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Design Direct Mail Postcards Back-to-Front to Boost Response
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By Alan Sharpe
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Conventional wisdom says that the front of a direct mailpostcard is for the picture and the back is for the address,stamp and a short message.
But some savvy direct marketers design their postcards the otherway around¡ªand boost response rates as a result.
The goal of the front of the postcard is to grab attention longenough to arouse curiosity and motivate your prospect to turnthe card over and continue reading. But postcards are usuallydelivered with the back of the postcard showing, not the front.Check today¡¯s mail. You¡¯ll notice that the letter carrierdelivered your mail with the address facing up (unless it fellthrough your mail slot in a random pile).
The letter carrier reads the name and address for each piece ofmail and, without turning them over, places them in your mailbox. That means that the first thing your prospect sees of yourpostcard is the back, not the front. And you can take advantageof this fact.
A graphic designer and marketing consultant from Denver,Colorado, wrote to me recently, explaining that her firm studiedthe way mail arrives. ¡°Through my observations and research,¡±she says, ¡°I have found that many, many more times than not,side B [the back of the postcard] is what the prospect seesfirst and then decides whether or not to turn the postcard over.¡±
This savvy marketer now designs postcards for her clients withthe back being the main focus and attention grabber, leaving thefront of the card for secondary messages. She is achieving ¡°verygood results,¡± she says, by flouting conventional wisdom.
I see only one thing wrong with her brilliant method, and thatis that I did not think of it first.
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