Here are the front and back of a piece of direct mail I recently received:

Front

Not bad. It’s a piece of news: about a “good deal.” And it’s just one Thanksgiving Dinner. Easy to visualize and understand. Also, it is a solid-gold fundraising offer, proven through many years to raise money for this type of organization.

Let’s look at the back of the envelope:

Back

Kudos for using the back of the envelope. It’s underused space in direct mail. If you think about it, anyone even thinking about opening the envelope has to look at the back.

But: It’s not so simple any more. It’s about a lot of Thanksgiving Meals. So many that it’s not really possible to visualize. It might even be overwhelming … a reason for some people not to donate.

So we move from the message on the front, which has potential donors imagining a very doable action, to the back which calls up an impossibility.

It does redeem itself by showing just one meal. I’m guessing this piece will do fine, partly because of the front, the proven offer, plus the organization’s brand in the community.

Most of us, most of the time, should avoid the big number message. There are exceptions, but presenting “small” problems is better than big ones.