The Boron Letters
Page 7
Maybe we can come up with a better title but this one is fine. At least for now. I believe we have also discussed extracting the goodies from several real estate books and we have collected and examined other DM pieces and MO ads for books and so forth that deal with real estate investments. We know how to choose a list to test and now it's time for us to create the DM promotion.
The first thing we are going to discuss is the outside envelope. This is where most mailers mess up first. You see, what most mailers do is put so-called "teaser copy" on the outside envelope and, in general, design the envelope so that it is very obvious that it contains a sales pitch.
If you will turn the page, I will show you what a typical direct mail outer envelope looks like. Whoops. We're here already!
ABC Publishing Bulk Rate 6666
209 5th Ave. (bulk rate indicia
New York, NY 10049 with permit number
(Corner card with
company Name)
John Jones
2193 7th Street
Akron, OH 10104
(Cheshire Label)
WOW! There is exciting
News inside.
(Teaser Copy)
Pretty obvious, isn't it? In time, you are going to read my semi-famous A-Pile, B-Pile lecture. But here is a preview:
It is my contention that everybody divides their mail every day into two piles. An "A-Pile" and a "B-Pile". The "A" pile contains letters that appear to be personal. Like letters from friends, relatives, business associates, and so on.
On the other hand, the "B" pile contains those envelopes that, like the example above, obviously, contain a commercial message.
Now, here's the way it works: Everybody always opens all of their "A" pile mail. And, for obvious reasons. After all, everybody wants to read their personal mail.
What happens to the "B" pile mail? Does it always get opened? No. It doesn't. Sometimes it is thrown away immediately without the envelope ever being opened. Sometimes, if it looks interesting, "B" pile envelopes will be set aside for later examination. And, of course, sometimes... IF the envelope looks interesting, or IF the person receiving it has some idle time, or IF the person is bored and has nothing else to do, than, MAYBE the "B" pile envelopes will be opened.
Unsatisfactory.
Quite obviously, people aren't getting to order from you unless they read your promotion and, also, quite obviously, they can't read your promotion unless they open the envelope.
And so, my dear son, what is our first objective here, as we begin to design our DM promotion? You are right! Our first objective is to get our envelope into the "A" pile.
And, it's so easy to do! All we have to do is make the envelope look personal. (Or at least we will take pains so it doesn't look commercial.) Here is what our envelope should look like:
209 – 5th Ave. Live 20¢ Stamp
New York, NY 10049 (1st Class Stamp)
(corner card with
return address)
John Jones
2193 - 7th St.
Akron, OH 10104
{a handwritten or typed
address; no label}
Nearly everybody who receives this envelope will open it. Why? The answer, as a copywriter would say, is simple. A person who gets this envelope will open it to find out what is inside.
Because it is intriguing.
Because it looks personal.
Because it might be from someone he knows.
Because it does not OBVIOUSLY contain a personal message.
Yes, my dear son, for all these good reasons, the person who gets this envelope will open it in order to find out what is inside.
You see, the "B" pile envelope let's the recipient know right from the jump that it contains a commercial message. And, of course, the recipient ALREADY KNOWS that this envelope does not contain any sort of personal communication.
Too bad. Too bad for the mailer, that is. Because, and this should be painfully apparent, because if only half as many people open your envelope, only half as many even have a CHANCE to order!
So obvious, so simple and so OVERLOOKED!
Yes, it's true. As obvious as this should be, it is missed by almost every advertising agency and nearly every so-called "direct mail expert" in the country.
So, I'll get off my podium. If I haven't made my point by now, shame on me. And, now, let's assume that we have designed an "A" pile envelope and we are relatively sure that our envelope will be opened. What's next? What's next is that we must now get our potential customer to begin reading our sales letter.
How do we do that? Well, let's start by getting his attention. And intriguing the heck out of him right from the start. Let's try this: Let's get a little plastic baggie and put some dirt in it and then attach it to the top of our letter. Here is what the letter will look like:
{little zip lock baggie
attached here with
dirt inside}
Friday, 6:30 p.m.
June 12, 1984
{typed day and date and time}
Dear Mr. Jones,
{personal salutation}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{body copy}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{body copy}
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
{body copy}
(over)
{little directive that
tells the reader what
to do from here}
Pay attention: What I have just shown you contains several of my little-known DM secrets. Let's examine them one by one.
First of all, that little baggie filled with dirt just sort of reaches right out and grabs you, doesn't it?
If you received this letter, wouldn't you be wondering, "What's in this baggie?" "Is that dirt in there?" "Why would somebody be sending me a baggie of dirt?"
