Chapter 29

_The two-page letter which a man would toss into the waste basket unread may be read by a woman with increasing interest at each paragraph. The average woman does not have a large correspondence; her mail is not so heavy but what she_ FINDS TIME TO READ EVERY LETTER THAT APPEALS TO HER EVEN SLIGHTLY. _The printed heading may show a letter to be from a cloak company. She doesn't really need a new coat--and anyhow she could hardly afford it this fall--but she would just like to see what the styles are going to be like--and it doesn't cost anything to send for samples. Yet if the writer of the letter is skilled and understands the subtle workings of a woman's mind_, THE CLOAK IS HALF SOLD BY THE TIME SHE FILLS OUT THE POSTAL CARD. _This chapter tells why_

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The more personal a letter is made the more successful it will prove. Several large mail-order houses, handling thousands of letters every day, are gradually abandoning the use of form letters, making every communication personal. The additional expense is of course great but the increased business apparently justifies the new policy.

The carelessness that sends out to women form letters beginning "Dear Sir" has squandered many an advertising appropriation. A man might not notice such a mistake or he might charitably blame it onto a stupid mailing clerk, but a woman--never.

The mail-order houses with progressive methods not only guard against inexcusable blunders and tactless letters but they are studying the classes and the individuals with whom they are dealing. A mail may bring in two letters--one, from a farmer, laboriously scrawled on a bit of wrapping paper; the other, from a lady in town, written on the finest stationery. Both may request catalogues and the same printed matter will be sent to each, but only the amateur correspondent would use the same form letter in reply.

The book agent who rattles off to every prospect the set speech which the house furnished him with his prospectus either throws up the work as a "poor proposition" or changes his tactics, and the form letter that tries to wing all classes of individuals is most likely to miss all.

In making an appeal to women, the first thing to be considered is the stationery. Good quality of paper is a sound investment. Saving money by use of cheap stationery is not economy for it prejudices the individual against the sender before the letter is ever opened.

Firms that cater to women of the better class follow out the current styles in writing paper. The "proper" size and shape of sheet and envelope immediately make a favorable impression. Various tints may be used to good effect and, instead of a flaring lithographed letterhead, the firm's monogram may be stamped in the upper left-hand corner. The return card on the envelope should not be printed on the face but on the reverse flap. Such a letter is suggestive of social atmosphere; it is complimentary to the lady.

In beginning the letter it should strike at some vulnerable spot in feminine nature--but it must be so skillfully expressed that the motive is not apparent. If the line is anything that can be shown by sample, manage to work into the very beginning of the letter the fact that samples will be mailed free upon request. Women never tire of looking at samples; they pull thousands of orders that could never have been landed with printed descriptions or illustrations. A most successful house selling suits and cloaks has proved conclusively that nothing will catch the attention of a woman so quickly as an offer of free samples or some reference to style and economy in woman's dress. It urges upon its correspondents the desirability of getting in this appeal in the very first sentence.

Letters from this house begin with some pointed reference: "Becoming styles, we know, are what you want, together with quality and the greatest economy." Or, "You know we guarantee you a perfect-fitting suit, of the prettiest materials in the market--whatever you may select."

This letter has the personal signature of the sales manager:

Dear Madam:

I have been intending to write you ever since you sent for your REPUBLIC Style Book, but I have been so busy in connection with our new building as to hardly find time.

But you are no doubt now wondering just why, out of the many, many thousand requests for the REPUBLIC Style Book, I should be so particularly interested in yours. And so I am going to tell you frankly my reason.

It is this: In your community there is only a very small number of all the ladies who wear REPUBLIC Suits, and they ALL should wear them--and WOULD wear them if they could but be made to know the real beauty of our suits. I want to show them just how beautiful a REPUBLIC Suit can be.

So I ask you, would you like to have made for you this season, the most beautiful suit you ever had?

Would you like now, a suit more stylish, better fitting, more becoming, better made--MORE PERFECT--than any other suit you have had?

If this interests you at all, then I am ready personally to see to it for you.

A suit that is different from the ones worn by your acquaintances is what I am now speaking of; not different because made of some unusual material, or in some over-stylish design, but different because BETTER. It is the difference of QUALITY, of genius in its cutting, that I want your friends and neighbors to see and admire in your suit.

Now I am going to say to you very frankly that I have a reason for wanting to make your suit attract the admiration of your friends. I wish your suit to convince THEM that they, too, should have their suits made by the REPUBLIC.

