Ugly Can Outperform Pretty in Direct Mail

"Ugly" direct mail can attract more response than pretty mail. We were glad to see a recent reminder of that from direct marketing consultancy DMCG. It really isn't that surprising, since graphic design is not at the top of the list of mail-response predictors. In order of importance, response is due to audience targeting (the list), the offer, the channel and, at last, creative execution, the blog post notes. That means direct marketers need to put knowledge of their market and copywriting ahead of graphics in crafting pieces. Many marketers get fixated on creative look instead, the post opines, because response-generating copy based on study of audience and value proposition is a lot harder than producing fun graphics, because marketers fail to test creative rigorously or track sales back to creative, and because the volume of content required in the digital age has outstripped the availability of expert copywriters. (We would add, as data brokers, that organizations will fall short with a focus on tweaking graphics over finding, segmenting and testing data to reach the right mailboxes.) DMCG cites a real ugly-beats-pretty example in the success of its inexpensive, homely but official-looking Snap Pack format for clients such as AARP. See the full article at http://dmcgresults.com/direct-marketing-blog/2014/5/23/why-ugly-beats-beautiful-in-direct-mail.html