So, you spend hours and hours getting your direct response letter just right. Youve mastered the conversational tone. Your message is clear. Youve highlighted the benefits just right. And youve got a great call to action. Lets face it. Your letter is as perfect as it can possibly be.

Now maybe youve rented a mailing list or maybe youve created your own list one name at a time. How you got your mailing list doesnt really matter. You carefully address each one, run it through your postage meter, and send it to your 1,000 names. Then you sit back and wait for the 1 to 3% response rate youre expecting.

You figure that mailing, which cost you a little over $1,000 should bring you 100 to 300 responses. And at an average price of $50 a pop for your invention, you figure your direct response venture should bring in between $5,000 and $15,000. Not bad for a thousand bucks.

Buttheres just one little detail youve forgotten about. Or maybe you didnt forget. Maybe you simply didnt know about it. That little detail is the envelope.

In its defense, it seems rather insignificant, doesnt it? I mean, its not the message. Its merely the holder of that brilliant message youve slaved over for the last week or two. So, why should you care about an insignificant envelope?

For one very important reasonthat insignificant envelope can make or break your direct response campaign all by itself. If youre skeptical, think back to all the junk mail youve received lately. Which ones do you open, and which do you throw away?

If you want your message to be read, you want to make the envelope irresistible. Otherwise it goes in the garbage, and you might as well light a match to that $1,000 investment and kiss all your hard copywriting work good-bye.

If you havent noticed before today, it might be a good idea to start because, if youre going to use direct response, you might want to make it a practice to keep them all, good and bad. Keep the good for their ideas and keep the bad so you know what not to do.

Anyway the point is, you likely keep those that interest you for one reason or another. If you do start collecting direct response material, youll soon notice patterns in those youre finding interesting enough to open.

Heres a few things about the direct response I tend to notice:

• A color other than white so it stands out from the crowd
• A message on the outside that hints at whats inside, or is a teaser of some type
• Addressed to my name rather than Dear Occupant
• Addressed in handwriting rather than typed
• A real postage stamp
• Unusual sizes
• A return address in the top left corner instead of a business logo
• Something more than just a letter inside (AKA lumpy mail)
• A free offer
• A drawing or cartoon, especially if my name is used in it

If youve had a better than average response and you think its because of your envelope design, Id like to know about it. Please email me a copy of your design, and Ill put it on my web site free of charge.