A lift note, of course, is an extra component slipped into a direct mail package to lift response. It's also called a lift letter. Publishers call it a publisher's letter, because it's usually signed by the publisher.

The classic lift note is a sheet of paper that folds in half. On the front is usually a teaser. And on the inside is a note, usually written by someone other than the person who signed the letter.

In the olden days, lift notes invariably lifted response. Direct mail marketer Harry Walsh says lift notes, usually reiterating the no-risk guarantee, used to boost response by around 11 percent no matter what copy was used. Amazing but true.

Not so today. Your prospects are much more savvy to the devices that direct mail marketers use to boost response. Their Phoniness Filters are on 24/7. So we have to do something different than simply enclose a note from Donald Trump.

Direct mail marketer Barbara Harrison says the best rule for using lift notes today is to abandon the rules. For her client, the Tuft's School of Veterinary Medicine, Barbara once wrote a lift note from a dog.

The lift note was one of two found in the package (which promoted the school's newsletter, “Your Dog”). That's one rule she broke. The first lift note was from the dean of the school, and drew attention to the expertise and credentials of its canine authorities.

The second lift note, the one written by the mutt, described why dogs hate the newsletter so. This newsletter, said the dog, makes its owners too smart, and teaches owners how to break dogs' bad habits. This unique lift note “added significantly to the strength of this control,” says Barbara in the chapter on lift notes in 2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success, the book edited by Denny Hatch and Don Jackson.

Other ways to break the lift note rules:

1. TRADITIONAL WAY
Sales manager signed letter, company president signed lift note.

TRY THIS INSTEAD
Sales manager signs letter, company janitor signs lift note.

2. TRADITIONAL WAY
Lift note stresses guarantee of customer satisfaction.

TRY THIS INSTEAD
Lift note shows a letter from a disgruntled customer who received money back, and includes a photocopy of the refund check.

3. TRADITIONAL WAY
Lift note is signed by celebrity.

TRY THIS INSTEAD
Lift note is signed by Horace, the obscure parts supplier in Podunk, Alabama.

4. TRADITIONAL WAY
Lift note reiterates main selling point of main letter.

TRY THIS INSTEAD
Lift note introduces a weakness of the product.

© 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc.