Does Direct Mail Generate Leads?

Earlier this week, I posted a sales letter (both in original form and rewritten form) that is intended to generate sales leads. Last time I did this, I received several comments questioning the overall effectiveness of direct mail as a lead generation tool.

I have a gut feeling that direct mail, particularly when it involves actual pieces of paper, is becoming less effective as a lead generation tool. I'm also skeptical (due to the explosion of SPAM) that emailed boilerplate letters (as opposed to fully customized emails sent from known person to known person) are very either.

Essentially, I've come to agree with Seth Godin that people are so inundated with intrusive messages that it's getting almost impossible to break through. There's probably some research floating around about this, but I have a feeling that the people who'd be funding it (the direct mail and email marketing vendors) would never reveal any data that revealed that direct marketing is ineffective.

So I thought it would be interesting to find out what's really working (or not) in this area, from real people -- which means you, the community that contributes to this blog. So here a couple of polls to find out the straight scoop:

[poll id=29][poll id=30]

Readers: I'd love to hear any stories (success or otherwise) that you've had with direct mail. If there's a key to doing it right, I'm sure that everyone would be interested.