Window Envelopes vs. Closed Face Envelope, When and Why??

What should you be using to get greater engagement and results? This is an age-old question that all of us are trying to figure out, isn’t the primary goal of an envelope to get opened?  It is after all the driving piece of your direct mail campaign and determines whether your audience receives the message you are sending and acts on it or not. Whether your audience deems it necessary of attention or whether it goes in the “junk pile.” That being said, BOTH window and closed face envelopes have their own unique strengths.

Basically the decision on which envelope you use involves taking into consideration a multitude of factors as well as what your message you are striving to get across and what sort of call to action you are striving for. 

·        Window Envelopes may appear cheaper and easier to mail as they can be automatable as they have the ability to be scanned and easily read, however, they can get more involved on the production side.  This lends itself for more insurance, financial and legal use. There is also the thought process that window envelopes net greater pulls on donors that give less than $100 and in acquisition efforts.

·        Closed Faced-envelopes appear to look personal and seem to carry more clout . Pending the font used, they can give off the impression of being handwritten, labeled or digitally printed directly on envelope. Contrary to window envelopes, they are cheaper to produce and incur the higher costs on the mailing side with personalization programs. They lend themselves towards netting greater results in in retention efforts and tend to have a greater pull for donors who give greater than $100.

So, which one to use, it’s your call based on your objectives and we urge you to test, test and test!

As educators and experts in field of envelopes, our team of professionals, are here to guide you along the “RITE” process and will be periodically giving you tidbits that will make life easier for you in ultimately getting your envelopes opened. 

Stay tuned for more of what Rite can do to help get your envelopes opened…..