While the standard direct mail package has been used for decades, there are many other options worth exploring, options that could significantly increase your response rates or even reduce your mailing costs. Here are some examples:

• Alternative envelope sizes. The most popular are 6 x 9 inches, 9 x 12 inches (jumbo), and 3 7/8 x 7 1/2 inches (monarch). Monarch mailings are particularly effective for invitations — e.g., asking prospects to come to your showroom, a grand opening, or a booth at an industry trade show.

• Inserts. An insert typically accompanies a product shipment or an invoice — at no extra postage cost. The only additional expense is for producing the insert. Inserts mailed with bills are known as “invoice stuffers.” Inserts often sell other products or services you offer.

• Postcards. Direct mail postcards have limited space, but the advantage is that the copy and graphics are immediately visible to the recipient, since there is no envelope to tear open. Postcards are especially effective for driving customers to call an 800 number or visit your Web site. They are also cheaper to mail than a traditional envelope.

• Self-mailers. Like postcards, self-mailers have the advantage of not requiring the recipient to rip open an envelope. A simple self-mailer can be made inexpensively by folding an 8 1/2 x 11-inch sheet of paper twice horizontally into thirds; the bottom third can be perforated and printed as a business reply card.

• Magalogs. A magalog is designed to look like a magazine, with a comparable page size (about 7 x 10 inches). Magalogs are used to sell such mail order products as stock market and health newsletters, nutritional supplements, and household appliances (e.g., water purification systems and juicers).

• Tabloids. A tabloid is an oversized magalog, and the larger size helps the direct mail piece stand out in the recipient’s mailbox.

• Digests. A digest is a small magalog, with an 8 1/2 x 5 1/2-inch page size. The latest postal regulations for “flats” (self-mailers that are mailed flat instead of folded) make digests considerably more cost effective to send than magalogs or tabloids.

• Bookalogs. Similar in size to a digest, a bookalog is a direct mail promotion designed to look like a paperback book. Covenant House in New York City was one of the first mailers to have success with bookalogs in its fundraising efforts. Unlike a digest, a bookalog is mailed in an envelope with an order form and a cover letter.

• Dimensional mailings. This is any mailing that has a three-dimensional component. It could be a clever structural graphic that pops up when you open it (similar to a pop-up children’s book) or a package with an object enclosed. One construction firm specializing in commercial buildings sent an envelope containing a brick silk-screened with the company’s logo and contact information. When salespeople from the construction firm followed up after the mailing, they told their prospects’ receptionists, “Tell your boss I’m the guy who sent him the brick.” They almost always got through.

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