Self-Mailer

Brochure

Catalog

Digest booklet

Lift note

Envelope package

Buckslip

Common Direct Mail Formats

Magalog

Newsletters

Postcard and Double Postcard

Personalized Letter

Package Inserts

7 8

! What do we want to accom-plish with this direct mailprogram?

! Who do we want to reach?What are their characteris-tics?

! What are your target cus-tomers or prospects like andwhat types of messages,offers and direct maildesigns and formats mightthey find most appealing?

! When is the best time tolaunch this direct mail pro-gram?

! What can we budget for thisdirect mail program?

Start Here

Before you can execute any direct mail program, it’s impor-tant to establish your marketing goals. Pre-established goalswill produce more meaningful post-program measurements ofsuccess. Ask yourself the following questions:

Direct Mail Design and Copywriting Tips

The 40-40-20 Rule

The 40-40-20 rule is a standard principle in direct mail. Forty-percent of a direct mail program’s success is attributed to target-ing the right customers or prospects. Another 40% results fromextending the right offer to these customers or prospects. Theremaining 20% of a mail program’s results are contributed bythe design.

Many novice direct marketers spend more time worrying aboutthe design, and less about the most important elements of a suc-cessful direct mail program -- making the right offer to the rightprospects. However, because mistakes can increase costs andreduce response rates, we offer these tips for the design and pro-duction of a winning direct mail program.

3 4

Top Ten Tips to Avoid Costly Mistakes

Don’t waste valuable marketing dollars. Follow these tips toincrease response rates, reduce costs and avoid productionmistakes:

Direct Mail Design and Copywriting Tips, continued

Direct Mail DesignIt’s important to design a direct mail piece that appeals to yourtarget audience and motivates them to respond.

CopywritingResponse rates rise when copy is written in a style that speaksto your customers and prospects in motivating language. Keypoints to remember are:

Choosing Paper and FormatsYour Cenveo representative can recommend paper options anddirect mail formats that meet your communications goals andbudget and that portray your company’s image.

! Use personalizationthroughout a mailing pack-age to increase responserates as much as 30%.

! Repeat contact informationthroughout a mail piece orcatalog. Don’t lose a salebecause an impatientprospect couldn’t easilylocate your contact infor-mation.

! When using a window enve-lope, be sure the entirename/address showsthrough the window anddoes not wiggle back andforth. Do not let design artshow through the window.

! Be sure reply forms andenvelopes are sized to fitinside the outgoing enve-lope.

! Restrict inks to standardcolors on laser personalizedmail. Avoid metallic inks orspot varnishes.

! Do not use coated stock forlaser personalized mail.

! Do not use background inkscreens behind addressesthat are greater than 15%.

! Limit the size of the mailingpackage to postal accept-able standards to qualifyfor postal discounts.

! Standard Mail is notreturned when addressesare incorrect. UsingStandard Mail will notfacilitate updates of yourmailing list.

! Z-fold inserts may slowinserting machines andincrease production timeand costs.

! Colors: Use colors that areattractive to your customersand prospects. For exam-ple, bold and masculine col-ors are better suited fordirect mail aimed at youngmen. Pale pastels are moreattractive to teen girls.

! Typeface and Fonts: Choosetypefaces that are pleasingto the eye and easy to read.Don’t crowd type. Leaveplenty of white space toenhance readability.

! Personalize the copy, usingthe customer’s name when-ever possible.

! Focus on the benefits ofyour product or service,not the features. This addsmeaning for the recipient.

! Use powerful action wordsand phrases that generateresponse. Examples

include: free, new, save,for a limited time, or exclu-sive offer.

! Use everyday language thatreflects your customers’lifestyle.

! Don’t be subtle. Solicit acommitment or ask for aresponse upfront and nearthe end of your mail piece.

5 6

Bangtail A small flap of paper onthe back of an envelope that isremoved along a perforated lineto open the envelope package.Some marketers print a market-ing message on the bangtail.

Booklet Booklets come in varioussizes. The sizes most often usedare digest size (5" x 8") or stan-dard letter page size (8.5" x 11").

