Direct Mail Solutions

Today’s marketing landscape mainly focuses on digital marketing. Email marketing, social media marketing, organic marketing, and paid advertising are growing in popularity. Marketers are fond of their simplicity, affordability, and extensive reach.

However, Canadians know how hard it is to cut through the marketing noise in any industry.

The convenience and cost-effectiveness of digital channels also increase the competition among businesses. We need a fun way of connecting with customers that provides multiple options to marketers. Welcome to direct mail solutions!

It is a remarkable marketing channel that creates trust and builds engagement. Are you wondering if direct mailing solutions right for you? A study by Canada Post clearly shows the benefits of using direct mail for advertising.

It shows how businesses can double their ROI compared to other marketing platforms. Even B2B marketers can perform well with direct marketing and print advertising.

Do you want to learn how direct mail solutions can transform your campaigns? This blog will educate you about direct mailing solutions’ benefits, applications, and best practices.

Please sit back and relax because it’s time to evolve marketing strategies!

The tactile factor is the main contributor to the success of direct mail solutions. A survey suggests direct mail marketing gives higher ROI than paid search and online advertising.

Many marketers combine direct mail with their online marketing approach. It gives them a higher reach and competitive advantage. Here’s why companies should consider physical mail solutions;

A Highly Interactive Marketing Channel  

People can touch and handle physical mail. Direct mail marketing campaigns get more eyes than other channels. Prospects notice their mailbox when they receive physical mail. 

In comparison, a marketing email uses many filters to gather attention.

Many marketers add promotional offers and coupons to increase the shelf-life of the mail piece. They are more likely to keep the marketing material with this strategy. Instead of being visible to the intended prospect, the mail piece is visible to the entire household. 

Direct Mail Pieces are Memorable 

Nostalgia is a vital factor in influencing your target audience. Direct mail solutions can evoke this feeling about the times they used to send mail. Marketers can create a more memorable experience by including a personalized touch.

Even a handwritten note or signature can add charm to a mail piece. Direct mail campaigns create a more memorable experience than other marketing channels.

They Can Have a Bigger Reach than Digital Ads 

Some individuals still don’t have reach to digital channels. For example, older people are less likely to use social media or email. Direct mail solutions provide a higher exposure to potential customers than digital marketing.

Traditional marketing is more helpful in reaching untapped audiences where digital marketing would miss out. Many marketers understand this and prefer direct mail services to maximize their reach.

Tons of Options to Get Creative with a Marketing Campaign 

Unlike popular misconceptions, direct mail solutions let marketers get creative with their marketing messages. They can choose from various collaterals, paper types, and personalization elements.

Many prefer combining social media and content marketing with direct mail. It helps in creating a comprehensive and seamless customer journey. 

The tactile nature enables marketers to engage more of their recipient’s senses than digital marketing. Variable Data Printing (VDP) is another technology that helps improve personalization efforts. 

Lack of Competition Can Give You Instant Advantage 

Companies prefer investing more in digital marketing marketing efforts than traditional marketing. The cost-effectiveness, ease of use, and detailed insights make digital channels preferable. This preference leaves a vacant space in the direct mail marketing landscape. 

People dislike the clutter they see on digital platforms. 

On average, an individual receives hundreds of emails and sees social media ads per day. This clutter makes the marketing message less noticeable. The lack of competition in direct mail can provide a straight competitive advantage. 

Companies using direct mailing solutions don’t have to put extensive efforts into seeing results. It’s simpler to be noticeable in this vacant space. A creative direct mail piece is more likely to stand out than any digital marketing format.

People don’t receive much direct mail in the modern digital age. Thus, direct mail solutions don’t create any distractions for the recipients. Instead, they are more engaging and interactive for the readers. Plus, physical mail pieces have a longer life span than digital marketing material.

Create Additional Touchpoints in the Customer Journey

Every brand wants to capture the highest attention of its prospects. They often add additional touch points in their customer journeys to engage longer. Direct mail solutions are helpful for marketers to add this additional touchpoint.

