Launched new service for Copywriters and Direct Marketers - Feedback Appreciated

[mgore714]

Hi All!

I just launched a new service for copywriters and direct marketers. Below I'll give as much detail as possible for anyone that's interested in the business side as well as the value prop. I'd appreciate any and all feedback on improving the service to better cater to you guys - copywriters and direct marketers.


Problem: A couple months back I was looking to ship a bunch of handwritten sales letters to potential customers. However, I didn't want to take the time to write them myself. I looked for companies offering services and found they were priced way too high. Cheapest pricing I found was 5 cents per word. Considering a 200 word letter, that's $10! I looked at other viable solutions such as using handwriting fonts but found that conversion rates were low since it didn't convey trust and came off as a gimmick.

Solution: Decided to create my own infrastructure so that I could get handwritten letters cheap.

Since then I decided to take this infrastructure and make it into a fastlane business.

Value proposition: handwritten letters for direct mail marketers at an affordable price. Why? Because handwritten letters convert 5-15x better than typical direct mail.

So what have I done so far?

1. Created the infrastructure - have quality writers, and ability to meet demand.
2. Created and shipped 500 handwritten letters to potential clients. 500 should be sufficient to gauge market demand and whether or not my pricing is acceptable.
3. Created the website: http://Salesbyhand.com. Please note: I understand the site's not perfect for converting online traffic. However, I decided on launching a minimal viable website to increase conversion rates from offline marketing.
4. Built a team. I brought on two friends to run the business in case it grows faster than expected.
5. Created this thread to get instant feedback and iterate the offer.

With all that said, here is the current pricing:

0-100 letters: $7.99 per letter
100-1,000 letters: $4.99 per letter
1,000-10,000 letters: $2.99 per letter
10,000 letters or more: $2.49 per letter

Pricing includes all costs except shipping (envelope, paper, up to 200 words on paper, envelope addressing free). Shipping is not included since it depends on whether you choose to use regular stamps or a mailing permit. Option is given to the customer.

As of now that's all the necessary details I can think of. If you guys have any questions then please ask and I'll be glad to clarify.

Furthermore, if any of you are interested in this service then I'd be glad to offer a 25% discount for your first order as a fastlaner.

Please tear this idea up and offer any feedback. I won't take it personally and do appreciate any and all input

Thanks guys!

 

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[Enki]

Created and shipped 500 handwritten letters to potential clients. 500 should be sufficient to gauge market demand and whether or not my pricing is acceptable.

Have you sold any of your products? Have you made a sale? I believe I read something about this idea in inc magazine.

Problem: A couple months back I was looking to ship a bunch of handwritten sales letters to potential customers. However, I didn't want to take the time to write them myself. I looked for companies offering services and found they were priced way too high. Cheapest pricing I found was 5 cents per word. Considering a 200 word letter, that's $10! I looked at other viable solutions such as using handwriting fonts but found that conversion rates were low since it didn't convey trust and came off as a gimmick.

Have you moved your own products using your handwritten letters?

 

[Mbc]

Ok just my opinion on the website. It looks nice until you get to the pictures of three awkward young guys.
I'm guessing neither of them have written many sales letters in their lives, and probably haven't done a lot of sales in their lives period.
(I'm talking as a prospective client here I don't know your story)
I think people would rather see a picture of someone over 25-30 at least. Maybe 1-2 women.
Maybe they look old enough that they actually have hand written a lot of letters in their lifetimes.
I look at you guys and I think these guys probably haven't hand written anything since grade 6.
If you saw a website run by a guy in his 40s and a guy in his 20s, first impression who do you think will hand write better direct sales letters?
Also maybe put an example of your hand written letters on the front page or somewhere.

 

[youngtrep]

I would study these guys carefully https://maillift.com/. They have received a decent chunk of funding and press and it looks like they have some traction as well.

 

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[youngtrep]

Ok just my opinion on the website. It looks nice until you get to the pictures of three awkward young guys.
I'm guessing neither of them have written many sales letters in their lives, and probably haven't done a lot of sales in their lives period.
(I'm talking as a prospective client here I don't know your story)
I think people would rather see a picture of someone over 25-30 at least. Maybe 1-2 women.
Maybe they look old enough that they actually have hand written a lot of letters in their lifetimes.
I look at you guys and I think these guys probably haven't hand written anything since grade 6.
If you saw a website run by a guy in his 40s and a guy in his 20s, first impression who do you think will hand write better direct sales letters?
Also maybe put an example of your hand written letters on the front page or somewhere.

I say drop the photos completely. The photos as they are, are too big and prominent. It almost takes away from everything else on the site. Use the about section to tell more about why the company saw a need for a handwritten note service and how they put it together.

 

[Felix II]

Interesting. Don't they have machines to hand write letters?

In fact I could build a machine fairly easy to do this (I did something very similar as an undergrad).
A machine could write hundreds or thousands of letters per hour and you wouldn't have to pay anybody...

 

[youngtrep]

Interesting. Don't they have machines to hand write letters?

In fact I could build a machine fairly easy to do this (I did something very similar as an undergrad).
A machine could write hundreds or thousands of letters per hour and you wouldn't have to pay anybody...

There is a company called Bond Gifts that does machine written notes which I think is brilliant. You can't tell a machine wrote them, and you eliminate all the labor

.

