Summer GouldOver time the best direct mail copy writing wears out. You need to come up with fresh ideas to continue to sell your product or service. Coming up with new direct mail copy that sells really well is a challenge. There are however proven systems to use that are very effective. Let’s take a look as some of these ideas.
The three major desires we should focus on for direct mail copy are:
- Physical – hunger, thirst, bodily comfort
- Security – protection, safety, stability
- Esteem – achieve, be competent, gain approval, independence, status
We will not use all three, but instead choose one that will work best for what we are trying to sell. Keep in mind that credible ideas make people believe, emotional ideas make people care, and stories make people act. You want to use these to your advantage.
The key mix for the best direct mail copy:
- Simple: What is the most important thing you are trying to get across?
- Unexpected: Get attention by being surprising, keep them on their toes.
- Concrete: Create understanding with specific concrete information that is easy to remember.
- Credible: Testimonials by customers are very powerful. You can also offer a money back guarantee or a try before you buy.
- Emotional: Make people care about buying your product or service.
- Story: The story should inspire people to act by illustrating an instance where your product or service was needed to help them.
Stories are not just effective teaching tools, but are drivers of action. There are three story templates to choose from, the challenge plot, the connection plot, or the creativity plot.
- Challenge: A person overcomes a formidable challenge/obstacle and succeeds. These stories inspire us by appealing to our perseverance and courage. They make us want to work harder.
- Connection: A person who develops a relationship that bridges a gap such as racial, class, ethnic, religion demographics and more. This make us want to help others, be tolerant, love, and work with others.
- Creativity: A person makes a mental breakthrough, solving a puzzle or attacking a problem in an innovative way. They make us want to do something different, be creative and experiment with new approaches.
You can use the power of association in your story to get people to feel a specific emotion. You do not want to rely on an analytical argument, you need to garner emotion with your story to drive response. Nonprofits do this really well when they focus a story on helping one individual rather than a general donation to the cause. Inspiration is a great way to drive sales.
As always, you should be using self-interest in your copy, so that readers know it is something they need. The word YOU should be very prominent in your copy. After all you are trying to express what is in it for them. The best direct mail copy with a good offer and sent to the right people will give you a better ROI than any other marketing channel.
Make sure you are testing your copy separate from offer testing. You want to know how your copy is working. To track that, use an offer that you know people already respond to. Are you ready to get started?
