We wrote a post recently that gave some test ideas for outer envelope variations, and we thought it would be good to follow this up with a video giving visual examples.

We mention about a dozen tweaks in the video so I think you’ll find it very helpful.

And if you’d like to add some ideas to the list, please participate by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

Want Samples?  Send your request to ryan (at) ballantine.com

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I noticed that recently someone did a search within our blog for “envelopes vs postcards” and I thought it’d make for an interesting post topic.

Obviously, both formats are more ideal than the other for certain situations so it’s hard to pick an absolute winner…but if I HAD to pick one, I’d choose envelope packages.

Yes, postcards are much cheaper and they throw your marketing message right out there for your prospect to see…but envelope packages allow you to use curiosity and I think that’s extremely valuable.

“What exactly is in this envelope? I should at least open it to find out.”

And there are also many variations you can test with envelope packages. Ballantine’s main area of expertise is printing and mailing, not creative strategy…but I see so many different outer envelope variations pass my desk that it enables me to list a bunch of test ideas.

Here are some:

• Different size OE’s – #10, #14, 6×9, monarch, etc.
• Label on OE or faux label
• Window or no window
• Different window size or positioning
• Stickers or stamps on OE
• Teaser copy on OE
• Colored paper

I could rattle off more, but I think the items above are enough to get you brainstorming.

So that’s my 2 cents – what do you think? If you’d like to express YOUR opinion on this topic, we would love to hear from you…just comment below.

And if you’d like me to send you envelope samples through the mail, please email me, Ryan Cote, at: ryan (at) ballantine.com.

Today’s blog post might be an obvious tip for some Marketing professionals, but we have a perfect example below as to why it’s worth mentioning.

When you’re quoting out your direct mail campaign that involves an outer envelope, always look at 2 color versus 4 color.

We did this for a potential client recently. The outer envelope was a 6×9 and we quoted it 2 color and 4 color…all other specs were the same.

The end result was that the 2 color version reduced the cost by 60%.

There are more variables, however, that go into this. For example, the quantity on this project was smaller than usual for us, but we have a printer in our network that has a small, 2 color jet press with really aggressive pricing.

Your print vendor should be looking into all options for you to reduce costs. This includes determining the best printing equipment for the job.

It’s what we do for all our clients and sometimes we undercover significant cost savings like this example shows.