In 2022, the United States Postal Service (that's the USPS to those of us in the know) delivered to 152.2 million residential addresses. And, the average American living at one of those addresses received about 454 pieces of marketing mail (let's not call it junk). And, that's in addition to bills, statements, magazine subscriptions, and the occasional handwritten letter.

Let's face it, most mail is pretty tedious.

So, when something arrives that looks like it might be of value, we tend to notice, asking ourselves (quite literally), "What's in it for me?"

This little reactivation mailer from women's retailer Draper & Damon's leverages that natural curiosity with a teaser that reads, "Special Gift Inside."

You had us at the word "Gift."

Inside, there is indeed a gift, more specifically a "Gift Card" for $20. The three-panel insert includes a brief personalized letter from D&D's General Manager, in which he (she?) tells us about an email from a longtime (much satisfied) customer. So, not only do we have a warm one-to-one message from someone in charge, but we also get a customer testimonial. A couple of photos highlight some of the company's products, while the short-fold Gift Card is easily slit off for use.

There's an additional friendly — and very smart — inclusion. On the back of the insert, there are directions on how to redeem the Gift Card, complete with an image of how the appropriate fields will look on the website's payment page. Given how clumsy so many user interfaces are, this feature is sure to be appreciated by customers and may well decrease the number of abandoned shopping carts and calls to customer service. It's particularly clever because the company's target audience is a more mature, and possibly less tech-savvy, audience.

Well done.

The Bs at B Direct give the Draper & Damon's Gift Card mailer a thumbs up.

(Sigh. If only it had arrived before Mother's Day!)