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SECTION VIII
RETAIL AND SERVICE LETTERS
All across America, retailers and service organizations regularly use direct mail to build store
traffic, cement customer relations, and perform a host of other functions. Often, when compared
to the work done for direct marketers, the letters used for local retail and service organizations
are somewhat amateurish. But that's not always bad. Since direct mail is "the personal medium,"
the down home quality of such letters has special appeal.
Locating representative examples of retail and service letters is a difficult task. Fortunately, I've
been saving examples over the years and have drawn from this file in addition to turning to a
number of friends who have written such letters to supplement what I had collected. I've also
included some outstanding letters used on a national basis to promote various types of services.
COMMUNITY FEDERAL SAVINGS "WHAM" LETTER
Along with his many great consumer mail order letters, Herschell Gordon Lewis has written a
classic for an entirely different type of client: a chain of local savings and loan associations. It's a
letter with a "wham" — a handwritten word at the start of the letter. And, according to the client,
that "wham" woke up some of their sleepiest depositors.
The subject was increasing mortgage loan payments to cover the ever-increasing cost of taxes —
the lighthearted opening helped soften the blow.
The call-to-action makes it easy to respond:
You needn't fill out a million papers to get this going. You can drop
off the bottom portion of this letter next time you're in any of our
offices; or you can mail it in the envelope I've enclosed; or you can
phone us in Palm Beach County at 845-3200 and in Martin County
at 283-5200. I do suggest you not wait too long, because much as
we all dislike tax bills, they have to be paid, and delays cause penalties
making the tax bite even greater.
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