Generating a chemical reaction.

A good article is its own best salesman," wrote Claude Hopkins in My Life in Advertising. "It is uphill work to sell goods, in print or in person, without samples. Selling without samples is many times as hard as with them."

One of the most powerful ways to improve the selling power

Chemicals are a natural for the sample direct mail approach. A small packet can be mailed inexpensively, allowing the prospect to test the compound for himself. This is the approach used by Dow Chemical and their advertising agency, Alexander Marketing Services (Grand Rapids, MI), to sell Methocel.

Methocel is an additive for a variety of food and cosmetic products. In a targeted mailing sent to 2,700 chemists and product development personnel with known involvement in the formulation of personal care products, Dow offered Methocel as a thickener for shampoo, with the added benefit of performing as a foam stabilizer (which would cause shampoo foam to last longer).

"These 2,700 chemists and product developers represented about 16 percent of the total audience of the major business publication that was purported to reach this audience, so instead of running ads in the publication, we felt targeting mail to that segment of their circulation could eliminate about 84 percent waste over the advertising alternative," says Jim Alexander, founder, Alexander Marketing. "In fact, direct mail is the only medium we have used in recent years to maintain the product's share of this particular market."

For its list, Dow mailed to subscribers of HAPPI (Household and Personal Products Industry), a trade publication, selecting R&D scientists in firms making products in which Methocel could be used.

The goal of the mailing: to generate 150 sales leads, of which one-fifth would come from individuals with a current project in which Methocel could be used.

The 9-by- 12-inch jumbo mailing consists of a plain white outer envelope with the Dow logo and no teaser; a three-page, nested, non-personalized letter; a one-page product fact sheet; an eight-page folder, "Cosmetic Formulator's Report on Foam Stabilization Properties of Cellulosic Polymers"; a sealed plastic packet with two see-through compartments containing samples of Methocel and a competing product; and a business reply card.

The cost of the mailing: approximately $3 per package.

The involvement device of the mailing is a demonstration. The chemist is instructed to shake the packet. Both Methocel and the other product produce foam when shaken. But Methocel's foam lasts a long time, while the other rapidly breaks up. This proves to the chemist the copy claim that Methocel indeed performs as a foam stabilizer.

The test is then repeated after heating the packet in hot water, to demonstrate that Methocel retains its foam stabilizing properties at the higher temperatures shampoos are likely to be exposed to during a shower,

After instructing the reader to perform this simple demonstration and explaining the significance of the results, the letter goes on to highlight a variety of possible formulations (applications) in which Methocel can be used.

The letter also offers to send additional suggestions for formulations, more detailed technical literature on the product, and a larger product sample the chemist can experiment with. All are offered free and without obligation.

The enclosed Formulator's Report contains a detailed technical discussion and extensive charts and graphs explaining interfacial gelatin, the unique feature that gives Methocel its superior foaming properties at higher temperatures.

This is the type of hard data that, combined with the live demonstration, is likely to convince a scientist that the product does what the copy claims. And proving your claim - not making it - is the difficult challenge with any mailings aimed at audiences of technical specialists.

The mailing includes a postage-paid reply card the chemist can use to request more literature and a free sample of Methocel for testing. The card asks the chemist what type of application he or she is currently working on.

Results

The mailing to 2,700 chemists generated 209 inquiries - a 7.7 percent response. A previous package containing a sample of Methocel only, with no sample of the competitor's product-, pulled exactly the same response. And a test package with no samples but similar content, copy and graphics generated approximately two-thirds the response of the packages containing samples.

For the two-sample package, a mailbased inquiry follow-up study revealed the following:

* Fifty percent of the chemists responding had a current application.

* Sixty-six percent of those with an application had requested a sample for lab trial, and another 13 percent were planning to do so.

* Thirty-three percent of those with an application had already determined that the product was suitable for their formulation, while the majority were still evaluating it.

* Eleven percent had already specified the product, and 20 percent claimed they were likely to specify it.

"Although our secondary goal (after lead generation) was to build comprehension of Methocel's foam enhancement properties as being unique to Methocel, we had no established benchmark of this perception, so it was never measured," says Alexander.

"However, the follow-up study showed that chemists with an application were three times as likely to specify Methocel as a competitive product, and Dow has sold Methocel for this application for many years and enjoyed a dominant market share despite the fact that shampoo formulation is not one of the product's primary markets."