Direct-Mail Primer: How to Get Your Envelope Opened

Even when you mail is deivered, it's read over a trash basket, then put in priority piles. Of the 66 percent delivered, 75 percent is thrown out because it looks unimpressive. This leaves 16.5 percent left to read.

Don’t get me wrong: Direct mail is a great tool. One of the greatest innovators of direct mail, Richard Viguerie, once said, “Direct mail is like a water moccasin — silent, but deadly.”