opening 1: “I am writing to you to ask if you would like to support a low-income housing building project in your neighbourhood.”
Opening 2: “If I invited you to walk over to your neighbour’s house with a bundle of roof shingles under your arm as a gift, what would you do?”
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