BRC Business Reply Card. A BRCcan be built into a one-sheet mailpiece or produced as an inde-pendent piece that is inserted inthe mailing package.

BRE Business Reply Envelope.

BRM Business Reply Mail. BRMenables a company to receivereplies from customers via FirstClass Mail by paying for the cus-tomer’s return postage costs.BRM requires that the companyobtain a BRM permit from thepost office.

Brochure Brochures are multiplepanel or multiple page informa-tional pieces. The most commonbrochures are: 8.5" x 11" orbrochures folded to 3.5" x 8," toeasily slip into a #10 envelope.

Buckslip A single sheet that isinserted in a mailing package andis similar to a flyer. A buckslipusually promotes a special offeror announces a response deadline("if you act now").

Card Deck Cards in a card deckare usually 3.5" x 5." Each cardfeatures an offer for a differentproduct or service from variouscompanies that are all trying toreach the same type of customerin a cost-effective way.

Catalog Catalogs are multiplepage booklets that showcase mul-tiple products or services.Catalogs vary in size dimensions.Common sizes are approximately6"x 9," 11" x 6" or 8.5" x 11."

Glossary - Mail Production

Cleaned List A list that has beenprocessed to remove duplicates,bad addresses and unwantednames/addresses. Addresses arealso standardized to meet postalspecifications.

Closed-face Envelope A closed-face envelope does not have awindow and requires an addresslabel or laser or inkjet address-ing.

Digest Size A digest size bookletor letterhead sheet is 5" x 8."

De-duplication A data process-ing function that removes dupli-cates that appear between multi-ple mailing lists.

Double Postcard A double post-card has two halves and is fold-ed to postcard size. Typicallyone-half may include the replypostcard.

Hand Match Hand matching is aprocess that uses manual laborto match multiple personalizedpieces.

Inkjet Copy or address informa-tion that is printed onto a mailpiece using spray jets that blowink onto the paper. Inkjet canbe used on most paper stocks.

Insert Any item that in placed ina direct mail package such as abuckslip, lift note, brochure orletter.

Johnson Box A lined box that isplaced above the body of a let-ter. It contains a headline or asummary of the letter’s mainmessage or offer.

Laser Variable copy or addressinformation that is placed on amail piece using laser ink tech-nology. Lasering offers high res-olution.

Lift Note A folded sheet that isplaced in a mail package todeliver an additional message,such as a testimonial or an addi-tional plea to accept the offer.The lift note got its namebecause it typically lifts responserates.

9 10

Magalog A magalog looks like amagazine and features articlesand information, but the pagesare also sprinkled with mer-chandise that is for sale. It’shalf-magazine and half-catalog.

Merge/Purge A data processingtechnique to merge several mail-ing lists and purge any dupli-cates among the lists to produceone single mailing list.

Offer The purpose of the mailpiece, the advertised deal, bar-gain or special opportunity.

Package Inserts See Inserts.

Perfect-bound A glued bindingsystem for booklets that securesall pages without staples,thread, or punch holes forrings.

Personalization Mail that is per-sonally addressed to the recipi-ent (instead of Occupant).Personalization is also usedthroughout a mail piece byincluding the recipient’s nameor other customer-specific infor-mation in appropriate placesthroughout the copy.

Postcard One of the least expen-sive mailing formats. Postcardsno bigger than 4.25" x 6" receivethe deepest postage discount.Larger postcards must either bemailed Standard or First-Class.A double postcard is folded inhalf and can include a BusinessReply Card.

Premium A special gift availableto customers who respond to theoffer.

P.S. A postscript appears at thebottom of a letter below thesalutation. A carefully craftedP.S. increases response rates.

Reply Mail (BRM) See BusinessReply Mail.

Score A folding line pressed intoa mail piece by a machine tofacilitate folding without crack-ing the ink or paper.

Self-mailer A mail piece thatdoes not have an envelope.Examples include newsletters,brochures, and booklets.

Staple Stitch Staples placedalong the spine of a booklet ormulti-page pamphlet.

