Chapter Six. How to Get Orders through Direct Mail

The most fascinating phase of mail order, and sometimes the quickest and easiest way for a beginner to start, is selling directly by mail. A con­stant assault of direct mail advertising, offering everything from diaper services to grave plots and tombstones is di­rected at every American. This unceasing activity proves that direct mail pays, and the beginner is foregoing a lucra­tive medium if he persists in ignoring it.

The paraphernalia of direct mail advertising must be familiar to everyone. The average mailing piece, as it is called, consists of an outer envelope, a letter, circular, busi­ness reply envelope or card, and order blank which may be part of the circular or a separate unit. Some mailers also include testimonial matter, last-minute discount slips and warranties. Others omit the circular but make the letter longer, often three or four pages. But regardless of individ­ual variation, their aim is similar—to make the recipient part with his money for anything from a worthwhile char­ity to speculative stocks.

Determining Lists

While the receipt of advertising matter is old stuff to most people, the presence of the personal name on the en­velope usually invokes wonder. A few will write to the com­pany demanding, "Where and how did you get my name? I've never bought from you before." Some of the letters are not so mild. Even those who order the product in re­sponse to the advertising often suggest that they would appreciate greater haste in learning how the name was obtained than in getting the order.

Sources of Direct Mail Names

The names are assembled from public records (vital statistics), newspapers, phone books, industrial and profes­sional listings, classified directories, newspaper and maga­zine subscriptions, church and fraternal membership rolls, and from other mail order firms where a purchase was made or an inquiry sent.

Of most interest to the beginner is how to get a good list of likely prospects, and for once the way is smooth. The majority of lists on sale are registered with one or more of many national list brokers (see Appendix). A letter to any of these brokers, explaining your product or service, will bring you a response with a comprehensive description of the choice recommendation. A specimen of an actual list broker's offering card is reproduced—the list owner's name has been cancelled, but the information is correct.

Even names on public record are best obtained through brokers. They have the facilities to compile more thoroughly than an individual, and because they divide the cost of compilation among regular subscribers, the price is very often considerably less than it would cost to compile directly. For example, the Jiffy Diaper Company wishes to circularize mothers who have just given birth. Such names are a matter of public record, obtainable in most counties, cities or states. The company undertakes the compilation but finds that the cost per thousand names runs to about $25.00. This makes the mailing campaign a little more ex­pensive than anticipated. They are about to give up when a "good soul" tells them that the names can be had through Broker A for $15.00, enabling them to continue selling their infant pin-ups through the mail. Of course, Broker A can sell the list at the low price because he has ten, twenty, or more companies that want the same names for their own reasons.

Costs of the Mailer

In Chapter III, we saw that to speak in an absolute way of costs in any part of mail order was meaningless; but experience does teach that, for safety sake, costs should be kept within certain limitations. In the case of direct mail­ing, especially for the beginner with limited capital, a max­imum outlay per thousand mailing should be $50.00 to $60.00. The initial testing cost may be considerably more (because of higher promotion and material costs for smaller lots) but later mailings must be predicated on keeping to the aforementioned maximum. However, if the mailing is very elaborately prepared and the costs cannot be brought down to these figures, a high enough pull on the test may still make the venture "mailable."

Let us break down the maximum figures, remember­ing that the costs given are for large quantities and have been averaged out over the country. In very large quanti­ties, a 15% cut can probably be realized.

Direct Mail Costs Per M

The cost of preparing the mailer (art, copy, etc.) has not been included, as this should be spread over the entire future mailing and will not come to more than 50¢ per M, if there are large follow-ups.

The letter shop cost can be saved by doing the work oneself but this will not be feasible when the mailings get heavy.

From the Idea to the Mail Bag

Perhaps at this point the beginner is ready to be guided through the intricacies of a direct mail operation from the idea to the mail bag. We will assume that the necessary post office permits for bulk mailings have been obtained, and that the outer and business reply envelopes have been or­dered or are on hand.

We start with the idea, which in this case is a sewing machine attachment for hemstitching. From our previous discussion we know that a letter and circular are required. Can you write the letter? Try. Sit down and tell your imag­inary customer why this particular attachment is different —tell her how it works, the wonderful things it will do, the ease of attaching, the low cost, the many more things she'll be able to make, the time she'll save for other duties, etc. Don't worry about literary ability. You can always find somebody to put on the few polishing touches or make the grammatical corrections. The important thing is to get your thoughts down on paper. Letter written, there is still the circular to do. Here the help of a commercial artist or photographer will be necessary. Surely your classified di­rectory contains at least one who will do the job inexpen­sively. Remember, too, that most advertising agencies will also prepare such a mailing piece for a fee.

Now that copy for the letter and the circular material are ready, take them to a printer and tell him what you want. In most cases, aside from proofing, you will have nothing more to do but to wait until the printed matter is delivered to you, folded and ready for inserting. During this waiting period, write to a number of list brokers and study their suggestions. Let us assume that you want five lists, each for a 1000-test mailing. Here are the lists recom­mended:

Having decided to test all the lists, you assign codes by imprinting on each of the 1000 business reply envelopes a certain key or department number, or having the printer put it on the order form which was part of the circular. See Chapter V for the mechanics of keying with code or depart­ment numbers. Then you send the outer envelopes to be addressed as instructed on the broker's card. In due time the addressed outer envelopes and the printed matter will arrive. The next step is to insert the material, seal and stamp the envelopes according to postal regulations, and bring them to the local post office, properly tied and zoned.

About five to eight days after the mailing, the orders should begin to come in. The chapter on predicting pull will enable you to determine the eventual total of orders likely to be received only a few days after the first order appears.

Split-Run Testing

This is similar to publication split-run testing (dis­cussed in Chapter V), except that here the list is split in two, and different offers are sent to the same type prospect. The safest method, and one least likely to produce geo­graphical variations, is to split the list in the process of ad­dressing by placing alternate names in different boxes. Of course, both tests should be placed in the mail the same day.

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