Would you care to have me tell you just how I propose to put this unusual grace and style into your suit? First, everything depends upon the LINES of a suit--if its lines are beautiful, the suit is beautiful. Now we have at the REPUBLIC a chief designer, who is a genius in putting the greatest beauty and grace into the lines of his models.

We say he is a genius, because a man can be a genius in designing just as a musician or any exceptionally skillful man may be said to be a genius. And when a highly trained cutter and an expert tailor make up one of this man's designs, the result is a suit that stands apart from all others, by reason of the attractiveness there always is in grace and style and beauty.

Such is the suit I offer to have made for you.

But there is to be no increased cost to you for this special service. The price of every REPUBLIC Made-to-Measure Suit is plainly stated under its description in our Style Book. That is all you'll have to pay.

If you wish you can have a dressmaker take your measurements and we will pay her for her trouble, as explained on the enclosed Dressmaker's Certificate. Please read this certificate.

"Now, what am I to do?" you ask. Simply send your order to me personally. Just say, "Make my suit as you agree in your letter."

Now if you wish other samples or information, write to me personally and I will take care of it for you. But, the sooner you get your order to me the better.

Please consider that we, at the REPUBLIC, will always be glad to be of service to you. I, especially, will be pleased to have the opportunity of making you a suit of which you can be proud and of which we will be glad to have you say, "This is a REPUBLIC Suit."

Shall I hear from you soon?

Yours very respectfully, [Signature: G. L. Lawrence]

* * * * *

This letter was sent out on very tasty tinted stationery. It was written by someone who understood the subtle processes of the feminine mind. In the first place the lady is flattered because the sales manager himself writes to her and offers to give her order his personal attention. Surely an opportunity to secure the very best suit the house can turn out!

"It is the difference of _QUALITY_, of genius in its cutting, that I want your friends and neighbors to see and admire in your suit." No fulsome flattery here; it is so delicately introduced that it appears entirely incidental, but the shaft strikes home. There is just enough left unsaid to stir the imagination. The logic and the matter-of-fact argument that would appeal to the man gives way to suggestion and persuasion and the necessity for prompt action is tactfully inserted at the proper place.

In another letter from the same house the prospect was impressed by the great care used in making up garments:

"In order that your measurements may be taken exactly right, we send you with this letter a 'Republic' Tape Measure. This is the same kind that our cutters use and it is entirely accurate.

"We send this tape measure to you because we want to avoid the least possibility of variation in your measurements. We want to make your suit perfect, and we will personally see to every detail of its making."

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No battery of arguments and proofs could make the same appeal to the woman as the tape line sent in this way. The suggestion is more powerful with a woman when skillfully handled than statements, assertions and arguments. Compare the subtle appeal in the above to the paragraphs taken from a letter sent out by a house that was trying to enter the mail-order field:

"We want you to read our booklet carefully for it explains our methods of doing business fully. We are very particular about filling orders and know you will be pleased with any suit you may buy from us.

"Our financial standing should convince you that if anything is not right we will make it so. We guarantee satisfaction and solicit a trial order."

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In the first place, the average woman would know nothing about the financial standing of the house. It is evident that the man who wrote the letter had been handling the correspondence with dealers and firms that necessarily keep posted on the rating of manufacturers. And the way the proposition is stated that "if anything is not right we will make it so" suggests that possibly the suit might not be satisfactory.

But while women are susceptible to flattery there is danger of bungling, of making the effort so conscious that it is offensive. "Your natural beauty will be enhanced by one of our suits for our cutter understands how to set off a woman's form and features so she is admired wherever she goes." The average woman is disgusted and reads no further.

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HOW DIFFERENT ARGUMENTS APPEAL TO WOMEN

Style _Foremost consideration_ Price _Secondary consideration_ Quality _Slight_ Exclusiveness _Valuable_ Service _Minor importance_ Sentiment _Effective_ Flattery _Expedient_ Testimonials _Impressive_ Reputation _Desirable_

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Mere cleverness in expression will fall wide of the mark and facetiousness should be strictly avoided. It is better to depend on a very ordinary letter which will have little effect on the reader one way or the other than to offend her by too obvious flattery or an apparent attempt to make capital from a feminine weakness.

Arouse her curiosity--the curiosity of woman is proverbial, and a general store at Nettleton, Mississippi, found a "Cousin Elsie" letter, mailed at Atlanta, Georgia, to be the most effective advertising it ever sent out, for it aroused the greatest curiosity among the women of Nettleton. Here is a letter just as it was sent out, the name of the recipient filled in on the typewriter:

My Dear Cousin:--

I know you will be surprised to get this letter. I spent such a delightful Winter in California and wished so often that my dear Nettleton kin could be with me.

