Abstract
Despite the growing interest in direct marketing, little has been written regarding alternative message strategies within the context of direct mail presentations. The general purpose of the present research is to investigate the effectiveness of three alternative message structures used by a marketer of a business service in a direct mail campaign. Specifically, the study examines alternative message strategies: comparative (two or more competing offerings are compared); two-sided messages (specification of positive and negative service features); and positive only. The target markets in this direct mail campaign were two types of professionals: medical doctors and lawyers. Results of the analysis suggest that two-sided messages were more effective in eliciting response then either comparison or positive-only message structures. This finding was consistent across both target markets and is consistent with work done in other advertising contexts.
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