Take a look through the magazines you get at home or work. Chances are, more than 80% of those ads in those magazines have a toll free number or a website URL. That doesn't mean they are really direct response ads. Many of them are general or image ads with a gratuitous URL or phone number. If you actually measured the response to these ads, it would be pretty darn low. A direct response ad has to have three elements to qualify as a real direct response ad.
1. It needs to have an offer.
2. It needs to have enough information for people to make a decision to respond (or not).
3. And it needs to have a call to action as well as an easy way to respond.
The offer is the reason to respond, the reason to call, the reason to click. If an ad has a way to respond but no offer, your phones and your clicks will be pretty silent. Now, take a look at your own direct response print ads. Do they have a clear offer that promises a benefit? Is there enough information for your prospect to want to know more or want to buy? Is the call to action big, easy to find, and easy to act on? If those three elements are not part of your direct response ad, it falls in the "wanna-be" category.
