When the three basic laws (click on Start Here if you didn't get to read them) of direct mail operate in the real world they are experienced through a range of factors.  The Factors are shown as a complete list in the "alphabetical" section.   Some of the main themes in advertising are listed in "themes". 

Alphabetical list of factors:

1. 70% Theory - with new update following new research in October 2006
2. Announcements   - an overused form of advertising that never works.
3. Be personal  - write your direct mail to one person
4. Benefits  - as every marketing book says - sell benefits
5. Brochures - the half way house between leaflet and catalogue - underused but highly valuable
6. Catalogues - how to stop them being stuck on the shelf
7. Centre ground - where so much direct mail is directed - but never the best place to be
8. Citations - important to quote good comments and recommendations, but that is never a reason to lead with them.  The come at the end
9. Colour  - you may believe colour is always good, but often it isn't
10. Combining 1 - direct mail plus telephoning 
11. Combining 2 - email plus direct mail
12. Commitment of reader - how committed the reader is affects how you have to write
13. Competitors – knowing all about them
14. Copywriting - how to do it to make it work
15. Cover letters - they don't always work - it depends how you write them
16. Credibility  - does your customer believe you?
17. Deadline dates - when to send
18. Design - never let it swamp the copy - let the copy sell and the design support
19. Differentiate advert - make your advert different from that of your rivals
20. Differentiate product - sell the product in a different way from the way your rivals sell similar products
21. Elaboration likelihood theory - it sounds complex but it isn't and it has a huge impact on how your direct mail works.
22. Emotions - using emotion to sell through direct mail - one of the five key ways.
23. English – does it make sense - a lot of direct mail is written in a strange variation of the language, and it doesn't work
24. Envelopes paper or poly - paper is more expensive - but is it worth it?
25. Envelopes printing on - is there a benefit of printing on the envelope?
26. Exclamation marks, trade marks and other marks - stop using them!!!!!
27. Features - still the way most people write, but normally not a good idea.
28. Flyers - the simplest form of direct mail, and still effective
29. Focus Zone - when the reader picks up a piece of direct mail, what does he or she see first?  Probably not what you expect.
30. Fonts - does the font make a difference?
31. Grabby image theory - another key theory, and if you get it wrong, your whole direct mail piece will collapse.
32. Headline - the key issue above all others.  Get the headline wrong and no one will read anything
33. Hierarchy of Needs theory (Maslow's theory) - what need are you meeting?
34. Humour in direct mail - get it right and it works a dream.  But it is hard to write.
35. Individuals – writing to one not many 
36. Length of copy - the short vs long argument
37. Lifestyle of your readership - if you don't understand them, you can't sell to them
38. Mail lists – checking their validity
39. Number of inserts - the wholly unexpected effects of Interference
40. One at a time
41. Order form  - use it as a way to check how each leaflet is selling
42. Overload Theory - how much to send out
43. Personalisation - everyone assumes mailmerge helps.  But often it does not.
44. Postage class - does it make any difference which class of postage you use?
45. Price - selling on price.  Yes it works, but at a huge cost.
46. PS in sales letters - second only in importance to the headline
47. Questionnaires - how to write them, what affects response rates.
48. Questions – asking interesting questions
49. Salutations in sales letters - do they matter
50. Short paragraphs - why they help
51. Short sentences - another key factor.  You must use them.
52. Signatures in sales letters - helpful or irrelevant?
53. Slogans - everyone wants to use them, but there may be no point.
54. Taking time to produce resources - writing a sales letter takes much longer than you might expect.
55. Titles and names on the envelope.  What difference does it make?
56. When to mail - every industry has its timetable
57. XZ Theory  - one of the earliest theories to emerge in this research and one of the most important.
    
    Extras - this is where we will add any extra bits that emerge as a result of reader comments on the 57 factors.
    
    
58. Denial - a state of mind of many people in advertising when they realise they have been getting it all wrong.
59. Email vs direct mail.  Report on research into attitudes of those who receive direct mail and email.
60. Voice - an explanation of the theory that small changes to the text can make enormous differences to the response rates.
61. The psychology of advertising - how the way the brain works can help in the art of persuasion.
62. Excitement
63. Fear of advertising
64. Age and illustration
65. Why the common sense approach to direct advertising doesn’t work 

Themes

The themes are taken from the complete list of factors - we have simply gathered them together into obvious groupings.

Design

• Design - general review
• The effects of colour
• Grabby image theory
• Layout and design

Writing

• Announcements
• Benefits
• Interesting questions
• Humour
• Selling on Price
• Selling via emotions
• Headline

Psychology

• Mail phobia
• Ad psychology
• Excitement