The purpose of direct marketing copywriting is to move people toward an action. The more you address the specific human elements that motivate your audience, the greater your chances to move them to action - to make a call, send an email or buy. So, what moves people? People cannot resist a bargain. People seek pleasure and satisfaction. People like exclusivity. People are looking for proven results. And some are even moved by greed.

People seek to improve themselves.
They want to save time. People seek security and safety. People seek power, stature, fame, flattery from others and inside information. They are often envious, revengeful and proud. People want to make money, save money, save time, stay healthy, become more knowledgeable, increase their status, and boost their prestige.

What motivates your customers on a regular basis?
Even if you don’t categorize or profile your customers, we’re sure you know how some customers will respond, and what is their trigger. This is a never-ending list as we all try to understand the human mind and how it relates to purchasing our products and services. Once you start categorizing, you’ll begin to see a broader array of reasons on why your customers buy. You need not attempt to solve the human condition in every direct marketing piece you write. 

What you need to do is:
1) to think carefully about what you are selling, 
2) to whom you are selling to, and
3) how best to make them act

Learn the simple rule of three’s.
These are the three most important questions you should ask your customers. The first question can provide a lot of answers, but limit the answers to three. You’ll also find answers in your accounting materials, shipping receipts and social media. Secondly, build customer profiles in a simple format of male or female, geography, and age. Ask everybody in your company who deals with customers to check social media such as LinkedIn or Facebook.

Additionally, you may find a thing or two studying shipping receipts.
Finally, start examining your direct marketing copy. What type of attraction did you use in the design of your message and make the reader pause? Did everyone get the same offer? Check the analytics to see if there is a measurement. If you have data results from previous programs or campaigns, compare results. In fact, don’t go beyond the rule of three’s until you feel enough data was collected and analyzed. It’s a complicated activity and, at the same time, it is easy. Your direct marketing must lead people to consider worthy opportunities to improve their personal situations. It becomes much easier when you take the time to keep learning more about your customers and provide products and services that exceed their expectations. Some of those expectations may even be in the preceding paragraphs?

Another good idea is to send a very short questionnaire to your customers monthly. If there are too many customers start looking at creating a group of customers and divide your customers in groups you can handle. Keep in mind you need customer in- formation. So, motivate your marketing team to learn new ways to collect customer information.