Keely Lords
Brand Manager
In a digital-first world, it seems easy to pick what looks like the low-hanging fruit of lead generation and consumer engagement. Tech-driven channels like social media marketing, email marketing, and paid search promise fast, affordable results. However, you may be surprised to hear that another channel actually outpaces them all. Direct mail receives the highest ROI (112%) across all mediums, followed by SMS (102%), and email (93%), with paid search, coming in fourth at just 88%. What’s more, 75% of marketers say that direct mail is the best channel for reaching the C-Suite.
The tangibility of physical mail is a game changer, resulting in higher engagement rates and more conversions. By sending physical promotional materials like gifts offers, brochures, or letters to your target audience, you can cut through the clutter of digital ads and generate brand awareness.
If you're ready to tap into the full potential of direct mail marketing, you've come to the right place. Follow this comprehensive step-by-step guide to kickstart a successful campaign and watch your results soar.
Step 1: Define Your Campaign Goals
Start by choosing your objectives for the direct mail campaign based on your company’s current needs. Some of the most common goals for direct mail marketing campaigns are to increase purchases (64%) and create brand awareness (60%). Let’s take a look at a range of possible targets:
- Lead Generation: Attract potential customers with special offers
- Customer Retention: Strengthen relationships with personalized product news
- Brand Awareness: Increase recognition by making your logo top of mind
- Promotional Campaigns: Drive sales with exclusive deals
- Reactivating Inactive Customers: Re-engage past customers with new incentives
- Event Promotion: Invite customers to upcoming launches or events
- Product launches: Announce and excite with new product introductions
Whichever goal you choose, it’s important to tie it to specific key performance indicators (KPIs). KPIs vary depending on your objectives but can include response rate, conversions, cost per acquisition (CPA), and customer lifetime value (CLV).
In the past, tracking KPIs for direct mail campaigns was a pain. However, Postal provides a single, clear dashboard revealing all KPIs at a glance and making it easy to get the insights you need.
Step 2: Know Your Target Audience
With your objectives defined, the next step is to analyze your target audience. Start by segmenting your mailing list based on demographics, behaviors, and purchase history. Assessing factors like age, browsing habits, and repeat purchases allows you to target customers with the right message at the right time, increasing open rates and engagement.
Ensure that this data is accurate and up-to-date to avoid wasted mailings and improve targeting precision. Consider using this information to personalize your mailing content. Personalization is vital in increasing engagement and the effectiveness of mailing campaigns. In fact, half (52%) of customers expect direct mail to be personalized, and research shows that simply adding your recipient’s name increases response rates by up to 135%.
Step 3: Craft Your Offer and Messaging
For any direct mail campaign to be successful, you must combine a compelling offer with persuasive copy. Give your recipients something to be excited about (e.g., exclusive discounts, limited-time offers, or gift redemptions). Use wording that is action-oriented and emotionally resonant by including words like: “exclusive,” “limited-time,” “Free,” and “Guaranteed.” The vast majority (71%) of consumers feel that direct mail is more personal than online digital communication. Use personalization in your copy to capitalize on this sense of authenticity and create a deeper emotional impact. Personalization can come in the form of using names, industry insights, or role specific offerings.
Step 4: Design and Format Your Direct Mail
With your offer and messaging chosen, it’s time to create your direct mail material. Whether you use postcards, letters, catalogs, or brochures, each format has its particular benefits. However, in terms of the overall best format choice, oversized envelopes lead the way in response rates, garnering an average of 5.7%. This is followed closely by postcards and letter-sized mailers at 4.3%.
Beyond format, your design must incorporate clear calls-to-action (CTAs), strong visuals, consistent branding, and the strategic use of color psychology to create an impactful message. Think about how you can use creative elements like unique shapes, textures, or interactive features to further enhance engagement. Incorporate QR codes to link directly to your CTA, offering an easy way for recipients to take immediate action. Ultimately, successfully turning ideas into printable designs is an art form all of its own, requiring experience and craftsmanship. You don’t want your hard work to look like a copy and paste template. Interested in getting some design inspiration for your next direct mail marketing campaign? Postal’s internal design team—Paper Plane—has years of experience in offline marketing design and offers a premium white-glove service to help you differentiate throughout every campaign.
Step 5: Choose the Right Mailing List
Selecting the ideal customer base is crucial to the success of your campaign. You have two main options: internal lists or purchased lists. Using your own internal mailing list (consisting of current or past customers) offers the benefit of familiarity and relevance. However, purchasing a targeted list allows you to reach new prospects based on specific demographics. The downside to purchased lists is that they may not be as accurate or current, so vetting the quality of the vendor is crucial.
Regardless of the mailing list you choose, you need to clean and validate it. This is vital for reducing ineffectual messages and improving your ROI. Keeping your mailing list up-to-date ensures that you aren’t sending mail to old addresses, incorrect contacts, or people who are no longer relevant to your campaign.
Step 6: Printing and Distribution
Pick a high-quality, reliable printing partner with experience in direct mail to ensure your materials look professional and meet deadlines. Speaking of deadlines, determining the timing of your mail is critical. Consider aligning it with holidays, seasons, or relevant industry-specific periods trends to boost engagement.
Tip: When getting your quote from a printing partner, don’t forget to budget for print and postage. Keeping up with all these moving parts alone can be significantly challenging, which is why many B2B marketers rely on automated platforms.
Postal streamlines printing and distribution by handling all printing, mailing, and tracking for you. Our advanced gifting platform allows you to launch professional direct mail campaigns as easily as sending an email.
Step 7: Integrate Direct Mail with Digital Channels
To maximize the impact of your direct mail campaign, you need to embed it within a broader omnichannel marketing strategy. This means integrating direct mail as part of a seamless customer experience across multiple platforms—digital and physical—where each channel supports and enhances the others.
One of the most effective ways to bridge this gap between the digital and the physical is to use QR codes and Personalized URLs (PURLs) in your mailers. These tools allow recipients to scan or visit a link that directs them to personalized landing pages or special offers, boosting engagement and making it easy for customers to take immediate action online.
Integrating direct mail with your digital channels can deliver powerful results. In fact, this coordination can actually increase your overall response rate by 63%, website visits by 68%, and leads by 53%.
Step 8: Tracking and Measuring Results
Track your key performance indicators to gain insight into the effectiveness and financial value of your campaign. Use tracking tools such as unique coupon codes and QR code UTM parameters to track specific responses and actions. Finally, analyze feedback from customers to refine future campaigns. Surveys, follow-up emails, and direct responses can provide valuable data on customer preferences, helping you fine-tune messaging, offers, and targeting to improve future performance.
Streamline Your Marketing with a Direct Mail Marketing Platform | Worry-Free & Simplified
Postal’s direct mail platform can help your business get the most out of your campaign with none of the hassle. Thanks to Postal, you can easily plan, target, design and integrate your direct mail efforts with your digital strategies to build a successful campaign.
Let’s chat about how Postal can help your business succeed with the power of direct mail marketing.
