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Load the letter with relevant facts

Have an attractive offer

Look at the mailings you receive. How many are just one page, and how many are several pages long — and include several pieces of literature?

One of the largest and most successful direct marketing companies, Publishers Clearing House, sends a package that includes six enclosures plus a letter almost a thousand words long. You are asking your readers to make an investment — in time, money, or both — and must convince them that what you’re selling is worth it.

4. Make it inviting to read

People won’t read letters that look formidable, with long blocks of text.

Use visual devices — like this inset paragraph — to make your letter look inviting and interesting, and easy to get through. Headings (like “Make it inviting to read” above) and handwritten notes also work.

Think beyond standard envelopes and standard sizes of paper. The most effective mail is often an unusual size, shape, or color. But keep in mind that letters should look like letters, not like advertisements. Coupons should look like coupons (or money), certificates like college diplomas or high-grade bonds.

Coupons and certificates are conventions that readers understand at a glance. Making them look like something else, to be different, defeats their purpose.

5. Don’t let the reader off the hook

People procrastinate. You must create a reason for your prospect to act now.

Danny Newman, America’s most successful seller of subscriptions to concert and theatrical seasons, builds all his mailings from a single injunction: SUBSCRIBE NOW.

The P.S. is one of the best-read parts of any letter. Use it to remind the reader of some important detail, to restate your offer, to create a sense of urgency with a deadline or a special premium. Amazon.com introduced its new on-line auction service in a letter with this closing note:

P.S. We’ve worked hard for many months to bring you Amazon.com Auctions and we’re super-proud of it. As an Amazon.com customer, you’re pre-registered for both buying and selling. I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is to use. For a short time, we’re also doing a promotion where first-time buyers receive a $10 Amazon.com gift certificate. Please come and give it a look at www.amazon.com — just click the Auctions tab.

P.S. Even if the P.S. doesn’t affect results “that much,” a small effect can be worthwhile. And the P.S. doesn’t add a penny to the cost of your mailing.

What Works Best in Fund-Raising Letters

In the world of political fund-raising by mail, two acknowledged masters are Richard Viguerie and Roger Craver, a conservative and a liberal. Craver disagrees with Viguerie on every issue, observes the New York Times, “except on how to write a letter.”

“You need a letter filled with ideas and passion,” says Craver. “It does not beat around the bush, it is not academic, it is not objective. The toughest thing is to get the envelope open. The next toughest thing is to get the person to read the letter.”

A Craver letter for handgun control carried this message on the envelope:

ENCLOSED: Your first chance to tell the National Rifle Association to go to hell!

The letter starts:

Dear Potential Handgun Victim

To raise money for charitable, educational, or political causes, you must appeal to the emotions. People can have strong feelings about the causes represented by a community fund, about a political candidate, about a religious institution. They want to give. Yet those new to fund-raising are often hesitant about asking for money.

People who have given previously are the best source of funds. Many studies have shown that most first-year donors will renew in year two, and an even larger percent of retained donors from year two will renew each subsequent year. Often those donors will increase their gifts. They may participate in deferred giving programs. They will even help acquire new donors by working as volunteers.

These facts are at the heart of direct mail fund-raising. They lead to two central conclusions: