Looking to spice up your direct mail with a flat? Large mail pieces, known as "flats," look and feel more important than other mail by its physical stature alone. However, an improperly designed flat, or a campaign inappropriately designed as a flat, could shrink your budget and your results. Here are a few points and tips to keep in mind the next time you consider creating a flat mail piece.
The pros. With more space to build your case, describe your product, or sell your service, flats let you get as detailed and graphic as you want. Their large size--between 6-1/8 and 12 inches high, 11-1/2 and 15 inches long, and 1/4 and 3/4 inch thick--begs for four-color printing and thicker or glossier paper, which results in a "richer" looking piece.
The cons. More space, of course, means more paper and more printing expense. It also means more postage. In a best-case scenario (5-digit automation), a standard automated letter would cost you $0.233 per piece. The same promotion as a flat? If a single piece weighs less than 3.3 ounces, $0.346 per piece. If it weighs more than 3.3 ounces, you not only pay a per-piece price, but you also pay a per-pound price, which nearly triples your standard automated rate, from $0.346 per piece to $0.921 per piece.
Our suggestions? First and most importantly, make sure your offer or message requires a bigger design. Could you make the same impact with a letter-sized mailing? Could you design it as an 8.5 x 11 piece but fold it in half or thirds and mail it at the letter rate without comprising the integrity of the piece? Is the message/product/service new and unique or a company trademark? Can you justify the higher expenses of a flat mailing in relationship to forecasted revenue?
If the flat is for you, next look at your offer or message. Examine what you want to say and how you want to say it. Can you accomplish your marketing goal with a single, self-mailing flyer, or would a multi-component envelope mailing work better? Then, keep your focus tight. Although having more space allows you to include more information, it doesn't mean you need to cast a wide net. Include only information that directly relates to or supports your offer.
Finally, use one dominant graphic and a series of smaller, supporting graphics to show the detail of your product or to generate emotion. Include a strong call-to-action and an equally strong tracking device, like a promotion code, reference number, unique discount, or contact information, and watch the response roll in.
