What can I do if I believe an internet vender has ripped me off?

I placed an $1100 order with The Inside out Store three weeks ago. There was a direct debit to my checking account. I placed the order 8/8/2006. The order was supposed to ship in 1 or 2 weeks. After 2 weeks passed I inquired via e-mail. I recieved an e-mail saying they would respond in 24 hours. I then called and was told they would check with the vendor and let me know. No response. I have continued to call and e-mail but still no resolution. I have learned that the guy I am dealing with is David Whiteley of Whiteley Enterprises. The Better Business Bureau in Jupiter FL tells me this business has an Unsatisfactory rating. ( Too bad I did not check that out before placing the order) What recourse do I have?

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Which pulls the best response, a postcard, a self-mailer or a
letter? The answer, you’ll be irritated to know, is clear. It
depends.

The success of your mailing depends on who you mail to (your
list), what you promise (your offer), when you mail (your
timing), and what you mail (your format and creative). Here are
a few questions to ask yourself to decide which format is likely
the best one to use for your next mailing.

Letter Does your sales message need to come from one person by
name? Does it need to be addressed to a person by name? Is
privacy or confidentiality a concern? Then a sales letter inside
an envelope is the way to go.

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Direct mail continues to be one of the most effective forms of marketing available. I know it sounds crazy but it’s true. Just look in your mailbox and you’ll see proof. I’m sure you get at least a dozen pieces of direct mail every single day and reason is that it works, at least in some situations.
There’s no question direct mails is better suited to some businesses than others. In particular, any business where timing is a factor in the purchase decision is a good candidate for direct mail advertising because you need to stay in front of those prospects so they’ll think of you when the timing is finally right.
This alludes to the most important point. Direct mail is only useful if you do it on a regular basis. And by saying that, I’m not talking about sending your marketing piece to different people each time. No. I’m saying you have to send your marketing piece to the exact same audience, over and over and over again. The key to a successful direct mail campaign is repetition.
Companies who do direct mail spend millions of dollars each year analyzing their campaigns and how to maximize the returns they get. In fact, this area of marketing is probably studied more than any other area. And the consensus is that an average person doesn’t even realize you exist before they’ve seen your marketing piece at least seven times.
This is an amazing reality and many would argue it’s a function of being over-marketed in our daily lives. Let me say it again. The average person doesn’t even realize you exist before they’ve seen your marketing piece at least seven times. Seven times! And there are some who estimate that number is actually much higher than that.
As a result of this reality, there’s absolutely no point in doing a direct mail campaign unless you can afford to run the mailer at least seven times before expecting any results. Seriously. If you can’t afford to send your marketing piece to the same audience at least seven times, don’t even bother because you won’t get a proper gauge of whether the campaign will work or not.
You also want to consider a two-step approach. That means the initial marketing piece invites recipients to get more information by taking some predetermined step. They might be invited to call an 800-number and hear some pre-recorded information. They might be invited to request a free information booklet or they might be invited to visit a website with additional details.
Two-step marketing is a great way to pull prospects into your sales funnel. By giving them an opportunity to get more information for free, you invite them to take action. You also have a way of getting their contact information so you can follow-up afterwards. And lastly, you give yourself a second opportunity to earn their trust by providing valuable information. All three dramatically increase the odds of making a sale.
In order to implement a program like this effectively, you’ll need to decide on a value item before you get started. What additional information will you be providing? Whatever it is, it should be something your ideal customer would really appreciate. Think about what information your target market really wants. Think about what would make their lives easier. Then put it together before you even design the direct mail piece. Doing it this way will add focus to your marketing piece and save you time along the way.
Direct mail is still an effective way of touching new customers but it won’t deliver any results unless you send your mailer to the same audience consistently. You’ll get better results if you use a two-step approach, giving recipients a way of getting more information painlessly and the best way to prepare for the campaign is to create the information piece first. Give it a try and let me know how it works out.

