I guess it’s some sort of experiment. I pulled an envelope from my mailbox the other day that obviously looked like a direct mail piece. But the copy on the envelope simply said, “BLAH% Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah!” Seriously. That’s what it said.
I almost tossed it in the trash, but – always being on the lookout for something to blog about – I decided to take a look inside first.
The mailer was for a business credit card from Advanta and it highlighted just the pertinent points. The rest of the copy was filled with “blah, blah, blah.” Something along the lines of:
Blah, blah, blah. Unlimited rewards. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah cash rewards. Blah, blah, blah. 0% interest. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah other stuff. Blah, blah, blah. Unlimited rewards. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah cash rewards. Blah, blah, blah. 0% interest. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah other stuff.
Would something like this actually work? Most often, credit card companies do their fair share of testing before sending out mailings, so I’d assume they had at least some success before sinking tons of money into a mailer and website.
Did it work for me? No. I would not have responded to a business mailer like this. Maybe I’m a fuddy-duddy, but I thought it was trivial. It did not come across as very businesslike to me. Plus, I’d want more information than just what was highlighted in red.
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There are many communication styles, however. For those who make decisions based on a few facts, this may do the trick.
While they included an application in the mailer, my bet is that they got much more traffic to their website and their toll-free number. I’d also venture to say this mailer performed better as a lead-generation tool than a sales tool.
If nothing else, it makes for an interesting experiment. Just wish Advanta would be kind enough to share their results with the world 🙂
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Evidently, I’m not the only one who thinks this was a piece of garbage.
http://www.makepeacetotalpackage.com/clayton-makepeace/the-worst-direct-mail-piece-ever-written.html#more-621