Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

7 Secrets to Winning the Direct Mail Game
If you want to find lots of new customers, here's seven things you'll want to be sure to check before you mail the first piece. 1. Look at your direct mail as your recipient will look at it. This is much easier to say than to do. To create...
How to Increase Direct Mail Advertising Response Rates, Even During the Anthrax Scare!
How to Increase Direct Mail Advertising Response Rates, Even During the Anthrax Scare! A couple nights ago, I was watching the evening news. There was a piece about the anthrax scare. The story was about the fact that everyone is scared to...
Increase Direct Mail Response Rates (And Revenue) By Segmenting Your List.
If you want to increase revenue using direct mail, you have two options: sell more to the customers you have, or find new customers and sell to them. The tricky part is knowing how to do that. I recommend that you start by segmenting...
"Internet Direct Mail Is Different: 14 Things To Remember"
Internet Direct Mail (IDM) and Traditional Direct Mail (TDM) both have the same goals in mind. They are to generate leads or orders. However, marketers need to respect that online media and print media present different hurdles in achieving this...
Tales of Email Misdirection
Article: It's wise to remember how easily email -- this wonderful technology -- can be misused and misdirected, sometimes unintentionally, with serious consequences. Unless you are using encryption, the privacy of your message cannot be...
 
Google
Direct Mail Deadlines: How To Use Them Effectively

Giving your prospect a deadline for ordering, particularly when that deadline is a date and not simply a period of days ("Order within the next 30 days"), will outpull mailings with no deadline almost every time.

But you need to be cautious about deadlines.

If you are making a time-limited offer, give a reason. And make it a good reason. Otherwise your readers may be skeptical. Your time-limited offer needs to be plausible. And it shouldn't make you look greedy. A good example would be a line like this:

"We need to receive your order before 15 April because our prices are going up by 20 percent after that."

Also be prepared to see inquiries die on your deadline. If your prospects and customers take your offer seriously, as they should, do not plan on receiving any more sales


after your deadline arrives. If you extend your deadline once, and then extend it again, you'll create the very inertia that your deadline is trying to overcome.

Plan your time-limited offers carefully. If your cut-off date is too soon, your offer may arrive on or after the deadline. I recommend that you mail first class for this reason.

And if your deadline is too far off, you'll encourage procrastination.

© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
About the Author

Alan Sharpe is a business-to-business direct mail copywriter. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at www.sharpecopy.com.