Page 236 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

demand exists. When it comes to products for which a demand must be
created, selling costs are much greater. For example, it costs almost 33 per
cent to sell a home-training course by mail. Many publishers figure the cost
of selling $2.00 subscriptions at 100 per cent. They must

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depend entirely upon their renewals for a profit. A good rule to follow in
selling products which are not in demand is to price them at three times their
production cost. This formula applied, let us say, to an article priced to sell
for $3.00, allows $1.00 for manufacturing cost, $1.00 for selling cost, and
$1.00 for overhead and profit. The usual percentage of returns on mailings to
new names is between 2 and 6 per cent, depending upon the acceptance
which the product has and the manner in which it is presented. On the other
hand, returns from a mailing directed to lists of known customers will run
anywhere from 10 to 20 per cent. These figures will serve to illustrate the
importance of the “repeat quality” of a product, if it is to be sold by mail
successfully, and the necessity of building the whole business around a list of
“known” buyers.

Too much emphasis cannot be laid on the importance of good “copy” in
selling by mail. The difference between a well-written letter or catalog and
one that is indifferently written and produced can make all the difference
between a profit and a loss. There are no hard-and-fast rules which can be
laid down for writing result-getting copy because very often success lies in
breaking all the rules and striking out boldly along unblazed paths. The
following suggestions by Ralph Wadsworth, well-known as a successful
mail-order copy writer, may prove helpful however:

Writing “Copy” to Sell by Mail

If anyone thinks that mail-order copy is easy, let him try it. You will be
surprised how many essential selling points you overlook. What they can
mean to your sales is best illustrated by the following: In Illinois a certain
farmer made up his mind to buy a cream separator. Unable to make a
decision from Montgomery Ward’s and Sears, Roebuck’s catalogs, he
hitched up his horse and buggy and drove around among his neighbors.