Mail Order Organization: The Art of Selling Goods by Post
A 1922 handbook in Pitman's commercial series, written for British shopkeepers, especially multi-department retailers, who want to add or reorganize a mail-order department.
What it is
A 1922 handbook in Pitman's commercial series, written for British shopkeepers, especially multi-department retailers, who want to add or reorganize a mail-order department. Wilson opens by rejecting the popular view that mail order means placing an advertisement and pocketing the cash, then walks through the operation in order: choosing what to sell (no single article under ten shillings unless it leads to further sales or is consumed and reordered), the money-back guarantee, planning and introducing the catalogue, describing and illustrating the goods, press work, the covering letter, opening the inward mail, filing, press advertising, form letters and stock control. The chapter on description sets one golden rule: say everything there is to say about the goods. The advertising chapter shows how to give each paper its own booklet letter, count the replies daily, and divide the cost of the advertisement by the replies to get a cost per inquiry.
Why read it now
The core of this book holds. Keying each insertion so every reply can be traced to its paper is the ancestor of tracking links and offer codes, and Wilson's point that "Please mention this paper" fails because buyers skip it matches the known weakness of asking customers where they heard of you. His ten-shilling floor is early unit economics: a cheap single item cannot repay the cost of acquiring the name unless repeat or add-on sales follow, the case now made with customer lifetime value. The money-back guarantee and his demand for exact, honest description still cut returns and complaints in e-commerce. What has dated: the claim that a good picture puts a buyer "95 per cent nearer ordering" comes with no test behind it, and his rule never to open with "Don't" is contradicted by a large study of news headline tests that found negative words raise click rates. Use it this way: give each channel its own code that the buyer must quote to get what they asked for, then work out cost per inquiry by channel every week.
Passages worth keeping
while a Mail Order man must essentially be an advertising man, an advertising man is not necessarily a Mail Order man.
من يبيع بالبريد لا بد أن يتقن الإعلان، لكن ليس كل من يتقن الإعلان يصلح للبيع بالبريد، لأن البيع المباشر يحتاج إلى تنظيم كامل خلف الإعلان.
When the catalogue or bargain folder reaches the hands of the recipient, there is nobody by his elbow to add a word of praise or commendation, no persuasive salesman to clinch the deal
الكتالوج يصل إلى القارئ وحده، فلا بائع بجانبه يمدح السلعة أو يحسم الصفقة، ولذلك يجب أن تؤدي المطبوعة عمل البائع كاملًا.
Say everything there is to say about the goods.
القاعدة الذهبية في الوصف أن تذكر كل تفصيل عن السلعة، من المقاس واللون والخامة إلى السعر، حتى لا يبقى عند المشتري سؤال يملؤه بخياله.
In the Sun, people are, therefore, asked to write for "Booklet A"; in the Moon, "Booklet B"; in the Star, "Booklet C"; and so on.
يُطلب من قراء كل صحيفة أن يطلبوا كتيبًا بحرف مختلف، فيعرف التاجر من الحرف الصحيفة التي جاء منها الطلب، لأن المشتري حريص على ذكر اسم الكتيب الذي يريده.
this is quickly arrived at by dividing the cost of the advertisement by the number of replies or orders received.
تكلفة كل استفسار تساوي تكلفة الإعلان مقسومة على عدد الردود أو الطلبات التي جاء بها.
The scanned text has OCR errors. The passages are quoted from it, with only obvious slips fixed.
What it teaches best
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