Distributors who can offer creative tips to end-users have a competitive advantage. That being said, internationally known direct marketing consultant and copywriter Lee Marc Stein noted one of the biggest obstacles mailers face today is TDD—Time Deficit Disorder. Prospects and customers simply don’t have time to read all of the mail and e-mails they receive. And the problem is only getting worse, as corporations continue to downsize, leaving those remaining on staff with more burdens and less time, while employees in small businesses have always contended with time pressures.
Stein offered seven recommendations for overcoming TDD and boosting response rates:
1. Convince prospects/customers it’s worth their time to open the direct mail package. You can’t begin to sell products or services until you do. If necessary, resort to trickery—such as printing “official” on the envelopes—to accomplish your task.
2. Layer the information in your package. TDD sufferers should get the essence of the product’s benefits and your offer from the Johnson box (a box commonly found at the top of a direct mail letter which contains the key message of the letter) and not have to read further. An alternative is running five or six bullets down the right side of the letter. Buck slips are another great place to summarize benefits and offers. When including a brochure, keep a rein on how much copy it contains—in most applications today, less is more.
3. Make it easy for impulse responders. Combine frequent calls-to-action, multiple ways to respond and strong guarantees. There are more prospects than you know thinking: “I don’t have time to read about this, but I’d like to try it.”
4. Assure prospects the process for responding is fast and easy. When it was launched, GEICO’s “15 minutes to save 15 percent or more” was appealing. Today, few people have 15 minutes to respond or place orders. It needs to be faster. You have to assure people it is, and then back up your promise.
5. Focus on saving time as a product/service benefit. Particularly in b-to-b applications, this can have much more appeal than saving money, or anything else, for that matter. Readers will want to know how much time is saved (in relation to cost), and specifically how the product or service saves time.
6. Explain why investing in time to use the product/service is worthwhile. For example, circulations have to tell prospects how reading time on the particular publication increases productivity and/or profitability. Similarly, if you’re selling business software, you need to discuss how long it will take new users to get the system working and why that investment is worthwhile. Even for “upgrade” mailings to the installed base, recipients must be convinced that it takes very little time to get the new version working, and the time will be repaid very shortly.
7. Plan multiple efforts to important segments. Even prospects and customers with severe cases of TDD get breaks in their schedules occasionally. There may be an instance when they have enough time to read and respond. If you can get prospects to your website and registered, you can develop a whole series of “Are you ready yet?” communications.
For more information, visit www.leemarcstein.com or call (631) 476-5395.
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