4 basic principles for direct mail letters

Writing a letter.  It feels, instinctively, like something that should be fairly easy to do.  Writing is one of the first things we learn to do when we start school, and from then, we never stop.  And while letter writing itself may be a bit of a lost art form, we all write emails, reports, papers, or notes daily. 

But there is a real science to writing a direct mail letter.  It needs to be a carefully constructed communication that takes the reader on an emotional journey.  It needs to tell a story that makes the donor feel something.  It must be engaging, and offer a problem as well as provide an easy way for the donor to play a part in the solution. 

The letter structure is arguably as important to the success of the letter, as the story itself.  Here is a reminder of four basic principles for structuring your direct mail letters.

1. The start of the letter beneath the salutation must immediately engage the donor’s emotions and contain a call to action. It should continue on from any header paragraphs.

2. There are a series of asks, which describe how specific needs must be met – whether through equipment or action – throughout the letter, but reiterated again right at the end of the letter. The end of the letter is the best place to include your ask string. The donor has read this far, so are obviously keen, and this is where we should tell them what their gift can do, and offer opportunity to give more than they might normally

3. The call to action at the end of the appeal must be strong and urgent – with specific instructions on how to respond (the mechanics).

4. The PS should repeat the basic message of the appeal and the main case story – and also give specific instructions on how to get your gift to the charity.

What DM could learn from DRTV

I was feeling a little under the weather this past weekend, and so I spent some time on the couch watching TV. If you have turned on the television recently on a Saturday or Sunday you know there is an endless number of DRTV programs available to you. Having come from the DRTV world, I was happy to have the opportunity to see what new shows were on the air, and what existing shows were still running (and hopefully indicates are still working). As I watched a few different shows it struck me that there is one thing that DRTV does REALLY well, and that is tell stories.

Every week I receive DM pieces from various non-profits throughout North America, and the vast majority are short letters, telling me how wonderful they are, and usually containing a very organizationally focused ask. Rarely do charities tell me a story about an individual who needs my help...the real reason that I would choose to give to that organization.

I know TV has the benefit of being able to show pretty pictures and really give the viewer a look at that persons life, but the stories they tell can almost always translate onto paper.

When you write your next DM appeal, PLEASE tell a story, because at the end of the day, people give to people. Its not about you - its about the lives you are impacting.

Homeless Charity in Sweeden gets innovative with their Christmas Appeal

I came across this Christmas appeal on the Epica Awards web site. Its an innovative approach to a Christmas appeal which should break through the holiday clutter that.

During a season when people are more likely to give, charities are much more likely to ask. Donors receive countless DM appeals from charities and are bombarded by asks outside of their mailbox as well.

Gothenburg Homeless Aid relies on generosity at Christmas which is when a substantial portion of their entire year's funding is collected. In order to stand out, they developed their no fixed abode Christmas card appeal. They produced a standard Christmas Card, that at first glance doesn't look to different from what anyone else would send out at Christmas time. Where they got really creative, was with the address.

The charity wanted to draw attention to people with no fixed address in Gothenburg, so they addressed the pack to "Lasse Persson, a doorway/tunnel/stairwell, Hisingen (a part of Gothenburg)”. They then wrote the details of the actual intended recipient on the back of the envelope. When the Swedish post office received the letters they were unable to deliver them to Lasse because he has no real address.

When they couldn't deliver the envelope, they were "returned to sender" and sent "back" to the intended recipient with a post office stamp saying "not known at this address". The yellow label on the envelope not only highlighted the fact that there are people in Gothenburg who have nowhere to live, but made it almost impossible for the recipient to simply throw it away without opening it to see what it’s all about.

The Christmas card was sent to 20,000 people in Gothenburg, and raised approximately 255,000 US dollars, making it their highest performing Christmas appeal to date.

What innovative approaches have you taken to encourage recipients to open your pack?