Good and bad beginnings for your mailings.

• Author: Turner, Jim
• Position: Direct Mail Essentials

If first impressions count, then the lead in for a direct mail piece should have an important influence on its success.

If you take some time to read what other mailers are using to entice their prospects, you will get a good perspective of lead-ins that are effective compared to those that lose their way.

For example, a car maker recently mailed a No. 10 envelope with a headline on it reading "Recorded Notice--Confidential--Business Mail: Penalty for Tampering." Inside, the letter invites the reader to test drive their new model and offers a $10 coupon for gas or coffee. Does that merit a "Confidential Recorded Notice"? Advertisers often hope that by somehow making their envelope look more important, more prospects will buy whatever they are selling.

You may also have seen credit-card solicitations in official-looking envelopes carrying the wording, "Postmaster, please deliver promptly to addressee under Postal Act XXX." This means, "We paid our third-class postage, so please deliver our advertisement." Or, consider the "Check Enclosed" headline on an envelope. By now, we must have educated even mailbox thieves that you have to do something like signing up for a credit card before you can cash the $10 check inside. Then there is the "Important Document Enclosed" which usually means, "Application for a credit card enclosed."

These methods often are designed to "trick" the reader into opening the envelope. But then what? At some point, the mailer needs to tell the reader the truth about what is being sold, and the reader can only feel a little deceived. How much credibility will prospects place in your message and how willing will they be to buy if they recognize you have tricked them into reading this far?

The problem is that the advertiser is trying to get anyone and everyone to read his message. But there's...