Comments on: Is your direct mail copy headed for the trash?

By: 10 secrets for writing “open me” envelope teaser copy

10 secrets for writing “open me” envelope teaser copy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:02:35 +0000

[...] In case you missed it, here’s a refresher on the brutal reality of direct mail. [...]

By: Direct mail copywriting: an interview with Dean Rieck

Direct mail copywriting: an interview with Dean Rieck — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 13:01:30 +0000

[...] Most of them. Maybe 98 to 99 percent. In fact, I wrote an article about this where I show why and how direct mail gets trashed. But the same thing happens with ANY kind of advertising. How many radio commercials do you respond [...]

By: Bob Bois

Bob Bois — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:21:53 +0000

James:
Didn’t mean to freak you out with the math question. Copywriters don’t do math?? By the way – thanks – I really enjoy your blog also.

Dean:
Is it really binary, the copywriter’s fate? Are there not any DM packages that bring, say, a 1.5% conversion. It’s not the new control, but it’s not a total flop, right? Just trying to get the lay of the land in all of this.
Thanks for your input.

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 02:34:01 +0000

James:
Yeah, but I’m in direct marketing. So I live and die by numbers. But it’s mostly binary stuff. Either / or. My stuff works or it doesn’t. I’m a genius or an idiot.

By: James Chartrand - Men with Pens

James Chartrand - Men with Pens — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:30:57 +0000

Okay, this is math. MATH! On a copywriter blog! And I’m a writer! And this means… well. If I could do math, then I wouldn’t have been a writer, hm?

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:21:26 +0000

Bob:
If direct mail is done right, it’s never random. Mailers look for lists of people with a demonstrated interest in similar products and services.

Maybe the answer James is looking for can be found in the “length of visit” stats in Google Analytics. It shows in seconds how long visitors stay on a site. Those who stay 0-10 seconds obviously aren’t finishing an article. Those who stay 61-180 seconds probably are. I suppose you could calculate a rough “article finish rate” by making a few assumptions about read time and seeing how many visitors stick around long enough vs. those who don’t.

At a glance, I’d say about 24% of Pro Copy Tips readers stay long enough to finish a post.

By: Bob Bois

Bob Bois — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:48:01 +0000

Hi Dean,
I’m really enjoying your blog. I’m a self-employed medical writer and learning about copywriting.
I wanted to ask you and James if this might not be true, concerning your discussion above:
Would the ‘conversion’ percentage for the group of readers of blog headlines who ultimately finish reading the related article likely be higher since the denominator (number of readers of headlines) represents a group that is already at least mildly interested in the subject matter at hand, while the recipient of a DM package might be random?
Thanks, Bob

By: Dean Rieck

Dean Rieck — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:29:00 +0000

James,
I just don’t know the answer to that. But I wouldn’t assume that it’s the same for direct mail and blogs. The “stats” I mentioned for direct mail are just educated guesses. There is no way to measure open rates and similar data in the field.

By: Roberta Rosenberg

Roberta Rosenberg — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:14:38 +0000

Dean, I don’t know, but if you find out – I want one, too!
.-= Roberta Rosenberg’s last blog … MavenTweets for 2009-12-25 =-.

By: James Chartrand - Men with Pens

James Chartrand - Men with Pens — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 18:14:18 +0000

@ Dean – For sure. But I mean, an in-general percentage of people who actually click to read headlines, who actually finish articles, who actually leave comments… Wonder if it’d be the same general percentage of ‘conversion’ rates as you quote here for those who read direct mailings.

I’d assume yes, of course.
.-= James Chartrand – Men with Pens’s last blog … How Do You Know When You’ve Reached Success? =-.