Direct-mail response

The pattern

This still is filed under Direct-mail response.

Define

A physical letter or pack whose only job is a measurable reply: an order, a donation, a call.

Mechanism

Response engineering. Outer, letter, lift, reply device. Every surface earns its keep or it is cut.

Verdict

We can mail, track, and fulfill, and the unit economics survive the stamp.

Why it works

There is no picture and no slogan: the box gives the model type, cylinders, horsepower, number of seats and a price in Egyptian pounds. For a 1920s reader weighing a first car, hard figures answer the real question of what it is and what it costs. The close offers prices and catalogues sent free on request from the sole agents, which turns interest into a letter or a phone call.

The big idea

Benjamin cars sold on plain facts: a four-cylinder, four-seat Torpedo at a stated 175 Egyptian pounds, with prices and catalogues for every body style sent free on request.

The offer

A 4-seat Torpedo for 175 Egyptian pounds, plus 2 and 3 seat Torpedos, a landaulet and a limousine. Prices and catalogues free on request from the sole agents, 14 Sheikh Abu al-Sibaa Street, Cairo.

The proof

Specifications stated plainly instead of praise: 4 cylinders, the horsepower rating, the seat count and the price, with the sole agents named and a telephone number.

Lines from the ad

اتوموبيلات «بنجمان»

Benjamin automobiles

الاسعار والكتالوجات ترسل مجاناً تحت الطلب من

Prices and catalogues are sent free on request from

الوكلاء الوحيدين بمصر: ن. قطه وشركاه

The sole agents in Egypt: N. Qitta and Partners

Steal this when

When your buyer is already shopping the category and wants specs, price and an easy way to ask for more.

The emotion

Written to Interest. It makes the Say move.

Beside a plain spec box with a 175 pound price, the close offers prices and catalogues for every body style sent free on request, a step that asks for no more than a letter.