Volumes have been written on ways to improve the response rates of direct mail campaigns, but it’s difficult to know which ones will work for you until you test them.

Unless you are Publishers Clearinghouse, your direct mail quantities will be in the hundreds or thousands, not in the hundreds of thousands or millions. Given your smaller mail quantities, the ability to conduct several direct mail tests is limited. Concentrate only on testing the most important factors that affect DM response rates, not minor factors like whether to use a regular or commemorative stamp or a white or yellow envelope. The five most important response-boosting factors to test are:

1. Headline and lead. Writing new copy can lift response, but not all copy is equal. Often you can lift response 50 percent or more just by testing a new outer envelope teaser or a different headline and lead for your sales letter.
2. Format. Sometimes the same copy presented in different formats will generate different results. Try testing a traditional No. 10 direct mail package versus a jumbo package, or a letter package versus a magalog or other self-mailer.
3. Lists. More often than not, your list broker will identify multiple lists reaching your target market. While they may appear to be very similar, testing reveals that seemingly equivalent lists can generate wildly different results, with an increase in response to list “A” versus list “B” of five times or more.
4. Offers. Varying the direct mail offer can at times boost response rates and orders enormously. For instance, if you are seeing mediocre results using medical direct mail to generate sales leads for your group medical practice, try offering a free special report as an incentive to make an appointment. A restaurant can test a free glass of wine with dinner versus free coffee and dessert.
5. Pricing. You would think that the lower the price, the more direct mail orders produced. Amazingly, test after test has shown that a higher price can often outperform a lower price. Why? Perhaps the higher price creates an impression of greater perceived value. In one famous direct marketing test for a home study program on how to be a better public speaker, the ads generated more orders at $297 than at $197.

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