Your first, and subsequent, touches using mail or e-mail (more on e-mail later) are going to be used as keys that open doors to your customer’s business. The more personalized your piece, the more likely you are to receive a response.

  Make it easy for the recipient to contact you - attach a business card to every piece of mail you send. For additional attention, hand-write a post-script on the piece, on a post-it-note, or on the outside of the mailer (Use a colored ink pen and traditional yellow notes so that your recipient knows that you took the time to think about them and them alone). Also, hand-addressed envelopes are opened 72% more often than computer generated addresses.

  You should expect a minimal response of 0.005% and a maximum of 0.20% rate of response. If your mailer falls under the minimum, reformat it immediately. The single worst waste of money in marketing is to continue spending time and money on a promotional piece that isn't working. On the other hand, if your mailer receives higher than 0.20%, you've not only got a success on your hands but have far exceeded the expectations of any advertising agency.