Another thought. Jelly beans are nice, but what about a small tube of hand cleaner with Thanks from Pelican Parts on the tube? We're buying parts so hand cleaner would come in handy! Or perhaps something that would be used all the time.

Regarding the length, I'd suggest keeping the Thanks, Welcome and Intro messages to 2 or 3 paragraphs and the just use some corky dots to highlight the selling points where you are trying to differentiate yourself from the pack. (I honestly wouldn't read all that unless it had Attorney at Law letterhead)

o- Free shipping...
o-Same day shipping...
o- OEM coordinated parts system....
o-Tech info and forums...
o- yada yada...


I'd suggest a separate mailing and not enclose it with the parts. Otherwise you are competing with his shiny new parts for his attention. Ken

[QUOTE=rouxroux;3921517]I might have been tempted to just put the cartoon pelican on the tin instead of the nut, bolt & gear.

I like the Pelican...

The nut bolt and gear just don't seem to grab me.. the Pelican gives me the feeling of all of us working in our garages. A picture of a bolt... not so much.

Wayne,
I love the fact that you are always working to improve customer service. That is what distinguishes Pelican from other companies.

I agree with the others though, that the length is just too long. I don't have that kind of attention span unless it has big boobs.

I like the idea of a letter, but in more of a bullet format like Tigerrat mentioned.

Regarding the jelly beans and artwork, I wouldn't eat jelly beans and don't think that particular promotion would be worth the cost.

However, I love cool decals. I personally think that the one you send out with parts orders is a bit lame, so I made my own. This would also work for single color artwork for your jelly bean tin. If you would like the artwork file, email me.

Keep up the great work. We all really appreciate your team and your hosting of this forum. I come here at least 3 times per day.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209823509.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1209823528.jpg

Wayne, if you want the letter to be read I would send no more than one paragraph. Skip the Jelly beens and send a discount coupon for the next purchase.....

You can always post a welcome letter on your web site with all that info if you can't live without it.

Valued customer,
As CEO of Pelican Parts, I would like to formally welcome you to the Pelican family. To make you feel more comfortable, we're car nuts just like you.
I founded the company in my garage many years ago because I wasn't happy with the choices available parts vendors I also believed that we could set a new standard of excellence in the industry. Ten years later, I'm happy to report that we're still growing strong and gaining new customers daily.

In my opinion, the most interesting areas of our PelicanParts.com website are the technical articles section contains hundreds of vehicle specific Do-It-Yourself write-ups on everything from the installation of new headlamps to the complete replacement of your engine..
Our forums are visited by more than 20,000 people each day. This can be a valuable resource as thousands of them eager and willing to help if you have a problem or just need advice.
In addition, our Photo Gallery contains more than 50,000 photos of classic Porsches and BMWs from the various events that we've attended over the past 10 years.

We at Pelican Parts are especially proud of our parts catalog, which is the most comprehensive Porsche & BMW catalog on the planet.
With more than a million individual part numbers, we have just about everything you could possibly need for your car. We also offer the full OEM parts listings for all BMW and Porsche dealer-only parts. We also offer same-day shipping and FREE freight on the most common replacement items in our catalog.

We believe in “you” and therefore, we back up our extensive catalog with extraordinary Customer Service.
If you ever have a problem, question or concern regarding your order or the parts you've purchased for your car, don't hesitate to call us on our toll-free number (1-888-280-7799), or simply send us a message through our message center available from the "Help" link shown on every page of the website.

Thank you again for your first Pelican order, and I hope we can serve you well into the future.

-Wayne

P.S. If you haven't already seen them, you might want to check out the books I've written specifically for our customers: "101 Projects for Your Porsche 911", "101 Projects for Your BMW 3-Series", "How to Rebuild & Modify Porsche 911 Engines", and "101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster / 996" (Coming 2009).

Wayne,

I agree, the letter is to long, the term CEO is cold and distance yourself, as opposed to "Owner". Why not put a link on the letter then you can put a description of all you parts and services.

1. Porsche Parts which include OEM and after market, blah, blah....

2. How to:

a. Books
b. Tech articles

3. Forum

a. Search features

etc. and etc.

In this way the customer can pick and choose his needs.... Also you refer to "them" several times, I would be specific as to what "them" is.

Great idea, keep up the good work. Pelican Parts, there is no substitute....

