So now we are there - we have put together a pack of materials, all based around a product or service, sold in a particular way.  The question we ask now is what we want the recipient to do next.

Typical answers to this question are:

• Get on the phone
• Fill in the order form
• Send a fax or email
• Apply for a CD
• Play a CD
• Go on the internet

This all seems fairly straight forward - except that we must still remember to put the potential customer's position at the heart of our thinking.  For much of the time questions such as "can the individual send an email" or "does she have the ability to phone" seem ludicrous - but there are times in people's life where all the modern facilities of life are not there.  It is all very well saying "go on-line and look at this" providing the person to whom you are writing is able to do exactly that.   But think for a moment about families with only one computer at home, and that computer is being used by the teenage son or daughter.  Think about probation officers.  Think about teachers - these are people who simply can't stop what they are doing to go on-line or to go and look at a CD.

In one set of research I undertook we looked at a company's selling mechanism to teachers in which the whole process centred around the teacher phoning the company up having received the brochure, being told wonderful things about the product, and then being sent a CD.  Having got the CD the teacher would run the CD and buy the program.

I questioned whether in fact this was tie right way forward.  After all teachers often don't have easy access to a phone during the working day and although there are times when they don't teach, such as after school finishes, the number of phones available is limited, and many go straight on to teach extra curricular activities or leave the premises before the rush hour.   Likewise these same teachers don't have easy access to a computer during the day - there will be computers in the classrooms, but not in places and at times where they can readily settle down and explore a program.

When we investigated the process in depth we found evidence that around 30% of the disks that were being sent out were never used at all - and there was some evidence that the figure was much higher (it was of course quite hard to be precise about this).   Pushing further into the figures we found that an amazing 50% of teachers by-passed the whole planned process and, instead of phoning up, getting the sample or the on-trial version, simply placed an order.

This shows how vital it is that you must not make assumptions.  People work in their own way and will proceed in their own way and you have to work with that.

Let me approach this from another direction.  I know from my experience selling direct mail that there are many people who use direct marketing who hold to the mantra that one should always go to the top.  If you can't talk to the top person there is no point in doing it at all.

So I quite regularly get phone calls from people who call me to talk about issues such as who supplies our telephone services, or electricity, if we would like to consider changing our computer network,  would we like a new printer or whether we should like to take on a payroll service.

Now in some companies these might be perfectly reasonable questions because maybe the chairman of the Ltd does indeed deal with such matters, but not with us.   Somehow these firms need to adjust their selling procedures to accommodate reality, rather than their perception of what reality ought to be.

As you would expect I have a computer on my desk and it is permanently connected to the internet.  I can if I wish go to a web site and look something up if someone suggests I should.  I can also put a CD in and follow through the demonstration.   Buy what I don't have is sound.  This is because, being the sort of guy who likes to keep an eye on what is going on in his business, I actually work in the open-plan office with the rest of the crew.   Since our daily work does not require us to listen to internet sites none of us has either speakers or headphones....

This does not mean that you cannot use the latest technology - it means you have to think about the people you are writing to.  Maybe it means that one time you write and suggest they go to the web site, and the next time you follow an utterly different route.  Just because you can do something it does not mean that your potential customers can and will also do it.

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The full set of pages covering The Theory of Direct Mail are shown below.  If you want to move to the next page, just click here

Below is a list of the factors that make up The Total Theory of Direct Mail:

1. Why most firms ignore the theory and produce direct mail that fails.
2. When and where the mailing is received - what the recipient is doing at the moment of impact.
3. The personality of the individual you are mailing, and how that affects the mailing.
4. The envelope - it is the first thing you see - does it make any difference?
5. The interaction between the brain and the paper - there are issues of neurophysiology at work which must be taken into effect.
6. The mail is opened - the next five seconds are vital; so what does mailsort do at this point? 
7. Differentiation - now the customer decides, "Have I seen this sort of stuff before?"
8. The customer decides to read - but then colour can get in the way.
9. Using images to try and hold attention - the grabby image problem.
10. Skipping - no matter what you try, most recipients do it.
11. The end - as likely to effect the result as the start
12. The second page - its function and layout.
13. Subsequent page interference - so unexpected most people refuse to admit it exists - but it really does happen.
14. What do you want the reader to do next?  
15. Ordering - are you making it easy?

This article is an extract from the book "Doubling Response Rates: The Theory and Practice of Direct Mail" (c) Tony Attwood 2006