5 Tips for Outstanding Direct Mail Design

July 12, 2016

With any direct mail piece, the goal is to entice people to respond to your offer. Great direct mail pieces hook them before they even get to the offer. Engage people’s curiosity from the moment the mail piece gets into their hands. These five tips will help you capture readers at the outset.

1. Use The Upper Right-hand Corner – The most highly effective catalogers view this real estate as the most valuable on direct mail pieces. The upper right-hand corner is first place our eyes go. Then, our eyes skim along the top of the page, then continue down to the rest. Use the upper right-hand corner to display information that immediately captures your audience’s attention to draw them into the body of your document.
2. Keep It Clean – When your layout is a cluttered mess, the information you’re conveying is not going to be received. Clean design means a clear message delivered and you can’t afford to deliver a convoluted message.
3. #Science – It’s a bit of a running joke on Twitter to use #science to make a farcical or satirical statement. In your case, tap into the science of how our brains work to generate the action you’re after. For example, the Zeigarnik Effect is when information is left unfinished. Leave people on a cliffhanger and they feel compelled to open the envelope, turn over the postcard, or click a link to learn the rest. Another example is the Van Restorff Effect. This is the use of “out of place” content to capture attention. Old Spice used this to great effect with its “Smell Like a Man” commercials. A final example is the Noble Edge Effect. It taps people’s desire to be associated with positive social or environmental causes.
4. Testimonials – The oldest and best form of marketing is word of mouth. Why? Because your customers will always trust their friends, family, and other people long before they’ll trust you. Use testimonials in your marketing pieces to develop the trust you’re after. Filming short videos on your smartphone for use on your social media accounts is a great place to start.
5. Create a Compelling Call To Action – How many direct mail pieces have unfulfilled potential because someone forgot to include a call to action? Don’t assume readers will automatically know what you want them to do. Add urgency or additional value by giving a deadline, providing an extra discount for early response, or providing some other motivator to encourage people to respond right away.

Need some other ideas? Get in touch with us and let’s work together.

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