Here is a picture I snapped of a direct mail kit from Nielsen TV ratings I got in the mail the other day. It had a few cool strategies I want to point out to help you in your direct mail campaigns. The most obvious are the two crisp dollars. This forces the reader to have a connection with the mail piece. The first connection is curiosity. They will ask why did they send me $2? This leads the reader to look at your direct mail more carefully. Most people check their mail over the trash can. You have an extremely short time to grab them by the throat and make them take a few more seconds to read your mail piece. Money can grab just about anyone’s attention. Now you don’t have to use money, you could use a number of things. The point is to be outrageous, different and attention grabbing. There is a really cool book on this by Bill Glazer, you can check it out here. The $2 also created another emotion: obligation. Unless you are greedy and heartless, most people are going to want to give something back in return for a gift, even if its just their attention. The $2 works well here. People are going to feel obligated to fill out the survey and return it. After all Nielsen sent $2 in advance for it (brave souls)!
The second strategy I want to point out is ease of response. The survey was short and had three ways to respond. You could either log in to their website, fill out the included paper survey (with envelope and stamp included), or call on the phone. If your marketing materials are not easy to respond to, they WILL NOT work. It’s like a billboard with nothing but a hard to remember phone number. Worthless.
I would have changed a few things about this mailing. I probably would have changed up the envelope to be a standard first class one instead of a branded one with Nielsen all over it. And most likely done some work with headlines and testimonials. Nonetheless, a great mail piece. A tip of the hat to you Nielsen! I’m curious to see your results!
Nielson has been doing this for years all though when we got one a couple years ago, it was a crisp $5 spot. Downturn in the economy?
Your analysis is spot on however, and oddly enough, you have me conjuring images of my direct mail professor from college, a man looking like Ferris Bueller’s nemesis in the movie of the same name.
The direct mail game is one of numbers…how to get your recipient to open the piece. That is where the imperical data comes into play. The numbers are dreadful, like less than 10% but in an industry playing under 10%, if you get that kind of response, then you have produced a great piece.
I open pieces typically that use deception (pieces that represent something they are not or something from a personal fried) and that make me mad…trash.
I open very unique pieces and pieces from companiesI currently do business with in case it is something I need…take note, make a decision, put in file or trash.
And of course I open anything from Nielson because those crazy guys are mailing money and whether or not I taking their survey, I’m taking their money…which begs the question:
Do the ratings Nielson provides advertisers really equate to the actual rating number a certain program pulls or is it a result from a savvy direct mail piece and a few bucks to boot?
Ahh, what’s the difference…they cancel all the good shows anyway.
Keep up the Urge!