On my return trip, I met the Wilson Piano Co's Manager. He told me the Nettleton Supply Co. was giving away one of its $400.00 pianos this year in advertising. I do hope that some of my ambitious Cousins will get to work and get it. It will certainly be worth working for.

Then what do you think? The first thing when I came to the office this morning, I made an invoice of the Millinery that the Nettleton Supply Co's buyer had bought of our house and I was certainly surprised to know that such beautiful stuff is sold in a small town like Nettleton. Our salesman said that this is one of the nicest bills that he has sold this season.

I met the buyer and talked with her about all of you and promised to attend the Spring opening. I know it will be one of the best the house has had, as it will have so much pretty stuff to show.

I will have only a day or two and I want to ask you and all my Cousins to meet me at this opening. I am anxious to see you and this will be a good opportunity for us to meet. Don't fail to meet me.

I have lots of work to do and must bring this letter to a close. With a heart full of love for all the dear old Nettleton folks and an extra lot for you, from,

Your Cousin, Elsie.

P.S.--Don't fail to come to the opening. I will be there if possible. Miss Smiley will let you know when to come. Buy a pair of Peters' shoes this Spring; you will never regret it.

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Such letters could not be used very often but occasionally they are immensely effective. "Mrs. Elliott's troubles and how they were cured" have become famous in some parts of the country. Written in long hand, they bore every resemblance to a social letter from a lady to some old neighbor and told how many of her housekeeping troubles had been ended by using a certain kind of furniture polish. The letters were written in such a chatty style that they were read through and passed around to other members of the family.

My dear:

I know you will be surprised to hear from me and I may as well confess that I am not altogether disinterested in writing you at this time but I am glad to say that the duty imposed upon me is a pleasure as well.

You know some time ago after I had painted my floors, I wrote the company whose paint I used and they put my experiences in the form of a little booklet entitled "Mrs. Elliot's Troubles."

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_This is the first page of a facsimile hand-written letter that proved highly successful as it appealed to feminine curiosity and insured careful reading_

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The appeal to women must hover around her love of style and her desire for economy. Bring in either subject deftly at the beginning of a letter and she will be an interested reader of all the sales talk that follows.

Several mail-order houses have trained women to handle this part of their correspondence for they are more apt in the use of feminine expressions. Let a man try to describe some article as "perfectly splendid," or "really sweet" and he will stumble over it before he gets to the end of the sentence. Yet when these same hackneyed phrases are brought in naturally by a woman who "feels just that way" about the garment she is describing, they will take hold of the reader in a way that is beyond the understanding of the masculine mind.

In the appeal to women there is more in this tinge of off-hand refinement, the atmosphere, the enthusiasm shown and in the little personal touches, than in formidable arguments and logical reasons. What is triviality to a man is frequently the clinching statement with a woman. And so a fixed set of rules can not be formulated for writing letters to women. Instead of a hard and fast rule, the correspondent must have in mind the ideas and the features that naturally appeal to the feminine mind and use them judiciously.

Dear Madam:

This mail is bringing to you a copy of our new catalogue, describing our complete line of Hawkeye Kitchen Cabinets.

The catalogue will tell you how you can do your kitchen work in half the usual time.

It will tell you how to save your strength, time, and energy--how to relieve yourself of the burden of kitchen drudgery.

Aren't these things worth looking into?

Just try counting the unnecessary steps you take in preparing your next meal. Calculate the time you lose in looking for articles that should be at your fingers' ends but are not.

Imagine, if you can, what it would save you if you could do away with your pantry, kitchen table, and cupboard and get all the articles needed in the preparation of a meal in one complete well-ordered piece of furniture that could be placed between the range and sink, so you could reach almost from one to the other. Think of the steps it would save you.

Imagine a piece of furniture containing special places for everything--from the egg beater to the largest kitchen utensil--a piece of furniture that would arrange your provisions and utensils in such a systematic way that you could (in the dark) find almost anything you wanted.

If you can draw in your mind a picture of such a piece of furniture, you will have some idea of what a Buckeye Kitchen Cabinet is like.

How, don't you want one of these automatic servants? Don't you think you need it?

If so, send for one NOW. Don't put it off a single day. You have been without it too long already.

