As growing businesses rapidly gain experience and test results from Internet direct mail, they are learning more every day about what works and what doesn’t with the new medium. Bob Bly, author of Bly on Direct Marketing, has been keeping a close eye on this emerging marketing tactic. He says the following six techniques show the most promise in terms of increasing click-throughs and conversions:

Old-fashioned direct mail is hot again, but the “rules” have changed to meet changing consumer habits. To ensure success, you need to know what’s working and what’s not in direct mail marketing. Find out by downloading your free copy of The 5 Best Direct Mail Marketing Ideas of 2010 without cost or obligation.

1. Short statements that tease the reader, similar to “fascinations” in printed direct mail marketing (e.g., “What never to eat on an airplane”), work well as subject lines in Internet direct mail. Example: “Advice from Bill Gates” is better than “Bill Gates on Innovation.”

2. As with printed direct mail, offers that contain a “bribe” — e.g., a discount, free gift, free shipping and handling, buy one and get one free — are extremely effective in email marketing.

3. When you have a strong offer, put it in the subject line and the lead of your email. Don’t bury it midway in the text.

4. Do not make the offer exclusive to the recipient, as is sometimes done in traditional direct mail campaigns. Encourage the recipient to forward the email — and the offer — to friends and colleagues. Example: “Pass along this special gift offer to your friends by forwarding them this email now.”

5. Most people think of a direct email offer as having only one part: the email. In reality, it has two parts: the email the prospect receives, plus the Web-based response form recipients go to when they click on the link embedded in the message. The headline and copy at the top of the response page should carry the theme of the email and motivate the reader to complete and submit the form.

6. When emailing to a house file — an in-house list of customers and prospects — an ideal frequency seems to be twice a month. Make one of the emails an information e-newsletter; the other can be a special offer or promotion. Space them two weeks apart. E-newsletters should be at least 80 percent news and useful information, and 20 percent promotional copy.

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