A brand becomes more relatable and relevant when it is present on multiple channels. Companies often use this strategy to put their name on top of their mind.

Also Read: How To Comply With Laws Regarding Direct Mail Marketing?

Despite numerous benefits, direct mail solutions also place some challenges for marketers. They must take proactive steps before planning a campaign. Here are some notable challenges;

Direct Mail Can Be Expensive 

Begineer professionals often face the problem of expensive direct mail marketing campaigns. Marketers must consider costs for ad design, printing, postage, mailing lists, and more. 

Postage remains one of the highest costs in the direct mail marketing process. It is a non-negotiable price that can cost thousands of dollars for a company. Marketing professionals must pay close attention to the pricing tables of postal agencies before sending mail. 

The Results are Hard to Measure

Evaluating the campaign results with traditional direct mail marketing could be challenging. 

With digital ads, marketers find it much easier to learn click views and conversion tracking. 

Yet, direct mail solutions with automation let them track open and response rates.

They can learn how many customers are reading their mail. This data is always essential for optimizing current and future campaigns. 

Direct Mail Pieces Aren’t Editable 

Unlike digital campaigns, marketers can’t edit direct mailers after sending them. They put extensive efforts into proofreading the copies. A single error in the writeup can lead to catastrophic results.

Imagine if a company makes the same error on thousands of mail pieces. The cost burden could be limitless if they ignore the importance of editing. 

Mailing Lists Can be Inaccurate 

Businesses regret using mailing lists with multiple errors. It severely impacts the delivery rates. A single ZIP code or street name mistake would lead to undelivered mail.

Each mail piece can waste a significant portion of the budget. For this reason, marketing professionals must verify their mailing lists before launching a campaign.

It may appear that everyone is going digital today. Yet, direct mail solutions still hold a strong position in the marketing world. Both international brands and small businesses still use direct mailing services to convert prospects.

A MarketingCharts survey direct mailing solutions can increase the return on investment (ROI). Around 59% of the survey respondents said adding direct mail to other marketing channels resulted in a better ROI.

Many marketers understand they must go beyond the digital clutter to establish their brand’s name. They often infuse direct mail campaigns with digital marketing to enable omnichannel marketing. It allows them to maximize their reach and get higher response rates.

Marketers don’t shoot in oblivion with their direct mail campaigns. They conduct proper research and implement suitable mechanisms to use direct mail solutions.

It helps them to overcome obstacles and capture the market faster. Here’s how you should use direct mailing solutions to create your campaign;

Define the Campaign Goals 

A direct mail campaign must have clear and predefined objectives. The lack of goals stops marketers and businesses from achieving anything. There’s no point in wasting money when unclear about what they want to achieve.

A clear understanding of objectives makes it easier to define the rest of the direct mail strategy. These are some common objectives a marketing professional can have;

• Lead generation
• Higher traffic on a website or application
• Brand awareness
• Reputation management

Who is Your Target Audience? 

Any marketing campaign begins by keeping the target audience in mind. This audience must be more detailed than the usual audience or buyer persona. It will be a determining factor for your collateral type, design, and marketing message.

A target audience is a specific group of people that markers to share a message. This audience depends on the business and what they are trying to sell. Marketing professionals can consider the following factors to define their target audience;

• Gender
• Age
• Income Level
• Education Level
• Employment Status
• Homeowner or not

One can use These primary demographic considerations to determine their target audience. Yet, it is advisable to get more specific to achieve better results. The direct mail campaigns would be more targeted and personalized to bring higher ROI.

Mailing Lists Must be Up to Date

A direct mail marketing campaign requires time, money, and resources. No marketer wants to waste their efforts on failed deliveries. A reliable mailing list is necessary to ensure maximum deliverability. Marketers can buy mailing lists from reliable service providers and increase their accuracy.

They can also verify addresses with an address verification software besides updated mailing lists. It gives a peace of mind that all their mail pieces will reach the proper recipients. Otherwise, they will spend time rectifying failed or incorrect deliveries.