It doesn't cost much to get a Hawkeye. If you don't care to pay cash, you can buy on such easy payments that you will never miss the money--only five cents a day for a few months. You would think nothing of paying five cents a day street-car fare to keep from walking a few blocks in the pure air and sunshine, yet you are walking miles in your kitchen when one streetcar fare a day for a few months would do away with it.

Send your order right along and use the Cabinet thirty days. If it doesn't do what we say it will, or if you do not consider that it is more than worth the money, send it back at our expense and we will refund whatever you have paid. That's fair, isn't it?

We pay freight on all-cash orders

Yours truly, [Signature: Adams & Adams]

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_This letter is written in an easy, natural style, which is aided by the short paragraphs. The appeal to the imagination is skillful, and the homely illustration of the car-fare well chosen. The closing is in keeping with the general quality of the letter and was undoubtedly effective. This letter is a longer one than the man would read about a kitchen cabinet, but there are not too many details for women readers_

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All women, for instance, are influenced by what other women do, and there is no other touch more productive of sales than the reference to what some other customer has ordered, or what comments she has made. Both in educational campaigns and in writing to regular customers on some specific proposition it is a good policy to work in some reference to a recent sale:

"One of our very good customers from your neighborhood writes us that her new suit (Style 3587) has caused her more perfectly delightful compliments than she ever had before."

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Such testimonials are to be found in every mail-order house that has attained even a moderate success, for women who are pleased are given to writing letters profuse in their expressions of appreciation.

At times it is desirable to quote a whole letter, withholding, of course, the name of the writer. The most convincing letters to use are those that tell about first orders, or how some friend induced the writer to send in a trial order, or how she came to be a customer of the mail-order house. These personalities add a touch of human interest, they create an atmosphere that is real, they mean much to a woman.

Quoted letters are especially effective in getting a first order after a woman has become sufficiently interested to write in for a catalogue. Here is one lifted from a letter sent out by the general manager of a suit house:

Dear Mr. Wardwell:

You ask me to tell you how I came to send you my first order.

I think I had written for your Style Book three seasons. Each time I found many garments I liked. I found waists and dresses and skirts that were much prettier than the ones I could get elsewhere. And yet, some way or other, while I longed for these very garments, I did not order them. I think it was simply because I never had ordered by mail.

One day when looking through your Style Book the thought came to me: "If you want this dress, why don't you stop hesitating and wondering and sit down right now and order it?"

And I did--and ever since I have bought my suits, dresses, waists, almost everything, from you.

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Testimonial letters from prominent women, wives of distinguished men and others whose names are widely known, are always effective. A number of years ago Mrs. Frances Cleveland, wife of the ex-president, wrote to a furniture factory for a cedar chest. The order was in Mrs. Cleveland's own handwriting and the letter was at once photographed and a facsimile enclosed with all the letters and advertising matter sent out by the furniture house. Such things have an influence on the feminine mind that the skilled correspondent never overlooks.

The reason that so many letters fail to pull is because the correspondents are not salesmen; they are unable to put actual selling talk into a letter. For after you have aroused a woman's curiosity and appealed to her love of style and her desire to economize, there has got to be some genuine, strong selling talk to get the order.

The difference is brought out by a large Chicago mail-order house which cites the customer who inquired about a certain ready made skirt in a 34-inch length which could not be supplied as the regular measurements run from 37 to 43. A correspondent thinking only of the number of letters that can be answered in a day simply wrote, "We are very sorry we cannot supply the skirt you mention in the length you desire, because this garment is not made regularly in shorter lengths than 37 inches. Regretting our inability to serve you," and so forth.

The letter inspector threw out the letter and dictated another:

"We cannot furnish skirt, catalogue number H4982, in a 34-inch length, but we can supply it in a 37-inch length; this is the shortest length in which it is regularly made. You can have it altered to a 34-inch length at a small expense, and as the skirt is an unusually pretty style and of exceptionally good value, the price being only $7.65, we trust you will favor us with your order."

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This is letter-writing plus salesmanship. The correspondent did not spill over in his eagerness to get the order; he did not describe the skirt as the finest to be had nor insist that it was the most wonderful bargain in the catalogue. Rather he told her it was an "unusually pretty style and of exceptionally good value." It was so simply told and so naturally that it carried conviction. It refers to style and to economy--two things that appeal to every woman.

Letters personally signed by the "Expert Corsetiere" of a large wholesale house were mailed to a selected list of lady customers in cities where the Diana corsets were handled:

Dear Madam;

Here's an incident that proves how important corsets are in wearing the new straight, hipless gowns.

