First Impressions Determine Direct Marketing Success

The real test, when applied to interested and non-interested recipients of an individualized marketing message, confirms what even today is frequently neglected—while on one hand the recall levels generated by the fictitious Top Travel Tours Offers didn’t differ between the two recipient groups (interested versus not interested), the open and read rates recorded for interested recipients were considerably higher for mailings in printed envelopes—envelopes that convey individualization at the very first glance (see diagram).