Brown Paper Packages Tied Up with String

Raise your hand if you rush to rip open mail like the one in the picture accompanying this column. I can’t open them fast enough.

Last week a package was left on my doorstep, all hand-wrapped and taped to within an inch of its life. I had no clue what secrets it held, but I loved its homemade personality. Turns out, it was a book I ordered from Amazon (, by Nancy Duarte, if you must know). All other mail pieces sat abandoned temporarily on the floor.

If it were a practical and affordable option, I would design every direct mail campaign to arrive in this type of package. Everyone would open it.

Just three days earlier, a generic, #10 white envelope arrived in the mail from my telephone provider. It was thin and impersonal. Clearly, it held one sheet of paper. A printed message in red ink on the face of the envelope referred to my current data package, but – still – it was with a ho-hum-here’s-another-piece-of-junk-mail attitude that I slit open the envelope, fully expecting a sales pitch for new features that I didn’t need. Honestly, I very nearly threw it out unopened. That little message in red ink gave me pause. Thank God.

You know where this is going. The mass-produced, one-page letter, without any touchy-feely personality, was indeed speaking directly to me. It alerted me to the distinct likelihood that my current monthly data package was more than I needed, and it gave me a number to call pronto.

So it was that on a sunny Saturday afternoon I found myself speaking with a friendly phone company rep who helped me change my plan and save $20 monthly. And because the plan I’d been on since 2009 was not what I needed, I was given a humongous credit. It was a delightful surprise that came out of nowhere.

It just goes to show you. Brown paper packages don’t corner the market when it comes to getting mail opened. A well-written envelope teaser can be mighty effective. Run-of-the-mill, mass-mailed campaigns in thin white envelopes can sometimes bring serendipitous gifts that make your day.

This experience brought to mind a 2009 interview in Target Marketing magazine that I saved. In it, direct marketer and copywriter Alan Rosenspan answered questions about getting envelopes opened (the piece is entitled, “5 Answers About Getting Envelopes Opened”). One question asks Alan about stamps vs. indicias: which pulls better? He writes, “Stamps have always outpulled indicias, so much so that we don’t bother to test that anymore. Even bulk stamps. This is especially true in business-to-consumer, where your goal is to make the envelope look like it came from a real person – not just a company.” I also remember reading about teaser copy on outer envelopes. What you print as this copy makes all the difference. All I know is, if I hadn’t seen that red copy on the #10 envelope, I’d have tossed the letter that Saturday.

What packages get your attention?

©2011 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. Your comments are encouraged. You’re free to forward this email to friends and colleagues. However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author. Comments?