Additional mailing costs and lost revenue are other negative factors of not verifying addresses. There are two primary types of mailing lists for direct mail campaigns;

• House Lists: These are names and addresses that a business already has from existing customers and prospects.
• Purchased Lists: They refer to high-quality lists with relevant audiences. Marketers can expect higher deliverability rates.

Provide Value to Your Recipients 

Imagine what prospects will be looking out of a direct mail piece. Marketers avoid using too much sales content in their direct mail marketing campaigns. It distracts and acts as spam for specific users.

The mail piece content should focus on sharing unique, personal, and helpful information. This strategy helps marketers keep their brand in mind with their customers. They work hard to provide in-depth information about their business or industry.

Every successful business tries to build a personal connection with their audience. They use direct mail solutions to deliver mail that is aspiring or has personal meaning. Instead of using generic images, they focus on sending more personalized mail.

Coupons and famous quotes can have more value among their recipients. The idea is to provide something unique and unusual than digital marketing messages.

Create an Appealing Design and Write Engaging Content 

The design and content are the main components that engage the audience. Direct mail solutions need marketers to create something to keep and memorable.

They implement their branding rules with each mail piece to leave a more profound impact. It means using unique colours, layouts, images, and logos for brand awareness. The choice of paper can also significantly impact the feel of a direct mail piece.

For example, glossy, satin, or matte paper can impact an audience differently. Marketers also need to ensure that their design meets the recipient’s expectations.

How to Draft Content for Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns? 

Next, creating content is the driving force to influence the prospects. It needs to be precise, concise, and engaging at the same time. Marketers need to stop using jargon to define their business.

Instead, successful businesses can connect with engaging and straightforward language. Complicated words often confuse the readers. These companies connect by using emotional content pieces. Using headings and bullet points helps them make the content piece concise.

Work on a Precise Call-to-Action 

Any business would need to motivate its prospects to take action. They would use page navigation and internal linking to drive engagement through digital channels. Yet, things are different with direct mail solutions.

They need to rely on a CTA to drive action. A single call-to-action should be enough for each direct mail piece. Not every CTA must be about converting prospects. Marketers can also direct them to specific web pages or take other actions.

They can also integrate Q.R. codes or Personalized URLs (PURLs) to drive higher traffic. Successful marketing professionals prefer using precise and impactful language for their CTAs.

Pay Close Attention to the Fine Details 

An eye for detail is necessary to make the direct mail pieces memorable. It starts by learning about the target audience and optimizing the campaign. The messaging and design of the final product must sync with the target audience’s preferences.

Marketers may need to fine-tune their mail pieces before sending them for delivery. For example, VDP technology helps in customizing individual pieces. Marketers can add the recipient’s name, address, and other relevant details. Remember, a single mistake can ruin the success of a direct mail marketing campaign.

Send the Mail Pieces 

Creating, printing, and mailing large volumes of mail is challenging. Many companies resort to using direct mail solutions with automation.

This step keeps them from the headache of managing everything on their own. They only need to integrate the direct mail software into their existing tools.

The mailing service provider handles the campaign’s printing, postage, and mailing. Businesses save time and effort by doing things this way. They can use this time for other critical productive tasks.

Evaluate the Campaign Performance 

Businesses must track the response rate and ROI for each direct mail campaign. Yet, direct mail solutions can give additional measures to measure campaign results.

Physical coupons, promo codes, and QR codes can help track conversions for each campaign.

Marketers take proactive measures to track cost per conversion to maximize ROI. They want to learn about the value their direct mail efforts are bringing. Many businesses learn from their metrics to optimize their future campaigns.

Canada Post is famous for providing exciting discounts on bulk mail. Companies can save the more they mail. These savings are necessary to contribute to business growth.

The mailing service will adjust the savings level for price hikes every quarter. This chart provides a better explanation of their savings plans;   

PostGrid is a reliable Canada Post expert partner! 

Both channels are necessary in today’s hyper-competitive market. Direct mail is a physical type of marketing that needs marketers to send mail pieces to a list of prospects. It includes mail pieces such as postcards, letters, brochures, and catalogues. 

