Writing That Works, 3e_ How to Communicate Effectively in Business - Kenneth Roman [45]
It pays to test
Whole books have been written about sales letters and fund-raising letters, identifying dozens of principles employed by the pros. There is only one that you can never ignore: test.
Many of the things you think you know, like “Nobody will read anything that long,” often go out the window when you test. Emotional appeals that you’re sure will pull responses, often don’t. If you have something that’s working, be careful about changing any element without testing. What turns out to be the crucial element sometimes surprises even experienced pros.
Some organizations fly by the seat of their pants and don’t know what is working and what isn’t. They seldom get full value from their efforts. They don’t take advantage of the accountability of direct marketing.
The reader responds directly to the writer or organization; you count the money that comes in and you know how you’ve done. It is common to find that one mailing will produce many times the response of another for the same product. It pays to test if you plan to mail to a substantial number of people, or if you plan to mail more than once.
Testing is not just for large organizations. You will find techniques for simple low-cost tests in many books on direct marketing (we suggest one in the final chapter). If you cannot test, take advantage of the testing of others. When you receive the same mailing over and over, year after year, you can be reasonably sure it has been proven in testing. Study it.
Don’t assume anything. And prepare to be surprised. Certain months (or even certain weeks or days) are more productive than others. Sometimes a higher price will produce more response than a lower one. People will respond again and again to the same mailing — don’t change for the sake of change. Long letters often pull better than short ones.
Important — test only one change at a time. If you test several, you won’t know which helped (or how much).
The “true value” concept
The results you get from testing lead to another principle: Estimate how much a customer is worth.
If you expect people to send money just once, the calculation is easy. Will you get back enough money to cover the cost of the mailing plus the cost of the merchandise — and leave you with a profit? If yes, go ahead. If no, start over.
Most direct mail is in a different category — it goes to people who may buy more than once:
Customers whose repeat orders you can reasonably expect — or whose satisfaction with one of your products might prompt them to buy another.
Subscribers — to magazines, book clubs, record clubs, art clubs — who well might renew their subscriptions or send in new orders.
Contributors to schools or hospitals or any local charity or cause, who might well give again in future years.
For this kind of respondent, you can invest heavily in your initial mailing — even if it loses money the first time around, as it often does. This is the “true value” concept — what a customer is worth over time.
The New York Red Cross found that it paid to send first-time givers a free first-aid manual to convert them to donors — who were found to give in four of the following seven years, and increased their donations 20 percent.
To decide how much to invest in each potential customer, you must know how much each customer is ultimately worth. Often you’ll have to estimate and make some assumptions. While not an exact science, it is simple arithmetic.
What Works Best in Sales Letters
Direct mail specialists can cite many principles as to what works best in sales letters. Two of those principles invariably come first.
Make sure the offer is right
The professional direct mail writer works first on the coupon, not the letter. What is the offer? How should it be stated? What are the terms?
The offer is what gets the action — especially when product differences are small or short-lived. Over the years, mailers have offered reduced prices, premiums,