Letter Writing and Advertising

This is another phase of advertising which all of us have to consider.
It enters, or should enter, into nearly all campaigns. Every business
man receives a large number of circular letters. Most of them go direct
to the waste basket. But he acts on others, and others are filed for
reference.

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Analyze those letters. The ones you act on or the ones you keep have a
headline which attracted your interest. At a glance they offer something
that you want, something you may wish to know.

Remember that point in all advertising.

A certain buyer spends $50,000 per year. Every letter, every circular
which comes to his desk gets its deserved attention. He wants
information on the lines he buys.

But we have often watched him. In one minute a score of letters may drop
into the waste basket. Then one is laid aside. That is something to
consider at once. Another is filed under the heading “Varnish.” And
later when he buys varnish that letter will turn up.

That buyer won several prizes by articles on good buying. His articles
were based on information. Yet the great masses of matter which came to
him never got more than a glance.

The same principles apply to all advertising. Letter writers over–look
them just as advertisers do. They fail to get the right attention. They
fail to tell what buyers wish to know.

One magazine sends out millions of letters annually. Some to get
subscriptions, some to sell books. Before the publisher sends out five
million letters he puts a few thousands to test. He may try twenty-five
letters, each with a thousand prospects. He learns what results will
cost. Perhaps the plan is abandoned because it appears unprofitable. If
not, the letter which pays best is the letter that he uses.

Just as men are doing now in all scientific advertising.

Mail order advertisers do likewise. They test their letters as they test
their ads. A general letter is never used until it proves itself best
among many by actual returns.

Letter writing has much to do with advertising. Letters to inquirers,
follow-up letters. Wherever possible they should be tested. Where that
is not possible, they should be based on knowledge gained by tests.

We find the same difference in letters as in ads. Some get action, some
do not. Some complete a sale, some forfeit the impression gained. These
letters, going usually to half-made converts, are tremendously
important.

Experience generally shows that a two-cent letter gets no more attention
than a one-cent letter. Fine stationery no more than poor stationery.
The whole appeal lies in the matter.

It has been found that fine stationery and pamphlets lessen the effect.
They indicate an effort to sell on other lines than merit. That has the
same effect in letters as in ads.

A letter which goes to an inquirer is like a salesman going to an
interested prospect. You know what created that interest. Then follow it
up along that line, not on some different argument. Complete the
impression already created. Don’t undertake another on a guess.

In a letter as in ads, the great point is to get immediate action.
People are naturally dilatory. They postpone, and a postponed action is
too often forgotten.

Do something if possible to get immediate action. Offer some inducement
for it. Or tell what delay may cost. Note how many successful selling
letters place a limit on an offer. It expires on a certain date. That is
all done to get a prompt decision, to overcome the tendency to delay.

A mail order advertiser offered a catalog. The inquirer might send for
three or four similar catalogs. He had that competition in making a
sale.

So he wrote a letter when he sent his catalog, and enclosed a personal
card. He said, “You are a new customer, and we want to make you welcome.
So when you send your order please enclose this card. The writer wants
to see that you get a gift with the order–something you can keep.”

With an old customer he gave some other reason for the gift. The offer
aroused curiosity. It gave preference to his catalog. Without some
compelling reason for ordering elsewhere, the woman sent the order to
him. The gift paid for itself several times over by bringing larger
sales per catalog.

The ways for getting action are many. Rarely can one way be applied to
two lines. But the principles are universal. Strike while the iron is
hot. Get a decision then. Have it followed by prompt action when you
can.

You can afford to pay for prompt action rather than lose by delay. One
advertiser induced hundreds of thousands of women to buy six packages of
his product and send him the trademarks, to secure a premium offer good
only for one week.