I recently received the 'fabulous news' that I had won '5,000.00. You know what they say about things that sound too good to be truethey usually are. So I looked for a phone numberabsent. I then looked at the return addressCanada. Canada? I had a closer look at the delivery envelopeRoyal Mail frank, i.e. it had been posted from the UK. Strange. I did a Google search for company name. At number 2 was a link to an article in the Mirror entitled 'Rogue Mail'. Yepit was a slick scam which was apparently netting the operators millions of pounds because to claim your prize you had to send a payment, in this case '20.00.

Now many would have been outraged at receiving such a letter. Instead, I saw it as a great learning opportunity not, I hasten to add, because I'm planning a scam of my own, but because it put into practice (with great results) many of the strategies of doing an effective and legitimate Direct Mail campaign. Here are some of the tactics adopted by this company and a few ways to improve the effectiveness of your Direct Mail campaigns.

1. Delivery Envelope
The envelope displayed the company's name and under the company name were the words 'Cash Release Documents'. Over the window of the envelope were the words 'Final Notice For:' which implied a sense of urgency. To the right of the envelope were the words 'OPEN AT ONCE'i.e. a strong call to action. This company obviously knew the strength of using teaser copy, i.e. copy to whet the appetite of the reader.

2. Reply Envelope
Including an addressed reply envelope generally increases the response rate and a reply envelope was dutifully included in this case. Some Direct Mail marketers use FREEPOST envelopes but the problem with this is that it can increase the response rate of junk mail.

3. Main Letter
The main letter was well-presented and looked official. The letter had been folded in three and the body of the letter was laid out in such a way that the information above the first fold was compelling as well as the information between the folds and at the bottom of the letter.

We tend to scan letters reading the headline, sub-headers and footers first and taking in any other striking information so this was a clever marketing tactic. In fact, the headline is critical to the success of the Direct Mail campaign. Given our short attention span, some attribute 90% of the success of a Direct Mail campaign to using a captivating headline.

In this case, above the fold and in italics, there was a short paragraph preceded by the word 'Attention' and containing the word 'CONGRATULATIONS' notifying me that I had won a prize and it was 'ready for dispensation'. The prize would be held for me until I responded (by post) according to the terms of the letter. Then there was another 'call to action'.

The letter went onto to say that as soon as I responded my cheque would be dispatched to me using a registered courier service. This helped to reinforce the fact that I had to act quickly to take advantage of this offer.

The middle section gave details about the prize and an option to have the money released in one lump sum or to have 4 equal payments. A no-brainer proposition when you think about it but what this copy did was reinforce the 'fact' that there was money at stake here.

The information in the last segment recapped the information previously expressed and reinforced the need to act quickly or lose my prize.

4. Signature
The scanned signature was legible and in blue. Believe it or not this is another important feature of Direct Mail letters. Signatures should be legible and research has shown that the best colours for your signature are 'process' or 'reflex' blue. The rest of the text should be black against, ideally, a white, off-white or pale yellow background.

5. Postscript
All strong sales letters will contain a strong postscript to end such as reminding potential customers of the key benefits of the item being sold or of the steps to take. In this case the reader was reminded that they could spend the money any way they liked encouraging those who had been lured to this point to imagine how they would spend their unexpected windfall.

6. Order Form
Naturally, Direct Mail Marketing campaigns will contain an order form. The order form should stand out from the main letter. One way to achieve this is to print it on paper of a different colour such as blue or pink. Another marketing tactic is to give the order form a different title. Think about it, most people are averse to form-filling. They find it tiresome. In this case the order form was headed 'Cheque Release Form' where the first two words neutralised any negative impact the word 'form' might have had.

These tactics can all contribute towards generating high-income earning legitimate Direct Mail campaigns. The letter I received was slick but there were several errors or irregularities as I have glossed over here. In my next article I'll highlight these irregularities or the things to avoid when sending out a Direct Mail Campaign.

It's sad then that people stoop this low to con people out of their money when they could apply the similar tactics and elicit money honestly. Unfortunately, there will always be vulnerable or easily influenced individuals who will fall for these unscrupulous Direct Mail tactics. I hope this article will help to make people more aware of the scams that are going on and that less people will be duped by them. Oh, by the way, the name of the company'Global Escrow Services'.