Breaking the Rules: How Deep Customer Understanding Beat Traditional Direct Mail Wisdom

In direct marketing, conventional wisdom has long dictated that success lies in crafting the perfect offer and writing persuasive copy and putting it into a logical easy-to-navigate design. But what if this age-old approach isn't always the best path to higher response rates?

Jacobs & Clevenger (J&C) recently challenged this assumption, and it resulted in some impressive results. In a single year (2024), J&C established THREE new control packages for our clients by focusing on something far more fundamental: truly knowing and understanding who the customer is.

The Traditional Approach vs. the J&C Method

Most direct marketing agencies follow a well-worn playbook. They start with the offer, meticulously crafting discounts, special deals, or unique value propositions. Then they build elaborate sales copy around these offers, often resulting in lengthy, sometimes four-page letters (which CAN work, if/when done right) filled with long sentences, technical language, and complex arguments designed to convince and convert.

Our team decided to take a radically different approach. Instead of starting with what WE wanted to say, we began by looking at our data and deeply understanding WHO we were talking to. In short, we focused on THEM, not US. This shift in perspective led to a series of new control direct mail packages that significantly outperformed our clients' previous best performers.

The Power of Persona-First Marketing

At the heart of our success was a commitment to understanding our customers as real people, not just demographic data points. With the client's help, we invested heavily in researching and developing detailed personas, going beyond surface-level characteristics to understand our audience:

• Daily challenges and pain points
• Current life situations and circumstances
• Core values and priorities
• Immediate and long-term needs
• Decision-making processes

This deep look into our customers' worlds allowed us to do something remarkable: with our understanding of the target, we could prioritize benefits that genuinely resonated with them, rather than simply listing every possible advantage of our products or services. Or worse, prioritizing what we or the client thought was the top benefit (that is, talking to ourselves).

"But what if the age-old direct marketing approach isn't always the best path to higher response rates?"

Simplicity as a Strategy

Perhaps the most counterintuitive aspect of our strategic approach was our commitment to radical simplicity. While many direct mail pieces run several pages long with sophisticated language, and lots of graphics and clutter, we took the opposite approach. Our packages featured:

• Copy was written at a fourth grade reading level
• Short, clear sentences using simple (often one-syllable) words
• Total letter lengths averaged 100 words
• Reading time around 45 seconds

It’s important to note that this simplification wasn't about dumbing down our message – it was about removing noise and any barriers to understanding the value of our product or service. Rather copy focused on what need does the product/service addressed? What problem it solved? By making our communications instantly understandable, we eliminated any confusion, any pauses and the cognitive load that often prevents potential customers from clearly understanding the main message.

"At the heart of our success was a commitment to understanding our customers as real people, not just demographic data points."

Multiple Touchpoints for Action

Another key aspect in our approach was the strategic use of multiple calls-to-action on multiple channels. Rather than relying on a single closing call, we incorporated up to three separate calls-to-action within each letter. (To be clear, each CTA contained the same directive and language, we simply made sure there were multiple instances of the CTA conveniently placed in areas where we knew the reader's eye would come to rest.)

This approach recognized that different readers might be ready to act at different points in their reading journey.

We also maximized the use of available space by including a summary of key points and benefits on the back of the letters, each accompanied by yet another clear, concise call-to-action. This repetition and clarity proved crucial in driving response rates. At J&C, it's called the "Echo Effect" and — it works.

"Clients willing to challenge conventional direct marketing wisdom and put customer understanding first can achieve remarkable results."

The Results Speak for Themselves

This customer-centric, simplicity-focused approach proved successful across a diverse range of products, services, prospects/customers, and industries throughout 2024. When we applied this methodology, it helped us create three new control packages that outperformed our clients' previous best efforts (some packages had been established controls for many years). The top-performing package had a response rate 25% higher than the client's previous control.

Why Does This Approach Work?

The success of this strategy can be attributed to four key factors:

1. Relevance: By deeply understanding our audience, we could speak directly to real, urgent needs and concerns they had — and deliver the answer they were looking for, rather than making assumptions 
   about what might matter to them and using a "buckshot approach"
2. Accessibility: The simple, clear language removed barriers to understanding and made it easy for recipients to grasp the actual value of our proposition quickly
3. Convenience: Multiple calls-to-action across multiple channels, provided several opportunities for engagement, meeting customers where they were in their decision-making process
4. Focus: By prioritizing benefits based on extensive customer research, we could emphasize what truly mattered most to our audience, rather than trying to cover every possible selling point

Implications for the Industry

Our success with this approach challenges some fundamental assumptions about direct mail marketing. It suggests that:

• Understanding customers is more important than crafting creative offers or clever copy
• Simplicity outperforms complexity
• Less can indeed be more when it comes to word count (most of our letters were about 100 words)
• Multiple, clear calls-to-action can be more effective than a single, formal close

The Way Forward

This experience has reinforced our belief that the future of direct marketing lies not in increasingly elaborate sales techniques, but in deeper customer understanding and simple, clear, more focused communications.

While more traditional approaches will likely continue to have their place, our results suggest that clients willing to challenge conventional direct marketing wisdom and put customer understanding first can achieve remarkable results.

As the marketing world evolves, this customer-centric, simplicity-focused approach offers a powerful alternative to traditional direct marketing strategies.

It's an approach that recognizes this one important fact: in an increasingly complex world, sometimes the clearest voice is the one that gets heard – especially when it's speaking directly to the here-and-now needs, concerns, and challenges of its audience.

In an increasingly complex world, sometimes the clearest voice is the one that gets heard.

Our success with this methodology doesn't just represent a series of successful campaigns; it represents a fundamental shift in how we think about direct marketing.

By putting customer understanding first and embracing radical simplicity, we've found a way to create more effective, more resonant marketing communications. In doing so, we've demonstrated that sometimes the most powerful innovation isn't about adding complexity – it's about breaking it down to reveal the essential connection between a brand and its customers and providing an answer to the reader’s question — “How does this help me today?”

Need Help Getting Started?

If you need a fresh approach for your next direct mail campaign — or any other direct marketing effort, let us know. J&C can help you use our proven techniques and tactics to help increase the performance of programs you’re already running or kick off a new one.

J&C has over 40 years of direct marketing experience and would be happy to learn more about your company and your goals. Contact J&C today. That way, we can give you an honest assessment of how we can work with you to achieve better results.