It goes like this:
1) Send a direct mail package to people who don't have your coverage, like the one above, which I just received from
Nationwide. (Getting people to switch is hard.)
2) Try to get me to switch without a "savings" message in the main headlines.
As I said, getting people to switch their auto insurance is hard. BUT getting people to switch without a promise of how much they can save is even harder. So don't put any promises on the envelope. Don't even allude to the fact that I can save money by switching, like Nationwide.
After all, sometimes it's hard to quote an exact amount. So why bother? All the other auto insurance companies who say you can save say things like "drivers who switched saved $375 on average."* (Notice the "*" after the statement; it always has to be footnoted with the actual survey information, to back it up. If you don't have this kind of back-up documentation for a savings statement, you can't make one. Simple as that.)
GEICO doesn't even have to quote a specific dollar amount for their savings promise. They just show a stack of bills with eyeballs on top of it, and say "this is the money you could be saving" if you switched to GEICO. We get it. Saving money motivates us. That's why people switch to GEICO. And you need to motivate people out of inertia if you want to get them to switch.
Ok, so ...
3) IF I happen to open the envelope, tell me I've been "4 GIVN," like the Nationwide mailing above. For what I've been forgiven, I don't know ... but since I was not born yesterday, I have a suspicion that you're talking about forgiving me for my bad driving record. After all, everyone knows that a bad driving record could drive up my insurance rates.
The problem is ... I don't have a bad driving record. I, in fact, have a great driving record. So you must be mailing to a lot of the wrong people and working with a bad list. I should be on the "good drivers" list.
But back to the point of all this. Nationwide is trying to sell auto insurance the hard way ... so this is permissible. Nationwide, you are forgiven.
Oh, and 3a) Did I mention this mailing with it's message of forgiveness has a somewhat religious tone to it? Here's what
Keywords, a blog has to say about that... and apparently this kit from Nationwide is not a new mailing. Someone got it back in February of this year. So it may be working if Nationwide is still mailing it now, in May.
4) Make your call to action real small, like Nationwide did. Don't put the number to call big and bold on the piece. Like maybe at top of the letter or the bottom of that nice blue band on the left side. But leave lots of room for three local agents to list their names, addresses and phone numbers at the bottom. Maybe I'll call one of them. Or maybe not. I can't decide who to call. Forgive me for my indecision!
Life Comes at You Fast(R) - that's the Nationwide campaign slogan. And this mailing is going in the trash even faster. Better luck next time, Nationwide. At least with me.
I posted about these two on May 8th - talking about how they both have freebie offers going at the same time this summer.
They're virtually alike. Oh, one has a red logo and the other has a yellow logo. And they both have different headlines. One has more phones on it than the other. And maybe I'd read that headline first. But the fact is, I read neither headline first. 
The Mars marketing team is running a FREE chocolate on Fridays promotion with their Real Chocolate Relief Act (and getting a little governmental on us with that name). They've even developed a graphic "seal" for this official business initiative. 
Recently, Aflac took out a bunch of space in USA Today to run a series of ads, each promoting various benefits of having Aflac's protection and reasons to go to the Aflac web site. The ads were numbered #1 through #5, each with the heading "get the Aflacts" on a white piece of paper held up by the familiar Aflac duck (does he or she have a name, I wonder?). The first ad said, "Aflac is different from health insurance; it's insurance for daily living." Aflac does sell life, dental, vision and other types of insurance, but these ads are focused on the company's accident and hospital indemnity products. Nevertheless, while their 4-color ads were very eye-catching, simple to read and quickly communicated key benefits, what was truly outstanding was a bit of clever creativity ...
Ink splashes! 
A predictable yet perfectly executed birthday greeting, from my local Hallmark store arrived in my mailbox yesterday. They send me something similar every year. You'd expect a greeting card store to send a pretty card - and so they do. You'd expect the personal touches on the envelope that make it look like a "real" card, sent from "someone I know" - the live stamp, the handwritten font for the addressing areas, and a closed-face envelope. This mailing delivers it all - along with a coupon for 20% off my next purchase at the store.
Here's a nice email offer with a printable coupon for $5 off, from my local Famous Footwear store. I have one of their frequent buyer/membership cards. The email subject line was "Happy Birthday from Famous Footwear--Take $5 off." Pretty straight-forward. (My birthday, btw, is over a month away. This email came today.)
It's a very unexpected, birthday-inspired email from a charity I've given to in the past - the American Cancer Society. What I absolutely loved about this email was the subject line: "Who is the official sponsor of your birthday?" - and the whole campaign concept of a birthday sponsor. I also liked the brevity of this email. No long discourse, just a "Learn More" button to take me to the next step, where I can give a gift to the charity online.
A recent USA Today article said that we won't be seeing $4-a-gallon gas prices anytime soon - at least not through the summer and probably even next year. The article claims that gas prices could be pushed slightly higher by a modest rise in global crude, but any increase is likely to be tempered by the weak economy. OK ... but the weak economy is still causing many Americans to tighten their belts and look for ways to keep their costs down.
Looks like CVS and Depend Underwear are joined together at the hip for this recent self-mailer to CVS customers who have bought the brand.
Well, more than a year after that Depend purchase for my dad, I get a piece of mail from CVS promoting a NEW Depend product. According to the mailing, instead of generic, cookie-cutter, unisex Depend underwear, there now is an anatomically-correct male/female version of said product. That's nice to know. (Too bad neither my dad, myself or anyone else I know is not currently using the product.) Inside the self-mailer is a $2.00 off coupon for either the male or female version and that expires 5/15/09 (not much shelf-value there - use it now or lose it, I guess).
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