The most important ingredient in a successful direct mail campaign is repetition. If your audience sees your message enough times, they will begin to remember you and associate you with the business you’re in. But there’s another reason repetition is important: most direct mail pieces end up in the garbage before they’re even looked at. So if you send your marketing message enough times, you will eventually get noticed by everybody.
Getting noticed is the hardest part. A strategy to actually get noticed is the most valuable thing you can harness in a direct mail campaign and this article will outline one of the best kept secrets; a secret you can use immediately in your own business. Keep in mind that just getting noticed is the primary objective behind direct mail.
You’ve undoubtedly noticed a wide variety of approaches, just by looking in your mail slot. Companies print information on the outside of the envelopes, trying to entice you to open it up and read the contents. Messages are printed in bright colors, trying to get your attention amidst a sea of competitive pieces. Some even use artificial stamps to make it look like the envelope was individually addressed by a real human being.
As it turns out, there is one size of envelope that gets opened far more than any other, and it’s the greeting card envelope. Greeting cards are a different shape from the traditional #10 letter envelope and everybody loves getting cards in the mail. So, sending a greeting card that includes your marketing message is one of the best ways of getting your mailer opened.
Do the math with me. If you send something out to 1000 people but only 5% of the envelopes get opened, your actual audience is only 50 people. But if you send out 100 cards and 75% of them get opened, you’re actually reaching 25 more people with one tenth the cost. Although specific statistics are difficult to get, greeting cards get opened far more than regular envelopes.
There is one category that gets opened even more than greeting cards and that’s greeting cards send near someone’s birthday. People are more likely to open a birthday cards than any other type of mailer. Admittedly, birthdays only come around once each year and repetition requires more than once annual mailers, but a birthday mailer has the greatest potential for getting opened by its recipients.
Birthdays are also a great time to recognize those people on your list who have given you business or referrals. In either case, a birthday card is a perfect place for a gift certificate or some other token of your appreciation. Everybody likes being remembered and receiving birthday cards in the mail. At the very least, your card will be opened and remembered.
The trick behind a campaign like this is determining their birthday. For some professions including medical, insurance and mortgage, birthdays are included in the application process so a birthday campaign is easy to start. For other professions, you’d have to begin a program to accumulate birthdays and that can add another step to an already cluttered schedule. But believe me; sending birthday cards to your clients is one of the best ways of to get your message out.

Direct mail continues to be one of the most effective forms of advertising in existence. You only need to look as far as your mail slot to see all the companies participating in this form of marketing. But don’t be fooled with the simplicity of these little advertisements. There’s a science behind direct mail and millions of dollars are spent each year trying to find ways of getting a better response from direct mail efforts.
The most important thing to keep in mind is the rule of 7. The rule of 7 basically says that until a recipient has seen your marketing message at least 7 times, they won’t even realize you exist. That sounds harsh and certainly there will be some exceptions to this rule but the basic premise is true. Most people will not even realize you exist before they’ve seen your marketing at least 7 times.
Indeed, repetition is the most important ingredient in direct mail success. If you want to give it a try, don’t even bother unless you have enough money to send your marketing piece to the same audience at least 7 times. If not, you’re absolutely wasting your money. And it’s worth noting that the quality of the marketing piece is still easily trumped by repetition. A poor quality marketing piece sent out consistently will deliver far better results than a great marketing piece sent out only once or twice.
The best way to budget for a direct mail campaign is to consider the cost of the first 7 mailings a cost of doing business. Don’t even try to recoup that money through sales. You’ll never pull it off. If you get any sales at all, you should be happy. Consider the first 7 mailings a sunk cost and then strive to achieve breakeven or better from the 8th mailing onward.
Another thing to consider is the format of your mailer. Are you sending out a postcard? An envelope? If you’re sending an envelope, you should know that a window envelope gets opened more than a regular envelope. You should also know that an envelope with a real stamp gets opened more than one with metered postage. Large envelopes get opened more, as do greeting card envelopes. Of course, postcards don’t need to be opened at all and that’s a significant motivator on its own. Choosing the optimal delivery method can make a major impact on the profitability of your campaign.
There’s another choice to be made. The message you’re trying to communicate on the marketing piece can generally take one of two forms. Either you can craft a clever slogan and tag line; a combination you barrage your audience with again and again, hoping to draw a mental connection inside the recipients’ minds. Or you can provide value on your piece by including valuable information the recipient can use.
The second strategy attempts to build trust with the audience while the first simply tries to build name recognition. Indeed, the first has dominated marketing campaigns for decades but the second is quickly gaining ground. Today’s consumers want to sample your expertise before they buy. They want proof you know what you’re talking about and including valuable information right on your marketing piece can contribute to that objective.
Direct mail can be a profitable marketing strategy but you have to devote some time and energy to the process. Every little detail contributes to the inevitable success or failure of the campaign and I hope this article has shed some light on a few of the details. Please visit the Tactical Execution website for more detailed information on using direct mail successfully.

By Doug Huggins

I have received several e-mails recently stating that they had tried direct response mail and it had failed miserably. Most of us who teach marketing methods hear that same complaint. I would suggest that there are two probable reasons so many people are disappointed with their direct mail:

One – The Message – The message delivered by most mortgage and real estate companies couldn’t sell free water to an American GI in southern Iraq. The marketing pieces I see are poorly designed, with absolutely no thought given to communicating to the needs and wants of the receiver.

In my manual, “Why Most Mortgage Marketing Fails and What to do About Yours”, I discuss in detail the top 10 reasons most mortgage company’s and originator’s marketing efforts fail to work. We show many actual examples of marketing pieces and literally “rip them to shreds” to show you how to better view what you are currently doing and how to make simple, no cost changes to dramatically increase the response to your current marketing.

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