Comments on: Direct Mail Tips from @johnbethel

By: more john bethel tips | Agents of Good

more john bethel tips | Agents of Good — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:22:18 +0000

[...] long time readers, you’ll recall that I’ve done John Bethel Tips posts before – here… I don’t really give John an option, I just copy his tweets as he posts them and then [...]

By: technologiez

technologiez — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 10:38:06 +0000

hello…

fantastic tips john and a bundle of thanks for sharing these tips.
One thing more, Tara has given you a great and helpful tip,try to think about it deeply.

Kind Regards,
technologiez

By: John Lepp

John Lepp — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 14:26:18 +0000

you’re welcome Kamasa! Thanks for coming by.

By: Kamasa

Kamasa — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:25:50 +0000

Nice tip, thanks for sharing cheers,

By: John Lepp

John Lepp — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:27:48 +0000

Thanks for popping in Mr. Love. Useful advice as always but wonder how often charities stop and think “how is this useful to our donor”? Not as often as I would hope. But it’s a great tip! Cheers.

By: David Love

David Love — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:22:33 +0000

I love it when I see lists of tips! Great fundraising is like baking a cake. Follow the recipe!

My tip is don’t start until you have “The Big Idea” (see David Ogilvy).

And take the time to make it worth it for your donors. They always desrve your very best thinking.

By: John Lepp

John Lepp — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:54:07 +0000

Thanks for your comments and thoughts Blase. Really appreciated. I’ve seen the coupon goof quite a few times myself and I’m sure the list would run long if we went through all of the bad things that have happened with dm packs (ie: running the back of letter on the coupon and the back on the coupon on the back of letter – oops!)

By: Blase Ciabaton

Blase Ciabaton — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:40:10 +0000

Thanks for sharing these great tips! I agree with Tara’s comments about using a business reply permit, and this is supported by the research of nonprofit author, Mal Warwick, as well. Using business reply permits generates better direct mail response rates even though many boards oppose it. For anyone who is interested, I did a recent post explaining how to get a business reply permit in the US http://bit.ly/2IbGpO

The point about “Make sure your reply form fits comfortably in your reply envelope” seems obvious, but I’ve seen more than 1 nonprofit make this mistake on an appeal-it’s critical to check this! Important details like this can get overlooked in the rush to get an appeal in the mail.

By: John

John — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:21:03 +0000

Good tip Tara. Steve Thomas wrote about this same issue a few years ago, but it still holds true today: http://www.dmfa.org/tip_detail.php?tip_id=27

By: Tara

Tara — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:10:26 +0000

Don’t use “Your stamp will help us save money.” on the BRE (business reply envelope). It suppresses response. If you don’t believe me, test half of your mailing with the BRE with the stamp message and half the mailing withouth the stamp message.