It is easy to spend a great deal of time working on the content of the actual direct mail itself, but you’ll be amazed at how often companies forget to do anything with the envelopes the direct mail often comes in! Below we have discussed some great envelope optimisation tips for maximising the success of direct mail campaigns.
Why is it important to optimise your envelope for a direct mail campaign?
More often than not, direct mail is contained within an envelope. While this isn’t always the case, if your direct mail is going to be contained in an envelope, it’s important that it delivers an impact.
In much the same way that we are unlikely to open emails that don’t have a catchy subject and look like spam, you need to think of your envelopes in the same way. Furthermore, you don’t know which side up your direct mail will land on the floor!
Many companies are quick to put colour and text (through variable data printing techniques) on the front of an envelope, but what about the back? This envelope is going to likely be the first thing that your potential customer sees, so make sure that it delivers an impact. Failure to do this may mean the envelope is never even opened and worse case scenario it ends up rapidly in the bin.
How can you optimise your envelopes for a direct mail campaign?
There are a number of ways that you can look to optimise your envelopes in a direct mail campaign to deliver more of an impact. We have looked at these in more detail below:
1) Adding colour to your direct mail’s envelopes
Colour is, and always has been, a marketer’s greatest friend. Colour has a huge psychological impact on a reader, and can draw from them different emotions such as authority, loyalty or joy.
The customer might not realise it, but by using a certain colour on an envelope, depending on the message that you want to get across, they’ll be subconsciously more likely to open your direct mail.
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2) Shapes and other direct mail envelope innovations
Shapes also help to draw and evoke emotions in a reader. As well as adding colour, consider making your envelopes different to the standard rectangles that everyone is used to. If you can be different, your customer is bound to notice it among the rest of their direct mail pile.
Also think about using other innovations on your envelopes such as peel off stickers or zip strip openers, as this will have your reader interacting with your direct mail in a way that is new and intriguing to them.
You can even consider using a padded envelope as this implies a premium or valuable product or maybe a free sample or message is inside.
3) QR and PURL codes
QR and personalised URL codes are also great ways to get the people that you are marketing to interact with your direct mail. If they can see an interesting code on the front that they can scan and be brought to a page with more information, they’ll be much more likely to open your envelope and see what is inside. Also, use QR and PURLs in conjunctions with limited editions or special offers – basically incentivise the customer to want to take action.
Getting innovative with envelopes in your direct mail campaign
The above are some great ways to optimise your envelopes in a direct mail campaign, but there are dozens of other ways you can improve the success of that campaign. For more information on how this can be done, visit our Innovations in Direct Mail article, or contact us here or by phone on 0800 612 1972.
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