And, consciously or unconsciously, you would be thinking, "I better read this and find out what it is all about."
And, you see, we now have not only captured our reader's attention, we have gotten his "focused" attention.
Quality attention.
Now, what about that part right above the salutation? The part that contains the day, date and time. What is the significance of all this? Tune in tomorrow and see!
I LOVE YOU AND GOOD LUCK!
Dad
Yesterday I ran (jogged) the hill 5 times non-stop in 58 minutes and 18 seconds and after the run I weighed 176-1/2 pounds.
UPDATE:
I have taken this lesson and translated it to emails and if you pay close attention you can smoke your competition when it comes to open rates.
Instead id physically sorting your email, you now sort your emails by using different email addresses.
Your primary or A-pile email address are your work and personal email addresses you must look at daily.
Then, if you are like most humans, you have a special address just for giving those pesky marketers who promise they have the solution to your problem and you can get more info by giving them your email address.
Now here is the kicker.
You sign up for a website using your spam or B-pile email address and then you must go into that account to click a link confirming your opt-in.
Once there you see you have 500 unopened messages and you either ignore them or delete them.
BUT!
When you go check your personal and work email accounts you see your spam box has a few emails in it so you open it and begin to scan the names and subjectlines to make sure nothing you really wanted slipped through the cracks.
This means…
It’s Better To Be In
The Spam Box of A Primary Email Address Than
To Be In The Primary Box of A Spam Email Address!
Worry about getting a good address before worrying about deliverability and what words will get you labeled as spam.
I us
ually get double the industry standard open rates and a lot goes into getting 50% and higher open rates but it all starts before prospects enter an email address.
You still need great subjectlines and a lot goes into what the list is trained to expect.
If you want to learn more about this end of what I do, visit bondhalbert.com
more free letters at halbertising.com
The Boron Letters
Chapter 12
Saturday, 10:02 AM
June 23, 1984
Dear Bond,
Let's get right back to that real estate letter. I've already pointed out how that little baggie filled with dirt will attract and focus our reader's attention. Now, let's talk about the other particulars of the first page of that letter.
I think I left off in my last letter where I was just about to comment on the part above the salutation, the part that tells the day of the week, the exact time, the day of the month and the year. Why is it important to put these specifics in the letter?
Well, it makes the letter a little more personal, doesn't it? I mean seriously, don't you feel a little closer to me because I put all this data in each of my letters to you? I think so. I think this way of doing things bonds the writer and the reader closer together. It also gives our transmission the quality of immediacy. And, while I'm on the subject, it just occurred to me that I should tell you that another additional way to achieve this bond of intimacy and immediacy in your letters is to describe where you are and what you are doing as you are writing the letter.
For example, right now I am sitting cross-legged on my back here in room 7 of dorm 6 in the Boron Federal Prison Camp. I have just finished running the hill five times (4-miles) and I did it in 57 minutes and 5 seconds.
Do you see how this type of personal specific info bonds the reader and writer closer together? You do? Good. I'll continue.
Now, here's another little thought: When you tell the day of the week plus the exact time you are writing the letter, it makes it seem a more important communication too, doesn't it? Sort of like a telegram. There's no doubt about it: A time-dated communication carries considerable more weight than one which is not.
Onward.
Now let's talk about the salutation. Notice that the salutation addresses our reader by name, just like I do in these letters to you. "Dear Bond" gets a certain quality of focused attention that is not enjoyed by "Dear Sir" or "Dear Occupant" or "Dear Reader".
Think about it. When you read the words "Dear Bond", you know my letter is for you personally, don't you? It's not for Kevin. It's not for whoever owns the house. Or anybody who lives at the address on the envelope. No. The words "Dear Bond" indicate that this letter is for you and you alone.
And this makes you pay more attention, doesn't it?
Now, if you will look in the lower right hand corner of the letter in my illustration and, also, in all of my other letters, you will see, in parenthesis, a tiny little instruction like this: (over) or like this: (go to page 7). What I am doing here is taking the reader by the hand and leading him exactly where I want him to go. It seems like a small point and, maybe it is, but is the little touches like this that keeps the letter flowing, the reader moving along, and, it relieves him of the burden of trying to figure out what he is supposed to do when he finishes reading a particular page.
Don't scoff. Quite often (most often) your letter will arrive when your prospect is busy, when his mind is on other things. Therefore, you need to work hard to make reading your letter pleasant, easy-read, interesting and unconfusing.
