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Style Book
How To Write Letters That Appeal To Women
Part VI
The Appeal To Different Classes
Chapter 22
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
* * * * *
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 yojir 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."
* * * * *
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."
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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."
* * * * *
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
* * * * *
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]
* * * * *
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
* * * * *
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."
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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."
* * * * *
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, though 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]
* * * * *
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."
* * * * *
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."
* * * * *
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.
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