Should Your Direct Mail Package Include a Business Reply Card?

The response options for direct mail today can include:

• Toll-free phone number.
• SMS texting.
• Quick-response code (QRC).
• URL for a landing page.
• Business reply card (BRC).
• Business reply envelope (BRE).
• Order form.
• Email.
• Fax.

The old standard for lead-generation direct mail is the BRC. Yet today, a majority of marketers do not include a reply card.

They insist that with so many electronic reply options available — including web, texting, email, and QRC — a BRC is unnecessary.

But, they are missing a few compelling reasons why so many marketers – though admittedly a minority -- continue to include a paper reply card or form in the envelope with their sales letter.

First, prospects have varying preferences on how they choose to respond. And for some, that method is mailing a reply card or form.

When the reply card is missing, some prospects may simply select an alternative reply mechanism – while others may not reply at all. Which means you lose leads you would have otherwise gotten.

Second, a reply card is a visual indicator that says to the recipient, “Hey, this is one of those letters you are supposed to reply to, not just read.”

Because of this visual signal, inclusion of a reply card can lift total response in all reply channels, not just postal mail.

Third, when the prospect opens the envelope, they remove all the elements separately, and spread them out on a table.

Therefore, each component in your direct mail package — outer envelope, letter, brochure, and reply card — gives you yet another opportunity to communicate a message.

Boosting reply card responses

Here are some additional tips for making reply cards and order forms generate more replies for you:

• Print the reply card on brightly colored card stock to make it stand out; canary yellow, robin’s egg blue, and green work well.
• Refer to the color in your sales letter copy; e.g. “Mail the enclosed yellow reply card today.”
• Put a certificate-style boarder around the outer edges of the reply card to make it look more valuable.
• Give your order form a value-added heading; instead of “order form,” call it a “Discount Savings Certificate” or something similar.
• Include a BRE in the envelope to ensure privacy and confidentiality for prospects returning reply elements for sensitive offers (e.g. adult diapers).
• Consider printing the order form on a more expensive or elegant paper to make it seem more exclusive.
• Do not print reply elements on glossy stocks, because when the prospect fills them out in pen, the ink may smear.
• Print the reply card with a tear-off perforated stub. The buyer mails back the card and keeps the stub for their records.

Resolving the reply card debate

Many younger marketers feel strongly that using reply cards is strictly “old hat.”

Gen Z marketers fear that, in the internet age, including a reply card or form signals to the prospect that your organization is behind the times and perhaps not digitally savvy.

To them, BRCs are old-fashioned and feel antiquated.

The easiest way to resolve this question — BRC or no BRC — is with a simple A/B split test.

Half of the mailing pieces include the reply card, while the other half do not.

With an A/B test, you don’t have to guess whether adding a reply card improves your response.

You will know for a fact.

And although you can argue marketing opinions …. you can’t argue with test results, right?

About the author:

Bob Bly is a freelance copywriter specializing in B2B and direct marketing. He  has written copy for over 100 companies including Sony, IBM, AT&T, and Intuit. McGraw-Hill calls Bob Bly “America’s copy copywriter.”

Bob is the author of 100 books including The Copywriter’s Handbook (St. Martins). He can be reached via email at rwbly@bly.com or on the web at www.bly.com