At the same time, email is an electronic marketing channel that needs marketers to send emails to prospects. Emails are standard for lead generation, customer retention, and loyalty programs. Yet, they have lower open and response rates than direct mail pieces. 

Direct mail is ideal when marketers need instant attention and better response. Yet, email is more effective and trackable than direct mail counterparts. Companies prefer direct mail automation software with email marketing to get positive results. 

The cost of implementing direct mailing solutions depends on various factors. There’s no one-size-fits-all campaign for every business. Marketers must focus on the following points to determine the cost of their strategy;

Mail Format, Volume, and Packaging 

The collateral type and volume can have a significant impact on campaign pricing. For example, catalogues and oversized will cost more than other formats.

Regular postcards will be more affordable at $1.07 per piece. Marketers must pay more if they include envelopes or other packaging materials.

Ad Design

Businesses also need to hire graphic designers to create appealing designs. Design-intensive mailers need professional designers to work with enterprise-grade tools. Yet, companies can still save by using direct mail solutions with in-built template editors. It doesn’t take much time to design a highly interactive mail piece.

Printing

Generally, the average cost of printing ranges from 30 cents to $10 per piece. Yet, these prices depend on paper size, quality, volume, and one-sided or two-sided printing. Businesses will need to pay additional charges if they are printing in colour.

Mailing

The postal fees depend on the current postage rates and volume of mail a business has to send. Marketers in Canada expect to pay between $1.07 and $5.05. Companies can avail of discounts by sending direct mail pieces in bulk.

Businesses use multiple practices while using direct mail solutions. It improves their success rate and reduces mailing costs. Whether they sell products or services, these practices boost their market presence.

They use perfectly timed and well-written pieces to attract their audience. The format, look, feel, and messaging are essential to leave a positive impression.

Here is what marketers should consider;

Implement the 40/40/20 Rule 

Successful marketers often practice this rule in their marketing campaigns. The 40% focus is on the audience, 40% on offer, and 20% on creative. Let us explore each component.

40% audience 

Marketers need to find the right audience to promote their marketing messages. How do marketers find the relevant audience for their direct mail campaigns?

They seek demographics, geographics, and lifestyle to make their campaigns relevant. A well-defined target profile and mailing list are necessary for success.

40% Offer 

Why the recipient should bother to read the entire mail piece? They must have a reason to read and retain the collateral. Marketers must include offers relevant to the action they want their recipients to take.

There could be multiple methods to present an offer to the audience. Promotional offers, discounts, special events, and accessible information are excellent examples. Marketers that don’t offer any value cannot get the expected response rate.

No matter how great the data and creatives are, a valuable offer is necessary. Companies test their offers, track them, and adjust according to the market.

40% Creative 

Design and visual appeal are vital aspects of direct mail marketing. The look and feel of the mailpiece must resonate with the branding rules. They also consider paper quality, weight, and finish besides the design.

Marketing professionals focus on making the mail pieces more interactive and dimensional. It helps them to stand out from the crowd with brilliant creatives. They also experiment with multiple formats to engage their audiences.

Include an Effective and Precise Call-to-Action (CTA) for Your Campaign

A direct mail piece must motivate the recipient to take some action. Marketers add a precise and relevant CTA to encourage their leads and prospects to perform specific tasks.

These professionals don’t include many CTAs in the mail. Instead, they make it easier for the recipient to locate CTA. The steps are also easier to perform without causing any frustration. Here are some simple steps marketers can follow;

Avoid Any Clutter 

Effective use of whitespace is necessary for direct mail marketing. Companies don’t clutter their mail pieces and confuse their audience. They use a single CTA to absorb the value proposition. The design must be ready for easy skimming.

Implement Trivial Visuals 

The audience must be able to process the information in the CTA efficiently. Marketers prefer using high-contrast and straightforward imagery to simplify their direct mail solutions. They also use bright colours and giant fonts to make the message stand out.

Use Action Words 

Marketers use action words to influence recipients to take necessary action. They avoid using passive voice and verbs that lack power. The main goal is to sell the offer instead of the product or service. It motivates people to focus on the specific mail piece and its promotion.