Tabs Circular stickers that sealshut the edges of catalogs,newsletters, booklets or otheritems with multiple pages.Sealing the edges reducespostage costs because sealededges permit the item to movethrough the postal service’sautomated machines.

Testing Marketers vary theoffer, design or types of mailinglists within one mail program tosee which offer, design or maillist produces the best results.

Wafers See Tabs.

Window Envelope Envelopesthat have an opening to exposean address printed on an insertso the address is visible throughthe window.

11 12

Address Float When using a windowenvelope the address on the insertcannot wiggle in the envelope in anydirection to limit visibility of theentire address in the window.

Address Standardization When thename, address, city, state and zip-code are formatted to meet postalstandards. For example, when a listincludes the complete name of astate, Address Standardization soft-ware will format the state’s name inthe postal service’s standard twoletter abbreviation for the state.

Aspect Ratio To receive postal dis-counts or avoid additional postagecosts, the postal service requiresthat mail pieces meet a specificaspect ratio of length to width toinsure that the piece is sufficientlyrectangular.

Automated Mail Mail that meetsspecific postal size requirementscan be sorted in the postal service’sautomated machines and thereforereceives a deeper postage discount.

Barcode A barcode encodes anaddress’ zipcode directly on themail piece. Barcoded mail speedssorting by the postal service’s auto-mated machines and qualifies forpostage discounts.

BCS Barcode Sorter. A mail pro-cessing machine that automaticallyreads barcodes on mail pieces toquickly sort the mail. BCS mailreceives a postage discount.

CASS Coding Accuracy SupportSystem checks and correctsaddresses and zipcodes for accura-cy. Invalid addresses are rejectedfor mailing. This function can beperformed by Cenveo.

Carrier Route Mail that is sorted totrack the path that a postal carrierfollows on a route. This creates effi-ciency for the postal service andallows the mailer to receive postagediscounts.

Co-mingling To obtain postal dis-counts, mail pieces from one mail-ing program with a similar mailpackage may be combined with mailfrom another mail program toenable all companies to receivedeeper postal discounts for theirmail pieces.

Glossary – Postal TermsDelivery Point Validation A valida-tion process that confirms that anaddress exists or does not exist. Forexample, DPV confirms newaddresses when new housing devel-opments create new homes. DPValso confirms when old addressesdisappear, for example when anapartment building is demolished.

FIM Facing Identification Mark. Apattern of vertical bars thatappears on the upper right edge of abusiness reply mail (BRM). Thebars are an orientation mark that isused by the postal service’s auto-mated machines.

First-Class Mail Mail that is postedat the highest postal rate. If anyintended recipients have recentlymoved and left a forwardingaddress, the postal service will for-ward the mail at no extra charge.

Indicia A pre-printed mark on out-going mail that indicates that thesender has pre-paid the outgoingpostage using money in the compa-ny’s pre-established postal permitaccount.

Merlin Mail Evaluation ReadabilityLookup Instrument. Merlin verifiesthe readability of addresses and theaccuracy of the address barcode.Mail pieces that meet establishedpostal standards for readability andaccuracy move faster through thepostal system.

NCOA National Change of Address.Cenveo’s direct mail divisions offerthe NCOA service to update a mail-ing list.

Planet Coding The postal servicecan provide a code to segments ofsorted mail to enable a company totrack the progress of the mail alongthe mail stream. Mail can betracked to its arrival at post officesand carrier-routes, but PlanetCoding cannot confirm when anindividual mail piece entered themailbox of an individual recipient.

Pre-canceled Stamp Stamps thatare cancelled by printing placedacross the face of the stamp beforethe piece is mailed.

Sorting Mail that is arranged in aspecific order to obtain postal dis-counts. Sorting is done by zipcodeor carrier-route.

Standard Mail Previously referredto as Bulk Mail or Third-Class Mail.Standard Mail receives the deepestpostage discounts. Undeliverablemail is not returned to the senderwhen using Standard Mail.

Total Weight The combined weightof one mail piece and all of its con-tents. Standard Mail pieces mayweigh up to 16 oz. First Class Mailis limited to one ounce and ischarged extra postage for eachadditional ounce.

13 14