By Andrea Ratajczak, seasoned marketing consultant & co-founder of PDA Marketing

If you want your direct mail piece to be one of the 66 percent that gets opened and read, rather than the 34 percent that gets thrown away unopened, you’ll have to design a compelling outer envelope among many other things. It is hard to say; however, how much of the 66 percent just gets opened and thrown away with no response from the recipient.

One of the most important parts of a direct mail envelope and letter set is that everything on the piece flows. If the outside of your envelope is compelling enough for the person to open it, you don’t want to disappoint them with a boring, white letter on the inside, as this will lose their attention immediately. Here are some tips to making everything, and I mean everything, in your direct mail flow:

1) Design your own stamp

While this may still be on the outside of the envelope, it is a special touch you can give the letter, or even postcard, to attract a potential customer’s attention. It will showcase your creativity and attention to detail, as most people aren’t even aware that designing your own postage stamp is a possibility!

Using a live stamp in itself can greatly increase the percentage of opened letters, but having a personalized stamp says so much more. There are certain USPS® approved design studios that can help you design your own stamp that you can then purchase for a little more than a regular stamp.

2) Match the concepts on the envelope and inner letter

Make sure that you use both the inside and outside of the envelope to sell, and make both compelling. (WARNING…if you make false or irrelevant statements to get the recipient to go inside the envelope you lose all credibility and drive the prospect further away. Consequently, you’ll never make a sale.)

Be honest from the beginning. Make sure you follow through on the inside with whatever you said on the outside.

3) Graphics match outside and inside

Continuity is the key. The words need to match, and so do the graphics. There is nothing more disconcerting than a complete break between the envelope that first attracted you and the letter you see when you rip it open. Once again, you lose your audience in confusion, rather then reel them in.

Several products can help you put together a super mailer. You can purchase little graphics like hand-drawn doodles (the product named Doodleopes is an example) to go on the outside of the envelope to draw people in, and identical- looking doodles to go on the inside. Not only do these help your direct mail flow, but they attract attention to the correct parts of the sales letter, and make your company seem unique and creative!

4) Name/logo reflective of product

This may seem obvious, but the same product name and logo need to go on every part of your direct mail; from the envelope, to the letter inside, to any postcard you may send. Nothing will make you look more untrustworthy than a weird, disconnected name and logo.

In fact, making your product’s name and logo reflective of the actual product is not just a direct mail campaign worry. It’s important the name and logo match to increase sales and ensure that the customer knows what they’re buying. A confused customer will lead to the direct mail being thrown straight in the garbage can.

—Source: Presort.com May 18, 2010 (www.presort.com). Andrea Ratajczak is a seasoned marketing consultant and co-founder of PDA Marketing, an authorized USPS design studio. Visit http://pdamarketing.net/store_stamp.html to have PDA design your next stamp.