Mrs. Thompson, who is stouter than the new styles require, tried on a princess gown in a department store. The gown itself was beautiful, but it was most unbecoming and did not fit at all, tho it was the right size for her.

Mrs. Thompson was about to give up in despair saying, "I can't wear the new styles"--when a saleswoman suggested that she be fitted with a Diana Corset in the model made for stout figures.

The result was that the princess gown took the lines of the corset and fitted Mrs. Thompson perfectly. In fact the original lines of the gown were brought out to better advantage.

This only goes to prove that with a good corset any gown will drape right and take the lines of the corset.

You'll find it easy to wear the new long straight style gowns if you wear a Diana corset in the model made for your style of figure.

The Dianas are made after the same models as the most expensive French corsets costing $10 to $25. Yet $1 to $5 buys a Diana.

The Diana is not heavy and uncomfortable as so many of the new corsets are this year. The fabrics from which they are made are light and comfortable. At the same time, so closely meshed and firmly woven that with reasonable wear every Diana corset is guaranteed to keep its good shape and style or you will receive a new corset without charge.

The Diana dealer, whose card is enclosed, invites you to call and see these new corsets.

Will you go in to see the Diana today?

Very truly yours, [Signature: Grace La Fountain]

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The letter is in a chatty style that assures its being read. It does not say, "We have just the corset for you stout women"--but that is what it means. It interests and appeals especially to the stout women without reminding them offensively that they are too heavy to wear the styles in vogue.

The National Cloak Company has studied the methods that take firm hold on the women and finds it necessary to bear down heavily on the guarantee of satisfaction. Many women are inclined to be skeptical and hesitate long before sending money to an unknown house. So the National uses a guarantee tag insuring customers against dissatisfaction, sending these tags out with the goods. It assures the return of money if the order is not all right in every way and further agrees to pay all the express charges. Free reference is made to this tag in the company's letters and it gives a certain concreteness to the guarantee feature. This tag makes its own argument, proves its own case.

Business men generally take it for granted that satisfaction goes with the goods; their experience enables them to size up a proposition quickly and if there is any flaw in the advertisements or the company's methods, they pass it by. But women, not so familiar with business affairs, must be approached from a different angle. Little points must be explained and guarantees must be strongly emphasized. The formal letter which appeals to a man by going straight to the point would, by its very conciseness, offend the vanity of a woman.

The successful correspondent never overlooks the susceptibility of a woman to flattery--but it must be the suggestion of flattery, the implied compliment, rather than the too obvious compliment.

"The handsomest gown money will buy can't make you look well unless your corset is the correct shape."

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This is the opening sentence in a letter advertising a particular corset. The lady is gracefully complimented by the intimation that she wears handsome gowns, yet there is not the slightest suggestion that the reference was dragged in as a part of the selling scheme.

Instead of insinuating that she must buy cheaply, let it be hinted that she is actuated by the very laudable motive of economy. "You would scarcely believe that such delicious coffee could be sold at 20 cents--unless you happen to know that the flavor of coffee depends largely upon the blending." Here the low price is emphasized but there is no hint of forced economy; rather it suggests that the best quality can be obtained without paying a high price.

"You can offer your most particular guest a cup of Regal coffee and know she has never tasted a more delicious flavor and fragrance."

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This is the beginning of a letter that successfully introduced a new coffee. Here is a tactful compliment--the taking for granted that the recipient entertains guests of some importance--guests who are particular and will notice her coffee. There are few things that the average woman is more concerned about than that her guests will be pleased with her refreshments. The suggestion that she herself would enjoy or even that her family would enjoy this coffee does not make such direct appeal to a woman as this assurance that it will please her particular guests.

The house that uses the same kind of letter on men and women will never score such big results as the firm that understands the different processes of thinking and the different methods of making the appeal. With the man it is reason, logic, argument; with the woman it is suggestion, flattery, persuasion. The correspondent who aims to establish a large mail-order trade with women must study their whims, their prejudices, their weaknesses and their characteristics before he can make an appeal that brings in the orders and makes permanent customers of trial buyers.

It is the little things--this subtle insight into feminine nature that marks the successful selling letter to the woman. They are not things that can be set down and numbered in a text book; they are qualities of mind that must be understood and delicately handled. Rightly used they are more powerful than irrefutable arguments and indisputable facts.

How To Write Letters That _Appeal_ to MEN