Open Me Now

If youre a student of selling by mail, you may have wondered why experts write book after book and magazine article after magazine article about letters ... and almost nothing about the envelopes housing those letters. The reason I do is one that becomes obvious the first time you create a brilliant, award-winning, irresistible direct mail campaign ... and it bombs. Whats wrong with these people? we cry. This was aimed right at them. They need it. The price is right. The letter is loaded with dynamite, and we spent a ton of money taking pictures for the brochure. What happened? The question should be: What didnt happen? If the message is aimed right at them and they need it and the price is right and the letter is loaded with dynamite and the pictures in the brochure are worthy of hanging in The Louvre, whats missing? Where did we goof? The envelope. If they didnt open the envelope, all that brilliance was reduced to a zero-watt intensity. The envelope is the greeter, separating us from everyone else