When I was in charge of direct mail services at a newspaper, I used to educate our clients that the time they had to attract a prospect was the distance between their mailbox and the trash. Handwritten fonts are one of the techniques that modern marketers are deploying.
I received a blue envelope that had my name and address neatly printed on the front. The reply address was a P.O. Box, but it still appeared handwritten. When I flipped the envelope over, it had the Hallmark seal on it. The curiosity got the best of me, and I opened it to find a card with the following message:
1 Direct marketers know that if they get you to open a piece of mail, you’re much more apt to read the piece. If you read the piece, you’re more apt to call. If you call, you’re likely to make a purchase. It all begins with the open, though!
The reason why this font is somewhat believable is how they vary the size of the same letters (check out the ‘e’s in speed), and the letter spacing (both kerning and tracking). The technique definitely captures your attention; there’s enough of a difference from ordinary type to trick you into thinking it’s hand-written.
How Handwritten Direct Mail Works
These systems aim to mimic human handwriting by using one or more pens (often real ballpoint or gel ink pens) mounted on robotic actuators (X/Y axes, sometimes with a Z-axis for pen pressure). The software drives the pen using handwriting fonts or motion trajectories so that each letter is drawn, rather than printed. Key techniques include:
- Variable strokes / jitter / micro-variation — A big giveaway of mechanical handwriting is robotic consistency. Good systems introduce subtle variance in letter shape, slant, spacing, and pen jitter to avoid a font-like uniformity.
- Pen pressure / ink flow / imprint — Using real pens (not just simulated strokes) gives physical cueing (ink pooling, slight embossing) that helps fool human readers.
- Multiple fonts / signatures / switching styles — Some systems allow numerous handwriting styles or even mixing cursive and print for a more unique appearance.
- Feeding 1, then load them into mail-processing systems.
- Integration with CRM1 are typically tied to software that merges data and issues instructions per mailpiece.
- Throughput and reliability — For commercial viability, the machines must run without jamming, maintain pen alignment, manage paper curl, and handle thousands of pieces per day.
In practice, many services offering handwritten direct mail rely on dedicated pen-writing robots behind the scenes (not unlike a factory), rather than sending you a turnkey machine. These services take your letter text, mailing list, and envelope, then produce and mail them.
Handwritten Direct Mail Results
- A direct-mail campaign for an insurance client claimed that switching to handwritten envelopes boosted the open rate from an industry norm (around 15%) to 92%, along with a 30% increase in inquiries and a 12% policy conversion rate.
- Scribeless cites that handwritten envelopes achieve open rates of up to 98% compared to ~42% for printed mail, serving as a benchmark.
- RoboQuill claims that over 90% of people who receive a handwritten letter or note will open it and read it.
- Handwrytten, in its marketing, states that handwritten notes achieve an “available rate” of 99% and response rates up to 10%, vs ~4.4% for conventional mailers.
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