You’re doing chores when you get sidetracked. You find something you didn’t intend to do, but you get involved with it and you ignore the projects you expected to finish.

There’s a similar idea behind the use of involvement devices for direct mail marketing.

The mail piece asks you to do something specific with the involvement device, intending that you’ll become caught up and invest your time exploring the message and offer instead of skipping over the promotion.

There’s a long list of techniques considered involvement devices. For this short post, I’ll simply touch on a few. You’ll probably remember others you’ve seen. Some require a bigger investment of time than others, but they all pull your attention into the offer.

Stamps/Stickers — Typically “Yes/No” or some variation. You remove the sticker and place it on the response device to “activate” the offer. You find this technique used often with magazine subscriptions, but I found a credit union promotion that used it.

Checks/Coupons — You return it with the response device or redeem it at the store.

Quiz/Checklist — Discover how much you need the product. See if you qualify. Very similar to the technique of including comparison charts in checking promotions when free checking was still new in the marketplace. A variation of this idea is the survey form non-profits and political organizations enclose.

Secret Number — Are you a winner? Come to our place and find out. This definitely requires a commitment and action on the prospect’s part.

Key — An actual key attached to the mailer. Often used for car-giveaways or to open a treasure chest. Another device that forces you to visit a location to participate.

Peel Off/Scratch Off Sticker — There’s a secret number, prize, or message hidden under the sticker. Remove it and see if you’re lucky. Sometimes used by retail stores that ask you to bring it in, make a purchase, and have the clerk reveal your discount at the checkout. ACTON Marketing devised a Tell A Friend version that  uses this technique to increase customer involvement and give tellers more ways to engage the customer in conversation about the TAF.

Again, this is only a short list and it doesn’t cover devices like the trinkets many charities use to boost donations. And there are other devices.

This list should get you thinking about how you can use involvement devices for a special promotion. They’re almost certain to increase response and interest for your offer.

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The activation sticker involvement device was a high point of an otherwise poor marketing effort by this credit union.

Here’s how you can use a secret number promotion.

This is how a key promotion works.

See how the Peel & Win Tell A Friend gives the program an exciting lift.