The success of your direct mail campaign depends largely on your envelope.
If your envelope never gets opened…then your direct mail piece or traditional direct mail sales letter never gets read…and never makes a sale.
It’s critical to create “envelope tease copy” that will get your envelope opened.
Here are the surprising results for an envelope tease copy test….
For a direct mail campaign, I tested two envelopes I had created for my client, Ministries Today. Both versions had a stamp that read “FREE REPORT ENCLOSED: DO NOT BEND.” However, each envelope was designed with different tease copy on the outside to get the prospect to open it.
The “Free Report” was designed to get by the gatekeeper, keep out of the trash, and create curiosity in the pastor to tear open the envelope.
Test: Here is the test – guess what worked best:
Envelope A said in large red letters, “A FREE gift for Christian leaders!”; underneath in smaller black print it said “No cost. No obligation. No strings.”
Envelope B said in red letters, “Billy Graham…Jack Hayford…Tommy Barnett…Mario Murillo…David Yonggi Cho.”
Printed on the same place on both envelopes were “FREE Special Report” and “FREE self-test inside.”
Which envelope worked best?
Results: When I give speeches or in-house seminars, I often ask audiences which of the two was the winner. The majority of people guess the one that has the word FREE at the top won. Wrong. The winner, by 36%, was Envelope B.
By using prominent evangelical leaders that the audience recognized, it created a curiosity about what was inside, much more so than the offer of a FREE gift. This again shows the value of testing.
If you would like to discuss your direct mail strategy, give me a call at (310) 212-5727 or email Caleb at [email protected]. 
Here are the rest of this week’s articles: