Do 'curiosity' style headlines work in direct marketing?

This arrived in the mail the other week.

Clearly they are hoping I'll be intrigued enough to open the envelope and see what it is all about. I was. But then again, I look at ads way too much. But for your (normal) busy person - does this work?

John Caples in his classic 'Tested Advertising Methods' cautioned that curiosity-style headlines in ads are risky. People don't care enough. Anybody have evidence suggesting otherwise?

This DM piece is for a charity. Given most non-profits don't have buckets of spare cash hanging around, I'd hate to think they are blowing budgets on risky communication strategies.

How to increase your fundraising donations.

Did you know that when fundraising, you can increase donations raised if you let people know that even a tiny amount would help?

Robert B. Cialdini, an author and researcher, had an interesting theory. He believed that many people would genuinely like to help charitable causes. But they can't afford to give much. And they don't believe the few cents they could afford would be that beneficial.

To test this theory, Robert and some other researchers went door-to-door, fundraising for the American Cancer Society. They asked half the residents "Would you be willing to help by giving a donation?" To the other half, they added an extra comment - "Even a penny will help".

The results? Those told that "even a penny will help" were almost twice as likely to donate (50% v 28.6%).

Makes sense that more people donated - but did this increase the total funds donated?

Yes. The researchers found that for every 100 people asked, they raised $72 from the "even a penny will help" group, while only raising $44 from the other group.

Interesting stuff. Robert has a book worth a read with other good case studies. It is light and easy reading. 'Yes!:50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive'. I noticed that 58 people have reviewed it on Amazon.com, with an impressive 5 star average rating.