Every day we see between 1,500 and 3,000 advertisements. That’s upwards of 125 in-your-face fliers, billboards, commercials and print ads per hour — or 2.08 per minute. Which makes perfect sense considering the average American debt per credit-card carrying household is $8,500 to $14,000, according to Federal Reserve Board of Governors statistical releases and the U.S. Census Bureau. As much as we’d like to think that our decisions to buy, buy, buy are independent choices based on personal preference, price, etc., we’re wrong. Advertisements influence our purchases — nearly all of them — whether we like it or not.
Michael A. Knipp
It’s through constant testing that we’re able to separate the winning packages from the losers. But with so many ideas, what truly constitutes effective direct-mail creative? And why does one package soar while others sink? The answer to effective creative is always in the results. The stats of any particular package will reveal whether a concept worked or not. Across the board, however -- no matter the package -- premiums generally seem to give packages a boost. Here are two tried-and-true premiums that work continuously, while others have come and gone. 1) Name labels. Name labels consistently perform well for one main reason: It’s