STOP 10:39
START AGAIN
6:38
Well, here I am once again starting to write without knowing where I am going. All I know is that when I keep moving and writing and flowing that generally something decent emerges. We'll see.
No, wait. I know what I'll tell you. How about what else goes inside the carrier envelope in addition to the letter? One thing for sure is that you must include a reply envelope. Now, when it comes to reply envelopes, you basically have two choices. The options are to make the reader pay the postage when he mails the envelope or for you to pay the postage for him. There are two ways for you to pay the postage. One of these is to simply put a "live" stamp on the envelope so that it will be all ready to mail when he receives it.
There are a couple of advantages to this strategy and one big disadvantage. The disadvantage is cost. Right now, at 20¢ per stamp it will cost you $200.00 extra per thousand to do business this way. And, naturally, because of this, most mailers never even test this option.
That's too bad. Really. Because sometimes, this strategy will pay off. Therefore, I believe, when either or both of the following conditions exists you should test a SRE (Stamped Reply Envelope):
Condition #1: You are selling a high-ticket item where the profit structure is such that one additional sale per thousand letters mailed will yield more than enough profit to pay for your SRE's.
This means, of course, that each sale you make has to have a mark up of at least $200.00.
You know what? What I just wrote may not be quite accurate. Because, if you think about it, if those SRE's bring in two or more orders per M, then your mark up on each sale would only have to be $100.00. If they bring in three extra orders per M, the mark up would only have to be $70.00 per unit to make it feasible.
And so on.
Condition #2: You should test a SRE whenever you can make the recipient of your letter feel guilty if he doesn't reply. This works especially well for charity or fund raising letters. For example, you might have a line in one of your letters that goes something like this:
"...and those pitiful children need your help right now! So please send a check immediately and send as much as possible. That's all you have to do. I have already addressed the reply envelope and I have even gone to the expense of putting a stamp on it so you won't have to hunt for one!"
Pretty good guilt, eh? And you can also use guilt in a regular sales letter. Here's how:
Continued Tomorrow
I love you and
Good Luck!
Dad
UPDATE:
This lesson is very much overlooked by many of today’s online marketers but not the guys at the top.
Just using a 3d looking buy button makes a small difference in sales and reducing the number of steps required to order adds a lot.
One key question every business owner should ask is “how can I make it so ordering is even easier.”
Many great burger stands went out of business when the competition across the street added a drive thru.
more free letters at halbertising.com
The Boron Letters
Chapter 13
Sunday, 9:02 AM
June 24, 1984
Dear Bond,
Well, I've found myself a little hideaway near the top of "The Hill" and I am sitting cross-legged (yoga style) on a blanket and I am looking out over good old Camp Boron and writing you this letter.
Did you pay attention to yesterday's lessons? Have you noticed how I have already used, in this letter, many of the little ideas I talked about yesterday?
You did notice? Good. Then I guess it's safe to go on.
But before I do (there's a baby rabbit about 7 yards from me!) I want to tell you that I just talked to your mom and it put some pain in my brain. She works hard and now that I am in here she more or less feels she's out there all alone against the wolves. Rick wants money. Chuck wants money. Your mom has bills and I feel very pressured.
It hurts.
But you once said the smartest thing I've ever heard a kid say. You said that you were luckier than Jeff because when Jeff lived with me I was already rich and that you get to be with me when I am not rich and, therefore, you get to learn how I solve problems, especially money problems.
Well, maybe we can both learn something today. (NOTE: I say "well" almost as often as Ronnie Reagan, don't I?) What I feel like doing is sniveling. I'd love to take s
ome drugs or alcohol and forget my problems. Or maybe just lie on my bunk all day and read a book.
At the very least I'd like to eat. But I can't. I can't because this is my day to fast. And to write to you. And to Z. And to work on a new ad for L. Etc.
And, so I shall. Not because (that bunny is still right here!) I want to but, rather, because I need to. You see, when things are tough I have discovered that a very very simple (but effective) thing to do is just keep moving in some sort of positive direction.
And... and... let's talk about envelopes and little baggies filled with dirt. O.K. as I recall, I was just about to tell you how to use a SRE to induce guilt in a regular commercial DM sales pitch.
Here's how: What you do is write something like this:
...and so, Mr. Jones, as you can see, what I am offering you is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of a legalized Nevada whorehouse. I hope you can take advantage of this offer. But, if you can't, would you please drop me a note and tell you can't participate at this time. That way I'll feel free to make this exciting offer to someone else. I've enclosed a self-addressed envelope and I have even put a stamp on it because (either way) it is important that I hear from you right away.