A Clear Winner

Life Line Screening uses a translucent envelope to bring prospects inside

May 1, 2009 by Joe Boland

multipage

Inside, Life Line hits home with its audience. Folding out into an 11" x 17" sheet, the letter uses large type, making it easy to read, and uses many best practices such as underlined text, bold subheads, short paragraphs, lists and a postscript. And the offer is clearly stated: "Life Line Screening will complete all 4 vascular screenings for only $139. ... That's less than what you'd pay for virtually any medical procedure- even one that's far less important than these screenings, which can literally save your life" (Archive code #585-672152-0902).

On the back, Life Line provides important health information and frequently asked questions, including ones regarding cost and insurance coverage. "We use the questions because they are very engaging," explains Mathe. "Those are the tough questions, the ones that you typically don't want to answer. But by putting them right out there, I think people respond favorably because they see that we're being straight with them. We come right out and say it's not covered by insurance."

With the spike in response, Mathe certainly plans to keep the translucent envelope in the control rotation. However, she hasn't incorporated the new envelope design into the other controls for a couple reasons. For starters, Mathe admits, she believes the package may fatigue a bit over time-lose its uniqueness, so to speak. Secondly, more cost goes into a package of this kind.

Still, Life Line Screening plans to continue to use it as long as it keeps working and may "leverage the uniqueness of the imagery in other marketing mediums," according to Mathe. But of course, Life Line will keep on searching for ways to enhance its direct mail and try to figure out alternatives that are a little lighter on the wallet.

Testimonials Can Be Hit or Miss
As seen in this month's First Up, testimonials often are cited as strong elements that enhance a company's reputation, and many direct marketers use them in their mailings. Trish Mathe, director of database marketing for Life Line Screening, which uses testimonials in its screening control packages, isn't so sure testimonials resonate with everyone. "My instinct is that there is a segment of our audience that responds really well to testimonials," she muses. "[But] I don't think our entire audience is taken in with them because I think there's a certain amount of skepticism sometimes that comes with them, like, ‘Oh, they paid those people,' or ‘They made those up.'" For future mailings, she hopes to understand the segments in which testimonials work and other segments where other materials would be a better choice.

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