So, I was listening to Gary Halbert on one of the calls he recorded with Michel Fortin (it's at Boost My Response) and he mentioned that unless you're Rodale or another big mailer, a Sales Letter will outpull a Magalog. He only mentioned this briefly, and of course there are some obvious reasons why Rodale (for example) can make their magalogs work. The fact that they have the best layout people and graphic designers helps, but can that be the only reason why???

He also mentions that for smaller mailers the sales letter is the better option vs. a magalog, but why??? Assuming one could get a decent amount of graphics and a good layout, how would the recipient know the difference between Company A (Turnover $1m) as against Company B (Turnover $200m).

What am I missing? When he mentions about Rodale does he also mean that they will have the best copywriters on the Magalog, and that other companies will have lesser copywriters doing their Sales Letters?
Can you 'get away' with more mistakes in a Sales Letter vs. a Magalog???

Just Curious...


Thanks for your input,

Garrett

Hi Garrett:

The main reason that sales letters are starting to outpull magalogs are for a simple reason: cost.

Response rates have been falling all over the board. Consumers are wise to the 'magalog' concept, so have not been responding as they had in the past. I believe the magalog format is also getting a bit tired.

And it's not so much the creative costs -- good copywriters charge the same fee whether they're writing a #10 or a magalog. It's the printing, production and mail costs that are higher. So you have to get great response rates to make up the difference.

When you use a less-expensive format, you can still make $$ in spite of a lower response rate, so more and more companies are choosing that route -- yes, even Phillips, Agora, and Rodale.

Donna,

Thanks for the reply. The reasons you mentioned make perfect sense, now that I take a holistic view of the costs of such a mailing. Just for info, over here in the UK we don't see so much of the 'Magalog', it's usually just a sales letter or a brochure. I was looking at the feasability of a Magalog, but now I think we'll just stick with sales letters and reports - they are much easier and more cost-effective to produce. Again, thanks.

Garrett