 

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[Stubbers]

Good luck with your venture, how long will it take to handwrite 1,000 letters? That's a lot of repetition will mistakes not be made?
I get it's more personal, but can folk really tell? Why not use the handwriting fonts like they do @ http://www.yellowletters.com/yellow-letters.html

Also your blog has all the default posts etc still

 

[mgore714]

Have you sold any of your products? Have you made a sale? I believe I read something about this idea in inc magazine.

Have you moved your own products using your handwritten letters?

1. Just shipped the letters out yesterday. Will see from there how many sales there are. 1 sale should be sufficient to finance another round of marketing.
2. This idea's being done by a few companies. As less and less people handwrite letters, the more significant getting a handwritten letter becomes.
3. Yes. That's the reason I decided to keep this afloat. However, I do not have enough product where I can finance and keep a team of writers. Ideally I'd grow my own business and consume Salesbyhand, however that is not realistic anytime soon.

 

[mgore714]

I would study these guys carefully https://maillift.com/. They have received a decent chunk of funding and press and it looks like they have some traction as well.

Thanks. They're one of the top competitors at the moment. They provide a good service, however their pricing is not acceptable for most direct marketers that are sending thousands of letters.

I say drop the photos completely. The photos as they are, are too big and prominent. It almost takes away from everything else on the site. Use the about section to tell more about why the company saw a need for a handwritten note service and how they put it together.

Changed them up for now. I will test conversions with the bare bones site at the moment and then build out a few additional pages as soon as I gauge how effective the current marketing is. Thanks.

 

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[mgore714]

There is a company called Bond Gifts that does machine written notes which I think is brilliant. You can't tell a machine wrote them, and you eliminate all the labor

.

Cool technology. Will have to do more research into machines. As of now most machines that I've seen do not look authentic. If one does then that changes the game. Also I see they're charging $10 for individual letters -- could be a market to get into if I establish myself in customer acquisition first.

 

[mgore714]

Interesting. Don't they have machines to hand write letters?

In fact I could build a machine fairly easy to do this (I did something very similar as an undergrad).
A machine could write hundreds or thousands of letters per hour and you wouldn't have to pay anybody...

Could you build a machine whose handwriting looks at least 99% legit? If so then please message me.

 

[mgore714]

Good luck with your venture, how long will it take to handwrite 1,000 letters? That's a lot of repetition will mistakes not be made?
I get it's more personal, but can folk really tell? Why not use the handwriting fonts like they do @ http://www.yellowletters.com/yellow-letters.html

Also your blog has all the default posts etc still

Would take less than two weeks. From the couple thousand that I have made so far there weren't any mistakes -- mistakes were checked for through random sampling. However, I am of the belief that if a mistake is made then it makes your letter look more authentic. In my sales copy I typically have a word or two that's crossed out.

Also most people can tell. Let's play out two different scenarios:
1) You get a letter in the mail that looks handwritten. You open it because you assume it's important. After you start reading it you realize that there's something off and notice that the font throughout is the same. You feel deceived and instantly lose any connection you had with the advertiser.
2) You get an actually handwritten letter in the mail. You open it, start reading, and realize that the offer doesn't currently interest you. However, since the person that sent it to you obviously cares and takes the time to handwrite a letter, you save it for the future in case you need the service.

I'd rather go with scenario #2 on most campaigns I run. The question for you as a marketer is quantity vs quality. If you're buying prospect lists that are expensive then I assume you want to go with quality.

 

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[mgore714]

Ok just my opinion on the website. It looks nice until you get to the pictures of three awkward young guys.
I'm guessing neither of them have written many sales letters in their lives, and probably haven't done a lot of sales in their lives period.
(I'm talking as a prospective client here I don't know your story)
I think people would rather see a picture of someone over 25-30 at least. Maybe 1-2 women.
Maybe they look old enough that they actually have hand written a lot of letters in their lifetimes.
I look at you guys and I think these guys probably haven't hand written anything since grade 6.
If you saw a website run by a guy in his 40s and a guy in his 20s, first impression who do you think will hand write better direct sales letters?
Also maybe put an example of your hand written letters on the front page or somewhere.

Changed it up. Thanks.

 

[Felix II]

Could you build a machine whose handwriting looks at least 99% legit? If so then please message me.

I'm guessing the machine that Youngtrep posted looks authentic. Technologically speaking, I don't think it is that hard at all. It's basically just a CNC machine or plotter. In fact you can find plans on the internet for home built CNC machines and follow the plans to create one yourself for around $1000.

I 100% guarantee that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between one of these machines and a real handwritten letter without really close inspection (e.g., maybe the variance in pen pressure between a machine and a human is different).

In fact, I swear I remember watching Pawn Stars where they had to bring in an expert to determine that a famous signature was signed by a machine (not the presidential auto-pen, something similar pictured below).

 

[Riddic4766]

Created the infrastructure - have quality writers, and ability to meet demand.

How long it took you to establish the team of writers? Did you meet them in person?
How many pages per hour your writer can produce?

 

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[randomnumber314]

WTF is up with the photos/name/linkedin profiles?

This guy http://salesbyhand.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/GB1.jpg is not this guy https://media.licdn.com/media/p/8/000/207/10c/240b208.jpg

 

[wade1mil]

I know this is an old thread, but there are companies providing a similar service for $0.75 per letter including postage. Wonder how he's doing...

 

[sfoster55]

Curious how this guys business is going? His prices look competitive. I have been using these guys for my yellow letters.

 

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