There are four golden rules in direct mail - and failing to follow any one of them could cost you thousands of pounds. Learn from Martin's mistakes - and not only will you save money but you'll also find yourself quickly on the road to success.

Martin was not best pleased to discover that his latest attempts to increase the number of people who visited his beautiful health spa had been a complete waste of time and money. Chewing in irritation on his fingernails, he admitted that he’d expected his first foray into the world of direct mail to bring him instant – and lucrative - results. Instead, he’d found that the whole experience had been both expensive and disheartening.

Desperate to win more customers, he’d decided to mail-shot 10,000 homes in his local area in a bid to drum up the much-needed sales. After some further discussion, I realized that Martin had failed to follow the four golden rules of direct mail sales letters.

First of all, Martin had failed to excite the potential customer with his direct mail literature. Not only did his letter look cramped and hard to read but also he’d failed to use an attention-grabbing headline.

Encouraging anyone to read direct mail is hard. Research has shown that people will glance at unsolicited mail for less than two seconds – and they will only choose to read on if their curiosity has been peaked. Therefore, it’s the headline – and its ability to draw the reader into the main body copy of the text – which can make or break a direct mail campaign.

Interestingly, after the headline, most people reading a letter skip straight to a “P.S.” Sadly, few direct mail writers realize the pulling power of a “P.S.” - especially if it contains a free offer – and fail to make use of its magic.

Secondly, Martin had also fallen into the all-to-common trap of writing about his company – rather than highlighting the benefits his customers can get by visiting his spa.

The key question, “what’s in it for me?” must be answered in the reader’s mind if the letter is to stand a chance of being read, and more importantly, acted upon. Martin winced as the last point sunk home but he could see from my face that there was worse news to come.

Sales letters really should have a personalized salutation – but even more importantly, they must contain a hand written – preferably in blue ink – personal signature at the end of the communication. It’s also worth noting that the quickest way to alienate the reader is to “pp” a signature or print it – and as Martin looked again at his letter, his face reddened as he witnessed his secretary’s initials at the bottom.

The fourth and final golden rule for direct mail is to test – and keep testing. Often a change of headline, or a different font can make a big difference in reader response. Mailing out thousands of sales letters at once – as Martin had discovered to his considerable cost does not provide any opportunity for improving on the original.

“Maybe I should test one style of letter against another,” said Martin. “Then when I know which one is working best, I can use that one as my benchmark - and can start trialling different aspects to see if I can gain further improvements.”

Nodding in agreement, I was able to reassure Martin - having worked personally on a number of direct mail projects for a variety of clients - that good direct mail really can be effective. “Producing good direct mail is a time consuming activity,” I said. “Some of the direct mail ‘giants’ have written many books on the subject - and yet even they admit that they spend twice as long writing the marketing material to support their book as they do on writing the book itself!”

Ensure that you answer the all-important question in the reader’s mind: “What’s in it for me?” Understand the power of your headline and the positive effect that a good “P.S.” (especially if it’s accompanied with a free offer) can have on your letters.

Make sure your direct mail has a personal salutation and sign-off. Continually test your direct mail’s effectiveness. Use your original piece as a benchmark and measure what response you get. Change one element at a time with your subsequent campaigns and every time you get a better response, use that new letter as your benchmark. (Warning: only change one element at a time or you won’t really know what’s working and what’s not!) Recognize that writing effective direct mail is an art – and dedicate enough time to perfecting it.