Throwing Lights On
By Ethan Boldt
About Ethan
Ethan Boldt is the Chief Content Officer of DirectMarketingIQ, which operates as the research division of the Target Marketing Group. He oversees the creation of premium products, including special reports (on such topics as email, direct mail and social media), industry sector reports (magazine publishing, fundraising, insurance, etc.), how-to guides (such as email creative), books (including two by Denny Hatch), and company profiles.
He's also the Editor in Chief of Inside Direct Mail Weekly, an enewsletter that covers the entire direct mail industry and which is the new incarnation of the long-running print publication Inside Direct Mail. He also frequently contributes to Target Marketing magazine's enewsletter TM Tipline.
He's also a married and proud father of two children, grew up on a farm in Iowa, rides his bike to work when weather permits, loves the bands Two Door Cinema Club (new) and L7 (old), reads James Howard Kunstler and Richard Heinberg, follows the Iowa Hawkeyes and Chicago Bulls, and loves to work on home construction projects when he has time!
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While my duties have shifted (radically) over the past few months, I still review our giant mailbag (over 1,000 pieces a month) in order to uncover the trends in direct mail, along with finding intriguing new pieces or others that have stood the test of time. Recently, I took a look inside many of these increasingly colorful mailers to see what trends were popping up.
First, just like the outside, the slimmed-down approach is also visible inside, with more 2-page letters instead of 4-page letters, for example. More reply cards are perfed to the letter, which usually means that the letter is only one page.
I'm also seeing fewer copy tactics like the Johnson box, bolded copy, subheads, margin copy, multiple P.S., etc. It's almost as if the marketer no longer believes that prospects 1) have much time and 2) even remember what a letter looks like anymore! Apparently, prospects don't want to read much, yet with the scarcity of long letters in the mailbox, perhaps the chances for long copy succeeding are actually better than ever today?
Funny enough, the letters — long or short — with shorter paragraphs and readable font (that's large enough, even up to 14 pt.) still strike me as the most effective. The small, cramped copy in long paragraphs on a single page are a turn-off, in my opinion, compared to the letters that still take their time, lead with a great story, etc.
Of course, many mailers these days don't bother too much with story and simply get right to the punch, with their offers, their missions, etc. They often start with the reply card as the first thing the prospect sees when cracking open the envelope. This seems ludicrous to me, but it happens more and more.
Component-wise, there are fewer of them. Buckslips are an endangered species, while brochures are holding steady, largely because they sometimes replace letter copy entirely, or at least in part. Freemiums are also disappearing, but when they do appear, they're less bulky and likely to be simple things like a bookmark, decal, a certificate of appreciation, etc. Even address labels have decreased, while calendars have become rare.
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COMMENTS
Click here to leave a comment...Hi Ethan, How have you guys been able to get a "giant mailbag" to see the direct mail trends? Do you just join every possible mailing list you can? Or do people actually send them to you for your review? Cheers, Marty
Do you think companies are putting the reply envelope first because of lack of foresight? A fundraiser I work with always goes through great lengths to optimize what pieces will be seen first.
Thanks for the rundown on what's in the mail!
Hi Ethan, How have you guys been able to get a "giant mailbag" to see the direct mail trends? Do you just join every possible mailing list you can? Or do people actually send them to you for your review? Cheers, Marty
Do you think companies are putting the reply envelope first because of lack of foresight? A fundraiser I work with always goes through great lengths to optimize what pieces will be seen first.
Thanks for the rundown on what's in the mail!
