This article was inspired by something that happened to me personally this week.
I got home from work, and as many of us do, collected my post from the doormat and started to sift through to sort out the “real” mail from the mountain of “junk” that seems to come through my door.
There was a bright yellow, handwritten envelope in the pile, which got sorted into the “keep and read” pile, all the while I was wondering who it was that had sent me something, it wasn’t a birthday, or a special occasion, so I wasn’t expecting a card, which is exactly what this envelope looked like it might contain, and the fact it was handwritten, didn’t make me think “junk” at all.
So, having done the sift, and promptly adding yet more to my firelighter pile, I sat to open my post. I opened the yellow envelope first as I was curious as to what it help. Inside was a simple typed letter which was actually a marketing letter, inviting me to participate in something called the “retail lottery”.
Now, if it wasn’t for the fact it was in a bright envelope which was hand written, and that the letter didn’t have any fancy headers or anything, I wouldn’t have read it to find out what it was about, it would have gone straight into the junk pile, so this shows just how clever this bit of marketing actually was.
Obviously if you were doing a large mailshot campaign then handwriting each and every envelope wouldn’t be practical, but don’t just go for the “printed to look like handwriting” option as this is easily spotted and will end up in the junk pile – an option you could investigate would be something like a custom made acrylic stamp – which would allow you to hand write a message which you could then stamp onto the envelopes with pre-printed addresses for a more personal touch.
Another thing to consider when organising a mailshot is how you will be “stuffing” your envelopes – if you are using an envelope inserter for instance, then you will need to make sure that the envelopes you have chosen will fit your particular machine. If you are thinking of hiring an envelope inserter, then it would be worth talking to a specialist before investing a lot of finance into the supplies for your mailshot.