What you should know about envelopes 

Denny Hatch is a freelance direct marketing consultant and copywriter who writes a regular column for Target Marketing magazine (www.targetmarketingmag.com). 

In a recent column Hatch wrote about one element of a direct mail program and its contribution to the program’s results---the envelope.  The column was titled The 100% Envelope.  

Hatch made the point that when the envelope arrives, it represents 100 percent of the effort.  If the envelope is trashed before it is opened, the entire mailing---100 percent is lost.   

He quoted freelancer Lea Pierce, “All direct mail is opened over the waste basket”, and freelancer Herschell Gordon Lewis, “The envelope has two purposes and two purposes only.  One:  to get itself opened. Two: to keep the contents from spilling onto the street.”  

So, how do you get your envelopes opened? 

“Fascinations” 

In his column, Hatch calls Mel Martin, a direct mail copywriter, a genius.  Mel Hatch says Martin’s secret was his invention of “fascinations,” a series of “irresistible one-liners that got people to open his envelopes.”  They are called in the trade teaser lines. Hatch gives an example of a famous Martin envelope teaser line:  What Never to Eat on an Airplane. 

What about your mailings to prospects? 

Here are a couple of suggestions. 

. Hire a pro to prepare your direct mailings.  Someone who will spend the time and invest their talent to write fascinating teaser lines if you are using an envelope mailing to prospects. 

. Provide the direct mail copywriter with fodder. War stories about customers who didn’t buy a coverage they should have had, then had a loss; an underinsured customer who is vulnerable; customers who think price is only criterion for making an insurance choice, etc.  These can be turned into compelling teaser lines. 

What about your mailings to customers? 

You can use teaser lines to advantage in certain situations.  

.  Critical upgrade or cross-sell messages  

. Attention for the enclosure of an important document  

. Information that calls for immediate attention 

 . Messages that require an immediate response 

But, generally, you do not have to invest in the added expense of imprinting your customer mailing envelopes.  Your agency envelope cornercard (your name, return address) is enough to get your customers to open your mailing.  Our experience indicates that, without fail, people open mailings from their insurance agents, their banks, their attorneys and their doctors plus the IRS, Social Security and other government agencies.  They don’t need teasers. 

Do you have to get prospect mail teasers printed? 

Usually.  But not always.

If you have a relatively small quantity of mailings going out every week, for example, you could buy a rubber stamp with a 5-6 word teaser and do your own imprinting. 

Another cost-effective option:  use your color printer to imprint your teaser line on envelopes. Again, this works well for low quantity mail drops. 

Yet another alternative: purchase stickers at your favorite stationers. Use your color printer to imprint your teaser line. Yellow stickers—round or rectangles—stand out, and encourage opening of your envelopes.