Benefits, Benefits, Benefits

Words are more than just letters strung together to convey meaning; words are powerful, living, vital things that create responses in your listener or reader. Since what you say, who you say it to and how you say it are key parts of designing effective direct mail pieces, you need to know the words that sell.

Naturally, I’m going to share them with you here...

Let’s Look At What To Say:

It is vital you get attention fast. If you don’t, your offer will not be read. Here’s how to do it:

Brag about the benefits: An excellent way to get attention — and hence get read — is to boldly give the 5 or 6 key benefits of your product or service. Put the biggest benefit on top and list off the rest in descending order of importance. For example:

How would you like to get...

• Biggest benefit (such as “lower monthly payments”)
• Second biggest benefit (such as “higher equity”)
• Third biggest benefit (such as “more resale value”)

You get the idea.

Make your benefits appealing: People are interested in things they want. If your benefits are really beneficial to them, they will read your postcard. (If your list is good and you really know what benefits your ideal customer is seeking, they will respond too.)

Be specific: The next thing to do is give a very brief explanation of how you can provide the benefits you named.

Contact is key: Next, persuade them to act by giving them a good reason to contact you. Trust is a key factor here, so begin building yours immediately. For instance, you can have a 5-star review from a really happy customer right on the card.

Delete risk: If you have or can give a guarantee, give one. Guarantees take the risk away for the person receiving your postcard.

Make it easy to agree. Make them an offer that no reasonable person who had an interest in your product or service could easily refuse. Make sure it has a very high perceived value but doesn’t cost you very much at all.

How should you say it? Probably with the fewest amount of words as possible. Picture the size of a typical postcard; they’re bigger than a business card but not quite a flyer. That’s the amount of room you’re working with. So words are at a premium and not to be wasted. I recommend using bullet points over paragraphs of text. You are not trying to close them on the card. You are simply trying to move them through the buying process, hopefully to take the next logical action — either call, show up or go to your website.

For example: “Now is your chance to take advantage of our special offer. Don’t miss out. Call NOW!” Then follow up with these two top tips:

Make it simple: Be sure to explain exactly how to order or contact you for further information.

Guarantee: When you include a guarantee on your postcard, you are almost guaranteed to get a good response — no pun intended.