What Causes You to Open a Piece of Mail or an Email?

Written By Ted Grigg

This perennial question came up on LinkedIn’s Q&A where members ask questions of their network. The last time I checked, there were 17 answers to this question.

Isn’t it interesting that the person posing the question grouped snail mail and email in the same question? The answers tended to either agree that good direct mail also makes for good email.

Others answered the questions by specifying the channel.

Here are a few edited excerpts of the answers.

- A familiar address, one I personally know. Beyond that, little else. Afraid many folks are growing quite immune to spam mailings these days.

- 99%+ of the time, if I don't recognize the sender then I delete the Email or flag it as spam.

- For Direct Mail---yes, the stuff that gets put in your post box. The challenge is getting people to 'open' it. I believe that post cards are the best bet to grab attention.

- Unfamiliar email simply gets deleted without opening. As for postal mail, the messaging, color, design and timing may sway me. Unfortunately, it's such an overused tactic that getting bombarded electronically and paper based just annoys me.

- You usually just open and look at those who have your interest. My conclusion is that i don't think it's right when someone says they only look at mails that have a familiar address. You look at what your brain sees as a common interest and what you "need" to know.

- Unless it is from someone I know it gets deleted.

- For direct mail you mentioned the word Open. In my opinion an envelope is a barrier and you’re asking the customer to take additional steps to see your message. Unless the address is hand written and a real stamp is applied then it will get trashed 99% of the time with the envelope never getting opened. I think an oversize card is a better option. This way the customer will at least see your message and make a decision on how to act on it. Granted this decision is made in about 2.5 seconds but with an envelope the decision gets made without the consumer ever seeing the offer.

- I have one test. A familiar email address, or the expectation of receiving an email from a previously unknown sender determines whether I open an email or not.

What reaction do you have to these answers? Do you have valid testing to substantiate any of them? Where do you agree or disagree?

Ted Grigg

Ted Grigg is a direct response strategist who helps growth-focused companies reduce risk by identifying weak assumptions before they become costly mistakes.

Over the course of his career, Ted has evaluated several hundred million dollars in direct response testing across direct mail, digital, print, television, telephone, and other channels. His work combines direct response strategy, acquisition economics, customer analysis, creative evaluation, offer development, and disciplined testing.

Ted has worked on both the client and agency sides of the business. That experience gives him a practical understanding of the pressures facing executives, marketing teams, agencies, and service providers—and of the problems that arise when activity, media volume, or creative preference replaces a clear economic objective.

His consulting work helps organizations examine such questions as:

  • Are acquisition goals economically realistic?

  • Is the allowable Cost Per Sale supported by customer value?

  • Are targeting, offers, creative, media, and response paths working together?

  • Are tests structured to produce reliable business decisions?

  • Are unproven assumptions being treated as facts?

  • Is the organization measuring sales outcomes rather than convenient proxies?

Ted’s experience includes the development of direct mail and multichannel acquisition programs for insurance, healthcare, financial services, technology, nonprofit, manufacturing, retail, transportation, communications, government, and business-to-business organizations.

For a national direct-to-consumer insurance company, he developed a direct mail format that defeated established controls and helped expand the productive use of compiled prospect lists from less than 10 percent to more than 30 percent of total direct mail circulation within one year. He also planned Medicare lead-generation programs for more than 60 regional and national HMO and PPO organizations, with some programs exceeding sales projections by as much as 60 percent.

Ted founded Wyse Direct, a direct marketing division of Wyse Advertising in Cleveland, where he developed acquisition programs and helped launch a new technology product for Seiko Instruments by generating a predictable flow of qualified sales leads for its national sales organization. As vice president of new business development for the Grizzard Agency, he helped broaden the agency’s strategic capabilities and pursue new commercial and fundraising opportunities.

He is the author of The HMO/PPO Marketing Plan—A Step-by-Step Guide, published by Executive Enterprises, and has written numerous articles and conducted webinars on direct response strategy, testing, creative development, and marketing economics.

Ted earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Abilene Christian University and completed two years of graduate study at Texas Tech University. He is the founder of DMCG, LLC.

http://www.dmcgresults.com
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