The seventh Secret of Successful Sales Letters is:
7. Monitor your results
• Things change. So keep your eye on all results
• Change only one key element at a time and note the effect
Even the best ideas can tire, so keep watching your results and testing new ideas. Guard against the temptation to cling to your favourite things. You can always bring them back again later, perhaps with some new twist.
But when you make a change, do so with only one element at a time, so that you can see and measure the effect of the change.
In case you missed any of the first six Secrets, here they are again.
1. The List comes first
• Who is your target market?
• Must be relevant to your product or service
• Is the Database up to date, accurate, fully named?
2. Make the envelope look right
• Use a stamp not a franking machine
• Make it look like personal correspondence
• Don’t put sales messages for the sake of something to say
3. Create an offer that’s hard to resist
• You must MAKE AN OFFER
• Address the question, What’s in it for me?
• Make a ‘soft offer’, i.e. one that requires minimal commitment. If you require a ‘Yes/No’ response it’s a Hard Offer.
4. Aim to create ACTION
• Always have a response device
• Write the response device first
• Give a compelling reason to reply
5. Stop expecting only a 1% return
• With the right ingredients you CAN get double digit response
• Avoid trying to convert non-users
• Focus on getting users to switch to you
6. Testing can make all the difference
• How will you know what works? By testing
• How will you know what works BEST? By testing
• Use a rolling test programme to stay ahead of the game
Direct Marketing involves much more than the seven secrets above, but they will guide your hand to more successful mailings. Another shortcut is to let me write your sales letters for you and/or coach you in Direct Marketing. Call me on 0845 165 9240 or drop me a line at phillip@pkpcommunicators.com.
