Before we get into the particulars take a moment to think about what people do when they go to their mailbox. As soon as they grab their mail most people will quickly glance thru the pile of mail and sort it into two piles. Let’s call this pile A and pile B.

All the mail that goes into pile A gets opened first. This is usually mail that they recognize as being important or who it’s from that triggers the immediate opening.

All the mail that is put into pile B is usually mail that appears to be on non-importance. This could be some type of advertising which people often call “junk mail”. Sometimes companies that are selling items through the mail also use teaser copy on the envelope to draw attention hoping that the mailing piece will go into the A pile. In many cases, teaser copy on the outside of the envelope doesn’t always work.

Clearly, it just a few seconds’ people make a quick decision as to what they want to open up first. That’s why it’s important to get your letters into the “A” pile as described above.

It’s a known fact that many pieces of mail that go into the “B” pile is set aside for later reading.
Often times, many times the mail will not even get read and may be tossed in the trash.

So what can you do to help get your envelopes opened?

When putting a return address on your mailings don’t use your personal name or business name. In the return address section of the envelope, just use your mailing address, city, state, and zip code. What this does is that it peaks the curiosity of the person getting the correspondence. Most people will never throw away an envelope if they don’t know who the envelope is from. Many people are curious in nature and will want to immediately want to know what’s inside.

In using this method you are simply not allowing the person to make any immediate judgments as to what your envelope contains. The sheer curiosity of this is sure to help get more of your envelopes opened. The more of your envelopes that get opened and read may equate to improved response rates.

If you have not used this method you may want to start using this simple action step.