Chapter Four - Mail Order Advertising - what it teaches

The severest test of an advertising man is in selling goods by mail. But that is a school from which he must graduate before he can hope for success. There cost and result are immediately apparent. False theories melt away like snowflakes in the sun. The advertising is profitable or it is not, clearly on the face of the returns. Figures which do not lie tell at once the merits of an ad.

This puts men on their mettle. All guesswork is eliminated. Every mistake is conspicuous. One quickly loses this conceit by learning how often his judgment errs - often nine times in ten.

There one learns that advertising must be done on a scientific basis to have any fair chance of success. And he learns that every wasted dollar adds to the cost of results.

Here he is taught tough efficiency and economy under a master who can't be fooled. Then, and only then, is he apt to apply the same principles and keys to all advertising.

A man was selling a $5 article. The replies from his ad cost him 85 cents. Another man submitted an ad which he thought better. The replies cost him $14.20 each. Another man submitted an ad which for two years brought replies at an average of 41 cents each.