OUTER ENVELOPES
By Robert W. Bly
I confess: For many years, I didn't pay enough attention to outer envelopes when studying direct mail. As a copywriter, I was always more intrigued by the design and the writing of the piece. But, ever since I started doing my own mailings, I realized just how important the outer envelope can be. Right now, let's concen-trate on outer envelopes used in business-to-business mailingsonly.To Tease Or Not To Tease?I could easily write a whole column on how to write envelope teasers. And I will--soon. But, while I still believe teasers can be tremendously effective,I have become conservative of late, and in many mailings I am ad-vising clients to use plain envelopes.We are getting good results using this tactic, and the reason, Isuspect, is the increasing volume of direct mail people are receiv-ing at work. Buried under a mountain of paper, many executives and entrepreneurs now instantly trash any mail they perceive as contain-ing advertising materials. And clearly, the use of a teaser doesidentify your package as "direct mail."DISGUISING YOUR DIRECT MAILTo combat this, you can "disguise" your mailing, using an outer envelope designed to make your package appear to be normal businessor personal correspondence rather than direct mail.Here's how to go about it:1. Us a #10 envelope or monarch envelope--the sizes used for per-sonal correspondence. (A 6-by-9-inch envelope, for example, is im-mediately perceived as direct mail.)2. Use a computer to type the recipient's name and address directlyon the outer envelope. This can be done by a letter shop or in-house. (Many printers and office supply catalogs now offer envelopes on continuous sheets that can be fed into your personal computer'sprinter.)3. If you are using a letter shop to computer-personalize your enve-lopes, ask to see a sample first. Many of the inkjet and some of thelaser systems produce an undesirable computer-generated appearance.(This is especially true of desktop publishing systems.) Your enve-lopes should look as if they were typed on an IBM Selectric.4. Use a good quality stock for envelopes. Better paper creates abetter impression and makes your piece look classy and important.5. Mail first-class instead of bulk rate third-class. The cost dif-ference is $95 per thousand pieces mailed. This is insignificant for the typical business-to-business marketer who mails only a few thousand pieces. Once you get into quantities of tens of thousands, the added cost starts to become more of a factor.6. When mailing first-class, have your letter shop affix a "live" 25-cent stamp to the envelope rather than use a meter or indicia.The additional cost for affixing the stamp is minimal. And the re-sults will be worth it: A letter sent in a #10 business envelopethat looks personally typed and is mailed first-class with a 25-centstamp is almost always opened.BUDGET CONSTRAINTSWhat if you can't afford first-class postage or computer-typed enve-lopes?1. When mailing third-class, use a meter instead of an indicia. Anindicia seems to scream, "This is advertising mail!" But the meterdoesn't make it as obvious (you have to turn the envelope sidewaysto read the tiny print that says "BLK RT").2. Affix cheshire labels directly to outer envelopes.3. Before you order your labels, ask your broker to send you a sheetof sample labels from the list. Examine them for appearance. Somelist owners, for example, print the name and address in all caps, giving the label an undesirable computer-generated look. Ask if the labels can be provided with names and addresses typed in normalupper-and lower-case style.Also, some list owners provide labels with undesirable computer codes or marks (such as asterisks), which detract from the personalappearance you are trying to achieve. See if they can eliminate these for you.4. Instead of a fancy paper stock, have your envelopes printed onplain 24-lb. white weave. Reason: The white labels will match theenvelopes in color and texture, making the label almost invisibleand creating the illusion, at first glance, that the recipient's name and address was typed directly onto the envelope.ONE MORE TIPYou will see many mailings in which a person's name appears hand-typed below the company logo and return address in the upper leftcorner of the outer envelope. I've read articles saying that thisincreases response--probably because it helps maintain the illus-ion that the letter is personal correspondence.Why not take this approach to the next logical step? Don't use acompany letterhead at all. Instead, take a blank white #10 enve-lope, and type your name only (or someone else's name) and a re-turn address in the upper left corner. No logo. No company name.Use your office typewriter (preferably an IBM Selectric with Prestige Elite, the most popular typewriter typeface). Now give this to your printer as the mechanical for your outer envelope.When printed, each envelope will look as if the sender personally typed his or her name and return address on the outer envelope,and it is virtually impossible to tell that the envelope was off-set. I have tested this in small quantities (unscientifically, Iadmit) with good preliminary results.Browser Fixed
