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7. A definite statement of value to the prospect.
8. Specific urgent action copy.
9. A postscript.
Of all the formulas, I have found Bob Stone's seven steps the most helpful:
1. Promise a benefit in your headline or first paragraph — your most important benefit.
2. Immediately enlarge your most important benefit.
3. Tell the reader specifically what he or she is going to get.
4. Back up your statements with proof and endorsements.
5. Tell the reader what might be lost if he or she doesn't act.
6. Rephrase your prominent benefits in your closing.
7. Incite action — now.
There's one more approach many writers have built into their direct mail copy. It was the basis for
much of Cy Frailey's teaching about effective letter writing. He credits a Chicago consultant, Dr.
Frank W. Dignan, for creating the Star-Chain-Hook approach:
Star
Chain
Hook
An opening that quickly captures the reader's attention.
A series of facts to change the reader's casual attention to a real and
sustained interest.
Something to impel the desired action.
Many teachers of writing often add a mathematical formula to these approaches. Several of these
mathematical formulas are based on the readability formula introduced by Dr. Rudolf Flesch.* The
late Maxwell Ross, whose name is in everybody's book as one of the all-time great direct mail
writers, boiled it all down to this:
■ For every 100 words you write, make sure that approximately 75% are words of
five letters or less.
In the classes I teach, I try to make it even simpler: Concentrate on short words and action words. The
reason for this is that most formula-oriented copywriters have a tendency to lean too heavily on
their formula. As a result, there is a stiffness to their copy that destroys the natural flow. Frankly,
I'm convinced that none of the top direct mail writers really use their formulas when writing. It's
just that when asked to give a speech on copywriting, the easiest thing to do is talk about a formula.
The formulas that flow from the platforms at direct mail meetings are promptly forgotten
when a writing assignment comes along.
* The Art of Plain Talk, Rudolf Flesch, Ph.D., Harper & Brothers, New York, 1946.
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