hand addressing your advertising mail

[huggytree]

i have been hand addressing my mailers every 3 months (400 each time)..

uggghhh i hate it.....it takes a full day and my wrists hurt!

I entered them all into a mail label program and used them on post cards i am sending out every month in between the mailers.

i dont think i got 1 call from the post cards last month, while when i write a hand addressed envelope w/ a mailer i get 5-12 responses within a month or 2.

ive heard that your supposed to even make the stamp crooked and that increases the odds the person will open it. they are supposed to think its a check from a customer.

my envelopes have my company return address professionally printed in the corner, so i doubt they think its a customer check anyways.

should i still hand write the envelope or use the labels?

im afraid to change anything that is working. Im also considering finding someone to address them for me for $100 or 2

[KristineS]

If you're getting a reasonable response from hand addressing, it might be worth continuing to do. As you pointed out, you can find someone who will do the addressing for you, and probably fairly cheaply.

I've seen studies that say that hand addressing does make a difference, and studies that say that it doesn't make a difference. The only thing you have to go on is your own experience, and it seems that it does. If you can find someone to do it inexpensively, and it results in jobs that more than make up for paying to have it done, it sounds like it's worth it.

[Steve B]

Logically it would surely make a difference. At least the odds of getting it opened go up quite substantially.

I pay a couple of high school girls to address envelopes for me. I pay them $9 per hundred. If they are fast they can make more than $10 per hour. They have been very happy with that.

I sent a test piece to a friend of mine and he said his wife brought him the envelope to open. He said it was the first piece of mail he had opened in 15 years (his wife normally does it). He said his wife thought it must be personal and important so she brought it to him unopened. BUT, I don't use my business name in the return address. Just my first initial and last name.

[nighthawk]

It is possible to scan in a piece of written text, and have this converted into a font on your computer. You will then be able to do a mail merge and print the envelopes automatically, while still retaining the hand-written look. I would recommend printing directly to the envelope, most printers should support this, rather than using sticky labels, as it will spoil the hand-written effect.

It may be worth experimenting with this to see if it is equally as successful.

[huggytree]

good idea

i could hand write them 1 last time and then scan them all in...

its beyond what i know right now, but something i will research.

thanks

[orion_joel]

I think what nighthawk meant is that it is possible to create a computer font that is based on your hand writing. Or there are many many different fonts available that have a hand written look.

So using your own handwriting may not be essential but you can get a similar look by using an existing font.

[Steve B]

I've seen lots of scripted fonts and none of them would come close to fooling me. They just can't recreate the human handwritten effect.

[nighthawk]

good idea

i could hand write them 1 last time and then scan them all in...

its beyond what i know right now, but something i will research.

thanks

thats not really what I was meaning - check out Font Generator - Make Your Own Handwriting Font With Your Fonts (http://www.yourfonts.com/) for details.

Basically you hand write a few lines of text, then scan it in. Their software reads your handwriting, and generates a computer font based on it.

You then enter text into Word or similar, and change the font to your handwriting font, and when printed it looks as if you wrote it by hand.

You can also download lots of free handwriting based fonts here - Free Handwriting fonts (http://www.free-fonts.com/handwriting_fonts.html)

There are probably many other sites around that do the same thing, so shop around.

[orion_joel]

I agree many of the script one's dont fool anyone, but there are a few that are close to handwriting and on close inspection would not fool people, but for people that just flick through the mail it could get the second look it needs to be opened.

[jrobconsult]

I did plenty of promotional sales for small businesses over the years. Rule #1 is to do everything in your power to make the letter to appear to come from an individual. You should hand addressed the envelopes and don't list your business name as the return address. You should get a decorative stamp also. One other thing to consider is postcards. I would get a better response with postcards than letters.