Alternatives to Yellow Letters

[Brandon Foken]

Warning: Lots of Questions!!

I'm in the process of sourcing my envelopes, paper, etc. for my direct mail campaign for Absentee Owners. My initial plan is to use a "handwritten" font for the marketing copy on the yellow letter while actually handwriting the envelopes (prevents me from buying another printer that can accept envelopes). I'm having a very hard time finding any lined yellow paper that comes separately and not linked together in some way like gum top or in note pads.

When people say they are mailing "yellow letters" are they really yellow? Or do people use lined white paper instead? Has anyone done any testing to see if there is an appreciable difference between "handwritten" letters on different types of paper? What about using no lines and printing your marketing copy on a blank sheet of yellow paper?

I've seen ideas of using lined paper templates and printing those and your marketing copy at the same time, but that seems like a waste of ink to me. In addition, I only have a black/white laser printer so the blue and red lines would not show up. Anyone have any success with this method or alternative ideas?

Finally, I want to do this myself and not use one of the yellowletter.com companies that are out there.

Who would've thought that buying paper would take up this much time and effort? Not me! Any insight is greatly appreciated.

[Michael Quarles]

Paper should only cost .06 cents.

Handwritten vs font. Handwritten wins however fonts not bad just not as great.

Color of paper. Yellow, white and pink

Ink color. Red, blue and pink. Red wins. After millions sent this is not even a question.

Envelope. Invitation A6. Then a #10. Beige and baby blue unless pink letters then pink

Address. Match ink color and handwritten

Lined vs letterhead. Lined unless the letter is really long, the sender must be a professional.

Bottom line is do something. Anything even crappy is better than nothing.