Direct mail is still part of the marketing mix for many companies, particularly those targeting consumers, small businesses, and non-technical business executives. For all that's changed about direct mail and direct marketing in the last few years, however, one basic tenet hasn't:

The less your package looks like junk mail, the better it will perform.

More specifically, the classic letter package - envelope, letter, brochure or lift note, reply device - still consistently outperforms less expensive packages such as postcards and self-mailers. In broad terms, this seems to be because most recipients make split-second, very subjective decisions about whether to read your package based primarily on outer appearance. Whether it's the consumer reviewing his or her mail at the end of a long day, or the administrative assistant screening mail for an executive, if he or she sees something that screams "junk mail", your mailer is headed for the recycling bin.

Letter packages continue to have their detractors, however, particularly amongst high-tech marketers, who regard them as old-fashioned and therefore (one assumes) ineffective. Foremost amongst the arguments against letters is a theory based on personal experience, namely:

"But I never read sales letters."

Neither do a lot of people, but that's not the point. Besides, we marketing professionals are the worst focus group for what works and what doesn't in direct mail, because as creative types, we tend to gravitate towards more interesting, colorful designs. (Interestingly, our agency once tested a 4-color envelope vs. a plain white version for a software campaign targeting marketing managers. The plain envelope won hands down.)

Besides outer appearance, a letter package holds other distinct advantages over self-mailers:

• the narrative tone of a well-crafted sales letters evokes the impression (however subconscious) of one-to-one communication. Self-mailers and postcards, on the other hand, are far more impersonal. In effect they say: "We printed 20,000 of these, and your name happened to be on our list."

• every component of a well-designed letter package - the cover letter, the insert, the reply device - functions as a standalone campaign. That is, no matter which piece the reader picks up first, he or she should be able to quickly grasp the offer, the key benefits of that offer, and the call to action. As such, letter packages appeal to a wider range of prospects - for example, whether the person is an avid letter-reader, or instead gravitates to the visual enticement of the color insert. Self-mailers and postcards, in contrast, are a one shot proposition - your message either works, or it doesn't.