If you want to write a really brilliant mailshot forget you are writing to lots of people.  Instead write just to one.  It takes practice, but when you can do it you will find your response rates shoot up.

If you have read the basic factors that underlie all success in direct mail you will know that the key factors are all psychological - they are to do with the individual.

Yet in direct mail we always think about groups of people - we select our lists by grouping people and businesses together.   And so  we get tempted to think about groups of people, rather than individuals.  But what we must always do is take a step back from the group and think of the individual.

Let's imagine you have decided to write to the Head of Finance in companies with 20 to 50 staff.   Think about one such person.   Imagine that person at work, opening the mail.    You will be imagining factors such as:

• Male or female
• In an open plan office or in a personal office or in a financial office with 2 or 3 others
• Dressed "professionally" or casually
• Ordered, with a tidy desk, or in a muddle
• Having control over the environment or interrupted by colleagues, emails, phones, the MD...

Now we begin to get a picture, and holding that picture in your mind you write to that individual.

Of course, you can object that your audience is diverse - and indeed most audiences are diverse.  So you must compromise a bit - since some of your recipients will be male even if you think most are female, you won't want to talk about handbags and make-up (even if tempted!) - but you must be sure you don't compromise too much.  If you head totally for the middle ground you will end up with an utterly bland piece.

Writing to my target individual

In this case I am going to imagine an ordered and organised female, aged 40, who focuses and concentrates on the figures, and who has her department well ordered.  The VAT is not only always on time, it is right.  As are the PAYE and corporation tax.  As are the invoices, payments etc etc.

I now imagine that such a person is not one who openly loves change.  She has her department organised, and does not want to change it much.   She also does not welcome interruption - interrupt the running of PAYE and you can make a mistake, and she does not tolerate errors.

So now in constructing a mailshot for this lady I work within this invented personna.  I know I have to grab her attention - but I also know that just shouting NEW!!! is not going to do anything for her, because she does not like NEW.  But she does like organisation and efficiency, so that is where I start.   

And I write to her.

This does not mean I have to use her name and mailmerge the letter - in fact as you will see in the section on Mailmerge, I don't recommend this at all.  It means that the nature of my text is put together so that it relates to this lady.

Different personalities

But what about all those other people in the same position with different personalities?   No problem.  If I feel that I am not getting the response rate I need, or if my response rate starts to fail, my profile can be changed, and so the style of my writing changes.   No longer will I be appealing to the same people - I will start to appeal to another group.

So, the final objection says, why not go down the middle and appeal to everyone at once?  The answer is that it does not work.  We all of us get so much direct mail that one of the first things we scan out is direct mail that does not appeal to us - and we have all become experts at seeing how closely to our image of ourselves and our world the advertiser is.

Most direct mail is written from a middle of the road perspective.  Most of it gets a far lower response rate than it could do.

Free analysis of your mailshot

This article is written by Tony Attwood, Chairman of Hamilton House Mailings Ltd.  If you would like to discuss the writing or design of your mailing campaign, or indeed a single mailshot, with Tony, without cost or obligation, just call 01536 399 000, or email Creative@hamilton-house.com   You can also send Tony a copy of your latest advert and he will call you back with his thoughts on how your response rate could be raised - again without cost or obligation.