Direct marketers fear the junk mail that is nothing but ineffective direct mail.

The following factors lead to junking.

• Wrongly targeted direct mail

• Unattractively produced direct mail

• Wrongly timed direct mail

• No impact whatsoever on the receiver

• No capacity to incite curiosity in the receiver

• Improperly constructed database.

It is better to be imaginative about the envelope that carries direct mail by putting a suitable phrase on it as enveloper opener. It is creative headline or envelope opener alone that avoids junking at the envelope stage itself. The covering letter is the next stage at which there is a possibility of junking. It has to be personalized by addressing a person by name. There should not be feeling that the receiver is just one number on the mailing list. The receiver is to be led into the letter without being aware of it. If we get across to the right person, and get him past the envelope and right through the covering letter, the mail is unlikely to be junked. The chances of junking are at earlier stages and not at later stages.