The A-Pile
Vs.
The B Pile
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Are you ready to get started? Good. You are now about to learn the most important thing you will ever learn on the subject of direct mail. I have a similar lesson to teach you about newspaper and magazine advertising, but that will come later in another letter. Right now, we will talk only about direct mail. [/FONT]
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Whatever. Professor Halbert is now going to give you his semi-famous "A-Pile/B-Pile Lecture." It goes like this: Everybody in the world divides his mail into two piles which I call the A-Pile and the B-Pile. The A-Pile contains letters that are, (or appear to be), personal. The B-Pile contains everything else: Bills, catalogs, brochures, printed announcements, envelopes that obviously contain a sales message, and so on. [/FONT]
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Now listen up: The most important thing you can ever do when creating a direct mail promotion is to make sure your letter gets in the A-Pile! [/FONT]
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Here's why. Everybody always opens all of their A-Pile mail and only some of their B-Pile mail. [/FONT]
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It's as simple as that. And when you are spending thousands (and sometimes millions) of dollars to mail a sales message, you want to make damn sure everybody who receives your letter will at least open the envelope. You know, this simple truth seems to me to be so self-evident that I am always amazed when someone wants to argue with me about it. And, usually, as you might expect, the most vigorous arguments come from the most "experienced" advertising people. These people just love to tell me how they always found that B-Pile direct mail is more cost effective. [/FONT]
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They are always wrong. You see, they may have sent a personal looking envelope but usually, as I'll explain later, they forget to eliminate the "Oh, yuck!" reaction. But first, let's talk about the differences in the appearance of an A-Pile envelope as opposed to an envelope that is destined to wind up in the B-Pile. [/FONT]
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It's really quite simple. You see, A-Pile envelopes always look personal. Not necessarily personal like they came from your Aunt Minnie but, at least, personal like they were a communication from one real person to another real person. The best (most cost-effective) A-Pile envelopes always have a live postage stamp affixed. They never have teaser copy. They never immediately reveal by the corner card the material inside contains a commercial message. They are never addressed by label and they are seldom oversized or odd shaped. [/FONT]
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Want an example? If so, just look at the envelope this letter came in. It's a plain white #10 with a typewritten address, a first-class postage stamp and a corner card that reveals only the name and address of the sender.[/FONT]
