Looking Back: Overteased and Underwhelmed

FundRaising Success published its first issue in November 2003, which makes this our 10-year anniversary year. To celebrate, we'll be taking a look back at past issues throughout the year.

In an August 2007 feature, "Overteased and Underwhelmed," copywriter and creative strategist Kimberly Seville, who writes our bimonthly DM Diagnosis column, had this to say about teasers in direct mail: "Sometimes teasers are like bad pick-up lines. And with the split-second decision your donor makes when she glances at your outer envelope, you don’t get a second chance to talk your way out of a poor first impression … you’ve already been round-filed."

She goes on to explain why, when it doubt, it's best to test without.