Feedback:

1. Letter needs to be personal...Hello there doesn't do it
2. Keep it as short and to the point as possible
3. Jelly beans have carnauba wax in them...M&Ms & 5% cert. would be better...or
4. Have a small magnet on the bottom of the tin, so it can become useful and PP will always be seen as a reminder for parts purchases.
5. I like the nuts & bolts matches the "Parts" in Pelican Parts
6. Black & White is nice
7. Please send one to me on my next order and I'll send you some roasted mac nuts!:D

Good Kaizen project there Wayne...Keep up the GREAT WORK! SmileWavy

Hi Wayne,

Love the idea. If the tin is at all sturdy enough people will put nuts and bolts in it on their workbench. I think you are losing some branding by not having your Pelican on it.

The letter should be a note card, 1/2 fold over, "Welcome to Pelican" on the cover, and a very short, 2-3 paragraph note. Welcome the customer, thank them for choosing Pelican, Point them to other resources (forums, books), give them your email address and phone number. Since this could be printed along with the order, I strongly suggest you personalize the note with their first name. The signature can be digitized and printed as well.

I disagree that CEO is too cold, it is a big company. But "Founder and CEO" really says it.

Nice letter, way too long. You're going to lose a large majority of readers 1/4 through that.

Hi Wayme, just got my first order this past week. Thanks, I like the sticker you put in with it. Went straight on the garage wall.

I like the idea of hand cleaner instead of Jelly beans. could have used it after doing my first oil change. What a mess!

OK I won't mention the fact that the letter is too long.... :eek:

I would suggest that you not utilize a food product. Candy gets hard, wet, spilled on the floor by little kid who just opened dads package. Next time eats something he is not supposed to.

May I suggest a stress ball. I would suggest a generic round ball with the pelican mono outline logo, the address of the web site and the phone number. The person ordering can use it, the kids can play with it, and the guy can give it to the wife to chill out with after the order.

Letter can be something like.

Thank you for your recent first time order from Pelican Parts. As founder I would like to welcome you to the Pelican Parts family and offer you this gift, as a token of my appreciation. Though working on your own vehicle can be a rewarding experience it can also be a stressful time. Please know that the goal of Pelican Parts is to help you in any way we can. When something is not working or you just need supplies give the ball a sqeeze then give us a call. We can make the process less stressful togeather.

To make owning your vehicle a little less stressful, Pelican Parts hosts a very informative web site (http://www.pelicanpart.com ) You can find help for just about any situation which may arise. Online orders may be placed from this site as well as links to information about Pelican Parts.

Please know our experience staff is also here to assist in any way we can. Just give us a call and we will make sure everything is handled in a knowlegable and friendly manner.

Thank you again and enjoy your automobile.

Sincerely
Wayne at Pelican Parts


Notice how many time I reference the name of the company to reinforce who is sending them the gift. You may wish to list some of the contact numbers. Hope you find this useful.

Oh by the way you could also peridically put a ball in the existing customers package. No need for a letter. But keep that name and phone number rolling around on the work bench.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Putting the Pelican on the tin this time around would at least double the cost. We're testing this out, so I'd like to minimize the total cost until we get some feedback on it. A black and white Pelican doesn't look very good to me.

I'll revise the letter with your suggestions. Strange though, I think you guys would readily read something like that here with no 2nd thought. Yet, printed in a box, and it's too long? Still I will tighted it up a bit.

thx and pls keep the suggestions coming...

-Wayne

It's a really nice letter, especially for a first time customer. Forget the jelly beans and go back to stickers with the toll free order line number on them!

Great idea. I like the jelly bean idea better than nuts or a coupon- Really sets Pelican apart.

My only critique is to jump on the bandwagon about the letter's length.

I have a feeling my son is going to place his first order soon, followed by his sister, his mother, his grandmother .... ;)

Hi Wayne,

I agree with the others that the letter is too long. The best way to shorten it is to pick the one (single) idea you want to get across and focus on that.
In fact, if you come up with several ideas, try different versions of the letter with each one focusing on a different idea and then measure the response you get. That way you are letting your first time customers determine the most effective letter.

Instead of the jelly beans, how about a static sticker of the pelican for the inside of the car window. That way you get some free advertising also!

Very interesting choice of colors for the jelly beans. I guess no one noticed. What flavors? If the black one are licorice, I can foresee a lot of those getting thrown out the shop doors. I personally would not have used a food product, TOO MANY LIABILITIES, this day and age. An extra feeler gauge for the valves would have been a usable product. Just some thoughts.

Wayne,

I don't think you could do much better than DFINK's suggestion and letter. If I were a first time customer I would be very impressed with the letter and the follow up with a gift.

I say DFINK wins the crochet bath tub...

Much better IMHO. Over here and out there is just too informal for me. I'd read a single page letter that accompanied anything I bought and was waiting for. It's not like an unsolicited letter. However, as a minority that still reads a newspaper, my thoughts might be too old fashioned. :D