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So, you spend hours and hours getting your direct response letter just right. You’ve mastered the conversational tone. Your message is clear. You’ve highlighted the bene

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

fits just right. And you’ve got a great call to action. Let’s face it. Your letter is as perfect as it can possibly be.

Now maybe you’ve rented a mailing list or maybe

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

you’ve created your own list one name at a time. How you got your mailing list doesn’t really matter. You carefully address each one, run it through your postage meter, a

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

nd send it to your 1,000 names. Then you sit back and wait for the 1 to 3% response rate you’re expecting.

You figure that mailing, which cost you a little over $1,000 sh

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ould bring you 100 to 300 responses. And at an average price of $50 a pop for your invention, you figure your direct response venture should bring in between $5,000 and $1

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

5,000. Not bad for a thousand bucks.

But…there’s just one little detail you’ve forgotten about. Or maybe you didn’t forget. Maybe you simply didn’t know about it. That

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

little detail is the envelope.

In its defense, it seems rather insignificant, doesn’t it? I mean, it’s not the message. It’s merely the holder of that brilliant message

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

you’ve slaved over for the last week or two. So, why should you care about an insignificant envelope?

For one very important reason—that insignificant envelope can make

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

or break your direct response campaign all by itself. If you’re skeptical, think back to all the “junk mail” you’ve received lately. Which ones do you open, and which do

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

you throw away?

If you want your message to be read, you want to make the envelope irresistible. Otherwise it goes in the garbage, and you might as well light a match to t

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

hat $1,000 investment and kiss all your hard copywriting work good-bye.

If you haven’t noticed before today, it might be a good idea to start because, if you’re going to u

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

se direct response, you might want to make it a practice to keep them all, good and bad. Keep the good for their ideas and keep the bad so you know what not to do.

Anyway

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

the point is, you likely keep those that interest you for one reason or another. If you do start collecting direct response material, you’ll soon notice patterns in those

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

you’re finding interesting enough to open.

Here’s a few things about the direct response I tend to notice:

A color other than white so it stands out from the cro

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

A message on the outside that hints at what’s inside, or is a teaser of some type

Addressed to my name rather than “Dear Occupant”

Addressed in handwritin

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

g rather than typed

A real postage stamp

Unusual sizes

A return address in the top left corner instead of a business logo

Something more than just a let

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

ter inside (AKA “lumpy” mail)

A free offer

A drawing or cartoon, especially if my name is used in it I’d be willing to bet that if you start keeping track

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

of envelopes you open and those you throw in the garbage, you’ll be able to add to this list of mine. And I’d bet you’ll learn a whole lot about how to improve your envel

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

ope so they’re opened, so your direct response message has a far better chance of being read instead of getting tossed in the trash.

If you’ve had a better than average re

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

sponse and you think it’s because of your envelope design, I’d like to know about it. Please email me a copy of your design, and I’ll put it on my web site free of charge.

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Digg It - Neglect the Envelope and Your Direct Response Could Get No Response

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