Postal x Postal: Customer Onboarding with Branded Kits

Based on our extensive experience, here’s our guide on how to bring gifting in your customer onboarding process. Our Director of Customer Success, Matt Williams, sat down to outline exactly how Postal implements this is on our own org. 

Strategy Scoping

Based on your goals, the project can vary significantly, and for gifting to seem authentic and cohesive with your brand, it needs to align with your brand values and customer journey. 

Here are a few best practices for gifting at the beginning of customer onboarding: 

1. Send a note from your C-Suite.  A note from an executive welcoming your customer and opening the door for a fruitful partnership is a great way to introduce the names of future executives you would like speaking with this customer. It lets the customer know that they are valued by your executive team, and their purchase has not been forgotten after the ink has dried on the contract. 
2. Introduce your brand values. You’ve probably seen that at Postal, we lean hard into our brand themes around aviation and flight. An initial branded gift that embraces these values can create immense joy with your customers. For us, that is aviator sunglasses and captain’s hats! 
3. Build awareness around your north star. Direct mail is one of the oldest tools in the marketer’s belt to build awareness around your products and services, and this is a great opportunity to showcase how your team adds-value. For instance, we like to show our customers the value of our in-house creative agency, Paper Plane. So we utilized our own service to create the gift, and noted that on our mailer.

Audience Scoping

After identifying your goals, the next step is determining the scope of the recipient base for the gift. Our goal in sending an initial gift was to help our customers deepen their connection with the Postal brand, and spur them to use the Postal product ASAP. 

With that goal in mind, we determined that our branded kits should be sent to every customer who purchased a Business plan and were assigned a Customer Success Manager. These are customers who:

1. Purchased one of our top-tier products, and want reassurance that their business is important to Postal. 
2. Want a hands-on relationship with the Postal team, and desire a physical connection with our brand. 
3. Might be experimenting with offline marketing for their first time, and welcome an introduction to our Paper Plane concierge service. 

Designing the Send

Once you have determined the goal and scope of what you’d like to achieve with this send, here are the best options we have tested to build brand loyalty:

1. A curated “welcome kit” directly mailed to customers with branded items, like stickers, pens, and items that can easily fit on a desk.some text
   • Tip: Frequency of use is a huge plus when it comes to gaining initial brand stickiness.
2. An automated welcome email from a C-Suite executive containing a Postal collection where a customer can choose a gift of their choice, contained within the email. some text
   • Tip: From our State of Swag study, we have found that ⅔ respondents prefer to have a choice in the swag they receive.

While both options work well to drive engagement, we chose to send a curated Welcome Kit to our new customers.  Providing a branded kit creates an “unboxing” experience that builds physical connection with your brand through the surprise and delight of opening the welcome kit. We decided that sending a branded kit to this audience would be most effective as it would give them a real-world example of what they might be interested in creating with our team for their own brand. It’s not just about what is inside, but also how you present it from the moment it arrives at their doorstep. This is how you create a gifting experience!

We also made sure to include diverse items in our kit, because everyone has different interests. Including multiple items offers different ways to delight your recipient, or they can even decide to share with friends and family. 

The Build Process

Our in-house creative agency, Paper Plane, are the experts in translating ideas to sendable kits. After bringing our strategic goals, audience scope, and desired gift aspects to the brainstorm meeting, they brought a complete vision to the table, and worked with our customer success team as partners. 

Here’s the easy design process that our customers experience with Paper Plane:

• Ideation
  • Intro and discovery meeting with project manager
  • Discussion of ideas and branding opportunities 
  • Scoping quantities, budget, timeline, send frequency, shipment destination, 
• Design
  • Proposal of product ideas, packaging, and cost within 2-3 business days 
  • Customer feedback and approval provided on selected items
  • All in quote provided to customer for review/approval
• Ordering
  • Funds become available in Postal account
  • Order placed with vendor
  • Virtual proofs sent to customer for all branded items for approval
• Production
  • Updated timeline provided once in production
  • Confirmation when items are ready to be sent or stored in warehouse

Throughout the process, our marketing team and the Paper Plane team worked hand-in-hand approving brand guidelines and drafting copy for our strategic postcard inserts. Each time we had an update to copy or wanted to see another version in color of packaging, the Paper Plane team provided us a side-by-side mock-up to choose from. They made it easy to explore our strategic ideas, but also realistic about what could be done with packaging and product branding - all while keeping in mind our budget.

The Execution

In order to facilitate the send, our operations team decided to build an Account Based Marketing campaign to best attribute ROI from the send. This allowed us to automate the welcome boxes being sent to our primary customer points of contact as soon as the deal was signed. 

