Printing on envelopes can be a very good idea – although possibly not for the reason you think.

Envelope manufacturers and printers will often tell you that printing on envelopes can enhance response rates – although if you ask them for statistical data on this or any form of independent evidence, that is hard to come by.

My own research suggests that there are two areas in which printing on envelopes can be helpful, one in which it is neutral, and one in which it can positively harm your response rate.  I’ll take them in reverse order.

When printing reduces response rate

The classic example of this seems to be the financial companies who, fearful of the argument that they were trapping people into financial deals without making it clear who they were, decided to print details of themselves and their offers all over the envelopes.  Whether they were discreet in simply announcing who they were (as with many American Express offers) or whether they went wholeheartedly into this (as with Capital One) the result was often much the same – a much higher proportion of the mailings than normal went into the bin.

Now this does not matter if the people who were binning the mailings were never going to take up the offer anyway. But it certainly would matter if this were not the case – if the way the advertisement was written inside the envelope was so good that it could convince one or two people who started out being unlikely to buy, that they should buy.

Even some modest levels of printing such as “there’s a great offer inside” or “special discount, open at once” can be negative, if the customer feels he/she is being shouted at, and really can’t be bothered with all this.

Printing which suggests something which is not true is also going to reduce results, simply because people don’t like being tricked.  The old favourite “free sex and chocolates” does get more envelopes opened, but it does not make the reader feel good about you when you when he/she finds that this is in fact an offer of low cost mortgages or aluminium ladders.

When printing has a neutral effect

Neutral printing means that it simply has no effect – and this includes printing which says “if undelivered please return to” followed, not by a company name, but by an address.   Printing can often be neutral when it is not noticed by the recipient because it is too small, or tucked away in a position where no one sees it.   Printing the sender’s name can be neutral if the name is not known, and so has neither a positive nor a negative effect.

When printing on envelopes enhances sales

I have seen this happen in two ways: with wonderful (and usually colourful) design, and where a slogan or headline is used which intrigues and interests the reader.

The only problem with the wonderful design is the cost – designers cost money and full colour printing on envelopes costs money, and I have never been able to find a single report which compares the response rate gained from the colourful envelope, against the plain envelope.   Intriguing photographs and images will encourage people to open up – but the cost is high, and we need to be sure that this translates into sales.

Printing a one colour headline or slogan however does not have this disadvantage.  If the slogan really is interesting it will prepare the reader for what is to come.  It can make the reader start thinking in a way that will then make the reader more likely to take in and accept the headline of the letter or brochure.

So, for example,the envelope might run the headline:

What is it that makes one company successful while another company fails?

This is intriguing and enigmatic, which is good.   It suggests things could be better if only one had the right information, but doesn’t suggest in a heavy-handed way that you (the reader) must read the expert’s words.  It is more like the opening of a debate.  The reader doesn’t feel threatened, just intrigued.

Now this probably won’t have much effect on the rate at which the envelope is opened as opposed to the rate at which it is discarded into the bin, but for those who do read on, it has set the scene. 

Then the headline of the letter reads:

What are the three easiest ways to enhance profits in your business?

This is intriguing, not least because it suggests there are three easy ways – and the reader will start to wonder if he/she knows what all three are.  The implication of the headline is that it also explains why some companies fail and others succeed – so it builds on the headline.

Research in this whole area is limited, and before going into this field you may want to do some research of your own.  But do remember the great benefit of printing a one colour message on the envelope without design is that it is very inexpensive when compared with the full colour full-design approach.  That means you can probably afford quite a few trial runs to find out exactly which headlines and which envelope messages really can combine to bring in higher response rates.