Putting the puzzle together

Believe it or not, direct mail design is much less about creativity and much more about the architecture of information. For this reason, we compare it to putting together a puzzle. Whether you design your mail piece yourself, or contract it out to a third-party designer, it is in your best interest to make sure you have all of the pieces of the puzzle before you start setting up your mailer.

When designing a mail piece, the goal is to get your information across to your prospect in a clear and convincing manner within an extremely short amount of time. In order to do this well, the mail piece needs to be planned out and well-organized to highlight the right things and pull the reader’s eye through the piece. A seasoned direct mail designer can work with you to identify the most important elements of your message and set up your mail piece to highlight those items and arrange secondary information so it can be read easily.

Failing to assemble all of the pieces of the puzzle before beginning the design can end up being detrimental to the overall flow of the piece. For instance, if your designer is given a 5-word headline to begin with, but at the last minute that headline is changed to a 10-word headline, the layout will obviously not work in the same manner. The layout will get squished, emphasis will get lost and the entire piece may lose impact. Its like completing a puzzle only to be asked to insert additional pieces. The result would be far from appealing and make little sense.

How can you avoid this problem and produce a winning direct mail piece? As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and pre-planning all of the elements of your mail piece is the key.

Nonprofit Tip: Spin a sweet tale for your prospects

As outlined in our headline article, emotions are the primary driver for action. As non-profit marketers, using this to your advantage is key. You can accomplish this through storytelling. Not only is storytelling entertaining and easy to read, but it hits right to the heart of the matter. When you tell your prospective donors about the impact of your organization and the lives you are affecting, you give them a memory to associate with your cause. Storytelling makes your impact and issues relatable to the ordinary person. When you tell your readers the story of “Susan, the single mother of four” who your soup kitchen fed until she could get back on her feet, rather than “thousands of homeless” your readers begin to form a picture of your impact and a emotional relationship with your organization. Be descriptive with your prospects and give them a vision of the tangibility of your organization through the art of telling a story. Spin a heart-opening tale and watch as purse-strings loosen.

Emotions act first

Everyone knows the central goal of all advertising efforts is to persuade the prospect to act on your appeal to them and buy into your product, service or cause. Persuasion seems as if it should be simple, right? Simply explain the benefits of your product and your prospect should want to purchase. If only it were this simple. Research shows our brains don’t take decision-making quite so lightly—they make decisions in a much more complex manner.

The human brain is comprised of two main decision-processing stations. The first station is referred to by researchers as the “First Brain” or what is commonly knows as our Limbic System. The Limbic System is the root of our primary emotions, such as survival instincts, desires and self-protection. This system is the first stop on the road to decision-making.

The second station in our brain is referred to as the “New Brain” or the Cerebrum and Cerebral Cortex. The Cerebral Cortex is responsible for organizing, retaining, communicating, learning and creating. In short, this is the root of our logic. This system is the second stop in our decision-making process.

As a message travels through the brain, it is stopped at the emotional First Brain before it is allowed to proceed through to the logical New Brain. Many advertisers make the mistake of thinking that a logical presentation of information will sell their product, however this brain model refutes this thinking. In order for your message to be processed logically, it must first be processed emotionally. Credibility is the secret to getting through the gate-keeping, emotional First Brain.

Credibility basically translates to trust, and transparency and like-ability are two key factors in building trust. If your brand and promotion are transparent and honest in nature and presented in a like-able manner, they are likely to be allowed through to the logical brain. Less like-able brands and shady promotion tactics will always be questioned at the gate-keeping First Brain station, and will require more information before these messages are allowed to proceed.

Over all, this research shows that we base our initial response to messaging on our emotional reactions, and support these reactions with logical information evaluated by our logical minds. When creating your next mail campaign, be sure to keep this in mind. Create your promotions to be honest, transparent and like-able, and you will be able to connect with and persuade your audience much easier.

This post is based on information presented in the book, Design for Response: Creative Direct Marketing that Works, by Leslie H. Sherr and David J. Katz.