In order to do this, we leveraged Postal’s ABM product alongside our native Salesforce integration and Postal triggers.  Our first step was to create a new campaign in Salesforce that we could use to trigger the welcome kit being sent. We then set up a rule in Salesforce that automatically added the primary contact from every new business opportunity into this campaign once the deal was won. 

Leveraging the Postal to Salesforce integration, we then created a trigger in Postal that sent the welcome email containing the gift box to any new Salesforce contact that was added to the campaign we created.  And violá, a beautiful branded welcome email was sent to our customers to confirm their address, and the box was on its way. 

Postal will then update the corresponding Salesforce campaign once the box is delivered, and we can use the Postal & Salesforce Managed Reporting Package to determine our ROI on the gifts sent from this campaign. Easy as cake! 

The Results

Our goal in creating and sending the welcome kits was to incentivize our customers to begin using Postal more quickly, while creating a physical connection with the Postal brand.  We thought that if we can capitalize on the excitement of a newly formed partnership, our customers will adopt our product more quickly and effectively than ones who did not. 

Thus, we went forward measuring the key metrics that track how quickly our customers take a meaningful action in Postal. For us, that meant how fast these customers sent their first Postal! We measured the deltas between a sample group of customers who received a welcome gift, and the control group who did not receive a welcome gift over the last 6 months. 

We found an 8.2% improvement in customer activation in the sample group, as customers who were sent a welcome gift logged in and sent their first gift 2.8 days faster than customers who did not receive a gift. 

Those numbers don’t lie! Using Postal truly activates customers faster than leaving gifting out of your customer journey. 

Why This Works

Branded gift kits are more than just a welcome gesture; they are a strategic tool that can enhance the customer onboarding experience in multiple ways. By smoothing the sales to customer success handoff, making new customers feel valued, and showcasing your business's north star objective, you set the stage for a fruitful and long-lasting partnership. 

Using Postal's own branded gifts as part of the onboarding process has proven to be an effective way to enhance customer satisfaction, drive engagement, and boost product adoption.

We can’t wait to see how you will enhance your onboarding process. If you’d like to chat with our team to learn how you can refresh your company swag, curated kits, or customer gifts, we’re ready to brainstorm!

Additional Food for Thought

Still brainstorming all of the ways you can incorporate gifting into your customer journey? There is no right or wrong answer, as long as you lead with timeliness, authenticity, and care. We’ve outlined some additional considerations that may help you lean in:

• Brand Alignment
  • Relevance to Brand: Ensure the items reflect your company's brand and values. The items should communicate your brand's personality and mission.
  • Quality: High-quality items create a positive impression and signal that your company values its customers.
• Usability
  • Practical Items: Choose items that the recipient will find useful in their daily life or work to show your company’s thoughtfulness when selecting the item.
  • Frequency of Use: Constant use of the item with your logo is a constant reminder to keep your brand top of mind.
• Customer Preferences
  • Personalization: Whenever possible, personalize the items to cater to the recipient’s interests or industry. Personalized gifts can significantly enhance the perceived value.
  • Demographics: Consider the demographic profile of your customers, such as age, profession, and lifestyle, to select appropriate items.
• Sustainability
  • Eco-friendly Options: Reflect your company’s commitment to sustainability by including eco-friendly items. This could be items made from recycled materials or reusable products like water bottles and shopping bags.
  • Conscious Packaging: Use minimal and sustainable packaging to reduce waste and appeal to environmentally-conscious customers. You can even include a card that notes the items that are sustainable to the recipient.
• Impression
  • Wow Factor: Include at least one item that has a “wow” factor, something that stands out and impresses the recipient, such as a unique desk accessory or a high-end gadget.
  • Unboxing Experience: The presentation of the swag kit can significantly impact the recipient’s impression. Ensure the packaging is attractive and creates a memorable experience.
• Longevity
  • Durable Items: Select items that are durable and have a long lifespan, ensuring your brand remains visible for an extended period and doesn’t encourage wastefulness.
  • Classic Choices: Classic items tend to have lasting appeal and also show the timelessness of your brand.
• Creativity
  • Campaign Goals: Find a unique way to tie in the item selected to your company’s product and theme of the campaign. For example, a “Summer Fun” campaign could include sunglasses.
  • Uniqueness: Gifting isn’t a new practice, so your competitors are likely doing something similar. Find something new and upcoming as a way to show your brand is ahead of the trends and stand out to the recipient.