Hand Written Notes vs Hand Written Letters In Direct Mail Marketing

Handwritten

Looking to add that personal touch? There are times when a simple written note is all that is needed, and there are times when a formal written letter will impress more… whatever the occasion, you cannot beat the authenticity and personalisation of content that is handwritten.

Read on to learn which form of business communication is most appropriate in a variety of common scenarios. First, let’s explore these two initial options before considering additional content.

Option 1 – A Formal Hand Written Business Letter

RoboQuill recommends that you choose one of 2 approaches for business mailshots (direct mail marketing).

A stand-alone hand-written letter can be extremely effective (a letter only, please don’t spoil the effect by including a glossy printed brochure!).

People are hard-wired to sniff out ‘sales material’ and the default response is to bin any run-of-the-mill marketing literature that pops through their letterbox. In fact, standard direct mail marketing material often doesn’t even get past whoever opens the post, and so the intended recipient never sees it.

Sending a handwritten letter ONLY; is a great way to keep under the radar of receptionists trained to discard any kind of business sales material. Very few people would think to discard something hand-written.

And by combining it with a handwritten envelope, you may find that the letter is handed to it’s intended recipient unopened, as it will look so personal.

People often ignore a printed ‘private and confidential’ message on an envelope, but a hand-written envelope subconsciously says ‘private’ without you even having to write that onto it.

Option 2 – A Simple Hand Written Note

If you don’t feel that a business letter gives you enough scope, e.g. maybe your product or service is very visual and you need to include pictures or a full brochure, then RoboQuill recommends a less formal handwritten note rather than a traditional letter.

This can be on a compliment slip, or a casual-looking piece of note-paper, a piece of brightly coloured or subtle-textured paper, or even on a post-it note.

RoboQuill’s hand-writing robots can write on pretty much any size or shape notepaper, so you can get imaginative and select the note-style best suited to your brand image or most likely to catch the attention of your recipient.

Handwritten Marketing Strategy

The aim of including a hand-written note along with your business brochure, catalogue, or magazine can be many and varied. You may wish to draw their attention to something inside or simply convey a warm personal message to build rapport. Either way, the hand-written note is likely to be read first, as it has that personal touch and will catch the attention of the envelope-opening recipient far more than standard printed literature. The note gives you a chance to instruct the recipient of your direct mail about why they should open and read what you have sent them.

Additional Content

We’ve already mentioned the power in the simplicity of handwritten content and to err on caution not to detract from this. However, depending on the stage of your campaign you may want to consider additional content ideas as illustrated below.

With a Corporate Gift

When sending out corporate gifts, e.g. end-of-year thank you gifts to your best clients, or welcome-on-board gifts to a new client, a handwritten note is often the best choice in this scenario.

Short and to the point, a hand-written note serves the purpose well, the recipient of a gift will be keen to examine (or eat or use!) the gift you have sent them, and a hand-written note just adds a personal touch to increase the impact of your gift, without being too long for them to consider reading.

Whilst multi-page handwritten letters are not recommended in this scenario, a simple 1-page letter with no more than 3 paragraphs of text may also be a good option to consider if that suits your brand image better than an informal note.

With a Product

There are times when a hand-written note accompanying a product your customer has just purchased could reduce your costs, percentage of returns, or customer service queries.

Maybe a high percentage of customers contact your customer service team and all ask the same question, in spite of you answering this query clearly on the paperwork that goes with the product. There’s something about a hand-written note that ensures it will be read, even by the types that typically refuse to read the product manual before they start.

Alternatively, a handwritten note saying that you want the customer to enjoy their product, and giving them various contact details and options should they have any queries may be all that’s needed to encourage someone to contact your team instead of returning a product because they don’t understand how it should work.

A lengthy hand-written letter can be an appropriate option at times, especially if your product is technical and needs a lengthy explanation. But even here you might be better using a hand-written note to draw attention to the main point you want to convey, along with a standard type-set letter for the lengthy detail – typeset font is slightly quicker to read than hand-writing so is better for longer letters.

With a Cash-Chasing Reminder

payment due note

As outlined our case study on the effectiveness of hand-writing for cash chasing, this is a highly effective strategy that can improve your debt collection rates by as much as 50%.

RoboQuill recommends reserving the use of hand writing for debt-collection for at least the 2nd reminder letter or maybe the 3rd.

At this stage, a stand-alone medium length letter, hand written in a highly personal and direct style (more like you would typically use to write to a friend than you would to write to a slow-paying client) is likely to do the trick.

If the hand-written letter option doesn’t work try sending a formal type-set document 2 weeks later, accompanied by a shorter, simpler hand-written note. Maybe this customer didn’t have time to read the first letter, but a short handwritten note of 50 words or less is almost guaranteed to be read and may spur them into action.

Special Event Invitations

Business Events

Business events are usually best served with a formal hand-written letter style of invitation.

The hand-writing is likely to make a big impact, and no other literature may be needed (these may tend to detract unless used carefully).

If you want to make your invite look like a personal request to a select few customers, rather than looking like a mass invite sent out to your entire client base, then handwritten invitation letters are a simple yet effective way to achieve this.

Personal (Non-Business) Events

For non-business events like weddings, parties, etc, a thick invitation card is often a good choice (minimum 250gsm card, ideally 350gsm or higher, and ideally a tactile option rather than plain white smooth cardboard).

RoboQuill’s handwriting robots are able to write on any kinds of invitation cards, to personalise them or even write the majority of the content on there.

Or if using a fully printed invitation card, you can personalise these effectively by include a separate handwritten note inside the same envelope.

And of course, hand-writing on the invite envelopes is essential, printed labels or similar are SO impersonal.

If your event is a large one, or you’re simply short of time, please get in touch – handwritten notes and handwritten envelopes at scale is our speciality!

Contact us today for further help and advice:

01780 908124 or hello@roboquill.io

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