Including family photo with direct mail?

[Chris Turner]

I have been using direct mail and I have heard (read) that people have suggested to insert a photo of yourself or maybe one with you and your family in hopes of making a more personal connection to increase your response rate.  I would like to try this however most of my direct mail pieces go to probate executors and I am not sure if it is a good idea. 

Has anyone had an increased response rate by including a picture of themselves sending direct mail to probate leads?  Or any other leads for that matter?

Was thinking about including a photo with myself and my kids and saying something about it in the post script.

Thoughts?

[Mark Sewell]

I agree that a well written personalized letter does tend to resonate with many people, particularly older folks.

And my SEO buddy here is also spot-on.  They ARE going to scope you out online before they call.  Really that is where you would want to post the family photos, and so on.  They say that the 'about us' page is the second most visited page on most sites, so they want to see who you are and what you are about.  Mr. Noorden can share more about that.