Part of direct mail’s power comes from the fact that, in order to sort through their mail, people must look at every piece they receive. That is when your opportunity to win interest occurs — at the very moment that their eyes fall upon your direct mail piece. But will your mailer pass the At-A-Glance Test?

To do so, your mailer must communicate three important pieces of information, literally at a glance. With one look (and without trying), recipients must instantly be able to ascertain:

• your message is relevant to them
• what’s for sale
• why they should want it

On the heels of those three points, recipients should be able to easily find who you are and how to connect with you. That means that locations, phone numbers and web addresses should jump out.

Being creative is fun, and it’s an important tool for winning attention. But be careful not to obscure your message behind too much or irrelevant creativity. Visual elements and word play should telegraph what’s for sale, not divert attention from it for even a moment. So avoid the temptation of making your logo the largest element in your mailer. It’s only important once you have interested readers in what you can do for them.

Conduct an honest assessment of your direct mail piece

Being honest with yourself when applying the At-A-Glance Test to your own work isn’t as easy as it might seem. Once you have created a mailer, its message is obvious to you. The trick is to figure out whether it is obvious to most people, especially those who weren’t in on the brainstorming session when it was created.

A good way to apply the At-A-Glance Test is to show your mailer to others. But don’t show it in a vacuum. Place a mockup in a stack of typical mail, and have your friends sort through it as they would when retrieving their own mail.

After they have sorted, do not ask what they “think of” the mailer. Instead, ask: What was the message? Whom was it targeting? Why should they want what’s for sale? This will give you a better handle on how your mailer will fare once you send it out into the real world.