What we discover from a strange, goofy, and brilliant direct mail fundraising envelope

Effective direct mail outer envelopes can be strange. Like this one from a political fundraiser:

It’s rather brilliant. But really weird.

Other than it is “from” Senator Charles Schumer, there is no information about who sent it. (It’s from the Senate Majority PAC, but you kind of have to dig around inside to discover that.)

But the really odd thing is the top in the upper left, where there would typically be a return address. It’s just plain bossy! And it’s telling the recipient to do something they either intend to do or not. Is this meant to be some kind of mind control?

I don’t think that’s the intent. In any case, mind control via direct mail is not possible. If someone doesn’t want to sit down, open the envelope, and read — this message won’t make them do it.

But there’s a group of recipient who might sit down, open the envelope, and read — and maybe donate. But there’s a lot of inertia likely to keep them from doing so. The cat wants to be fed. The tea kettle is whistling. There’s something interesting on the television.

When a recipient who is leaning toward the envelope sees these words, it nudges them along. A few more people open the envelope.

In direct mail, we don’t get open rates, so we don’t know how well this tactic works. But we do get response rates, and I’m confident this organization has tested and learned that it works to increase response.

The envelope is brilliant in a couple more ways:

1. You can’t tell in the scan, but in addition to being off-white stock, it has a ribbed texture. Different from most other envelopes in the mailbox.
2. The ****PRIVATE**** and the To Addressee Only: … really not necessary, but the “importance” factor goes through the roof!

I can imagine people at this organization looking at this envelope and saying, “This is just silly! There’s no actual information here, just goofy unnecessary nothings!”

That may be right, but those nothings are all about getting the recipient to open the envelope.

Which is the first and most difficult barrier for direct mail. It doesn’t matter how amazing the contents of the envelope are if it doesn’t get opened. And we know this: Most envelopes don’t get opened.

The outer envelope is the most impactful element of any direct mail pack. (Likewise is true for email subject lines.) Most of your hard work is going straight to the recycle bin, never seen, never considered, never responded to.

That’s why the outer envelope is where you should put a lot of your creativity and effort.