What factors matter most for a successful direct mail newsletter subscription campaign?

While fewer people may now respond to a direct-mail package than was the case a few years ago, this method is still the most profitable way to acquire newsletter subscribers. There’s nothing that works better.

Here are the four major factors that will determine how a package performs.

• The target list.
• The offer.
• Format.
• Copy.

The List and Offer Are the Most Important Elements

Conventional wisdom is that the list and offer are the most important elements, and that copy and design (including format) are minor issues.

I agree AND disagree with this advice.

Agree, because it’s true. These two variables will have more impact on response than anything else.

But the very best list (or two or three) for any particular newsletter can be easily identified, so list choice is not difficult.

Example: If your newsletter covers the stock market, then your list universe will be relatively small because you and your competitors all know and have probably already tested all the hard-money lists out there.

So the most responsive lists are probably the ones that have worked before. The bottom line: You don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time you launch or relaunch a newsletter.

One list test will usually identify which lists are best for your publication. New lists emerge now and then, but little more is to be gained from the list.

Next to the list, offer is the second most important factor. For a newsletter, the offer is relatively straightforward and standard. An offer for consulting services or software is trickier.

There are always variations in the offer that can be made. That said, a few quick tests can settle on a basic offer for the publication.

Once you have a basic offer nailed down, there’s not much more you can do with the offer.

The format and copy may not affect response as much as the list and offer, but when list and offer are fixed, copy and format are all that’s left to test for response improvements.

Copy and format are thus of primary - not secondary - importance, as they are the only feasible way to beat your control package.

Copy Testing

Let’s talk about copy first.

My rule: Watch the biggest, most successful direct marketers in your industry, and do what they do.

The more pieces you mail, the more experienced you become at testing. The biggest direct marketers test more often than the smaller ones, so they are more experienced at this.

Some of the biggest publishers, including Boardroom, Phillips, Agora, and KCI, test copy very extensively.

They still mail extensive copy tests and pay the highest fees to top copywriters. And they’d stop doing this, if the returns weren’t there.

My advice to you: you should probably be doing more copy testing than you are.

It’s never a good idea to launch - or even to test - with one package. Always write at least two variations. At the bare minimum, write two different envelope teasers, or test one teaser and one no teaser. And always test two different letter leads: headline and opening of page one.

The most important components of the package to test are the teaser, headline or lead. Always test different “big ideas,” not merely fine variations of the same theme. E.g.: “Tastes great!” vs. “Less filling!”

A good headline or “big idea” can result in gains of 25% to 100% or more over a poor headline. You can do far more by testing the headline and lead, for instance, than by rewriting the body copy.

A headline (or lead) emphasizing a promise to show the reader how to make huge gains by playing two commodity markets performed 25% less than a headline promising the largest discovery in history. There’s a valuable lesson in that.

The Winning Format

The format is the other major lever you can pull to boost response. One of the first tests you should make is a self-mailer against a letter package.

If your letter package wins, then test letter size: #10 envelope vs. 6 X 9” vs. jumbo envelope. If your self-mailer wins, test magalog vs. tabloid vs. digest vs. bookalog.

No one format is always best for every newsletter. The winning format varies from product to product and changes over time.

A large financial publisher says magalogs are the only format that will work for him today. Another publisher, who has five newsletters, uses a #10 package as its control for all five. Go figure.

Even a change in design alone, with nothing else different, can make a big difference in response.

One designer, Ted Nicholas, was able to beat a client’s control package by 100% by changing only the design and none of the copy.

A big consumer newsletter publisher tested his control (printed white envelopes) vs. a virtually identical version on kraft. Result: kraft did 25% worse.

Don’t believe the experts who say copy, design, and format don’t matter. They do.