Intriguing Direct Mail -- But I Can't Figure Out How to Take Advantage of Your Offer

• By: Karen J. Marchetti
• On: 04/30/2008 15:37:21
• In: Offers

I received a brown kraft direct mail envelope promising "solve riddles and save on your next purchase of photography or type."   It wasn't clear to me who the mailer came from.  The reverse side had a large coat of arms indicating "The Very Secret Order of Creatives Understanding."   That strange pseudo-association title intrigued me into the envelope (so it did its job).

Inside the envelope was the same coat of arms on a brown "Member Handbook."  The Handbook included :

- an amusing "Code of Conduct" ("Deadlines are pretty serious business.  They say 'dead' right there in the name")

- photos commemorating "Great Moments in Creativity" (including "R. James turns a spring into a Slinky")

- 4 "Secret Handshakes", and 4 "Code Phrases" (if someone greets you with "Hi", you respond with "Resolution").

Then I get to the Offers -- 7 of them, each presented in the form of a riddle.  I'm supposed to be able to figure out answers to each of the 7 riddles -- and then I use each answer as the "bonus code" to take advantage of each of the 7 specific offers. 

So I read "Riddle One" and have no idea what the 11-letter answer with a "G" as the 4th letter could be.  So I move on to Riddle Two.  Again, no idea what the answer is.  And so on, all through the 7 Riddles. 

Below each Riddle is the specific offer - "spend $X on images or type and get a free something when you use the answer as an offer code" -- but WHERE do I enter that answer?   And what happens if I don't know the answer to the riddle?

In frustration, I stop reading the Riddles, never make it to page 22 where the web address finally appears (and where I finally understand what company actually sent this mailer to me) -- and a sale is never made.  All because the offer evidently was so creative -- I had no idea how to take advantage of it.  Yikes.

Since I write about Offers in all media, I kept the mailer.  So I dug it out and reviewed it a second time -- something most recipients will NEVER do.  I did notice there was a phone number I could call -- mentioned before the Riddles, but never on the Riddles pages -- and mentioned again on page 22 of the Handbook.  But how many people will actually find that phone number before they throw away the mailer in frustration?  And how many recipients who are unable to solve the riddles will ever make it all the way to page 22?   What kind of impression is this company leaving with prospects?

I applaud the company for the creative approach, and the humorous copy.  But they fell apart when it came to the Offers -- don't they really want EVERYONE they mail to be able to take advantage of their Offers?   I kept looking for the "Answer Key" -- which they could have easily printed somewhere in the Handbook.  I even went to their web site, thinking they might have "Riddle Answers" there.  But there was no such help for anyone trying to take advantage of their Offers by trying to find the Riddle Answers. 

Here's an idea:  why not try to get maximum response from the money you invest in your mail programs -- by making Offers that EVERYONE you mail to can easily take advantage of?