Add a Postscript 

Many marketers forget to add a P.S. to their direct mail piece. Readers usually skip to the end of a mailing to get a glance. A postscript helps reinforce the message of the direct mail marketing campaign. It also draws the attention of the reader to the core message.

Include Tracking Mechanisms 

Companies want to measure the success of their direct mail pieces. They often include promo codes, personalized URLs, or Q.R. codes. The recipients often scan these codes and direct themselves to a webpage.

Use the Right Direct Mail Format 

There’s a variety of direct mail formats available to use for marketers. Each channel provides separate benefits and has price considerations. Direct mailing solutions provide options between postcards, letters, newsletters, brochures, flyers, catalogues, etc.

Marketers use each format depending on the target audience and type of campaign. For example, newsletters are the ideal choice for spreading brand awareness.

Make Your Direct Mail Campaign Noticeable 

Despite low competition, marketers try to make their direct mail pieces noticeable. It requires a high level of creativity and relevant offer. Apart from the available format, they also customize their envelopes to stand out.

A dull and plain envelope never creates the wow factor among the recipients. Marketing professionals also select appropriate paper stock to build a unique impression.

Instead of using prebuilt templates, they prefer customizing their mailing. It allows them to implement branding rules and solidify their marketing message.

Don’t Forget to Follow Up 

Many marketers forget to follow up and ruin the success rates of their campaigns. Yet, some engage their prospects with proper follow-up messages. These customers are more receptive to future marketing campaigns. They often use this information for short message telling.

Optimize Your Direct Mail Marketing Message

We live in a digital age where we receive countless emails, texts, and social media messages. Yet, people still prefer reading mail from their mailboxes. For this reason, companies use direct mailing solutions to spread their marketing messages.

There’s a high chance that people will read and respond to their messages. They take the extra step to optimize their mail pieces according to the target audience. Marketers often combine the data from their digital marketing campaigns with direct mail solutions. It helps them to take the highest advantage of marketing intelligence.

Use Colour Psychology to Create an Impact on Your Audience  

Colour psychology plays a vital role in the impact of a direct mail marketing campaign. Each industry and business uses a specific colour in its marketing materials. Marketers know about colour psychology and how their customers perceive colour.

It helps them to influence their prospects into considering offers. The right choice of colour also creates a uniform brand identity with direct mail solutions.

Personalize Mail Pieces to Influence People 

A generic piece of marketing mail Is never impactful to any target audience. People expect some level of personalization from the content they read. It is one of the most crucial direct mail solutions for getting attention from customers.

Personalized marketing helps marketers in showing value to their customers. Instead of a generic mail, the direct mail marketing campaign feels more targeted. Companies often use variable data printing (VDP), geotargeting, and customer experience (CX) to achieve this.

They also prefer using handwritten notes and signatures to add a personal touch. It makes the recipient feel unique and valued. Opening and response rates are higher when they implement such personalization tactics.

Carefully Plan Your Direct Mail Campaign Dates 

Timing is everything in direct mail marketing campaigns. Marketers take their time to plan, create, and test before launching any campaign.

They analyze everything they did with the marketing mail with A/B or split testing. It helps them to find the best version of marketing direct mail.

The timing of direct mailing solutions plays a critical part in the success of a campaign. Marketers must understand their industry’s seasonal changes to find the perfect timing. This right timing will ensure higher open and response rates.

For example, many marketers prefer weekends and the holiday seasons for sending their marketing mail. It helps them instantly capture their prospects’ attention and engagement levels. Product launch is another great time to send direct mail to create excitement.

Implement an Omnichannel Marketing Approach 

There’s a famous debate between digital marketing and direct mail marketing. Yet, both are essential to propel a successful campaign. Omnichannel marketing allows companies to create multiple touchpoints in a customer journey.

It improves their reach and puts their brand on top of the minds of their customers. The recipients are also able to get a seamless shopping experience. They can receive a more holistic brand exposure with omnichannel marketing.

Many marketers use direct mail solutions with multiple channels for higher growth.

Get Your Mailing List Updated 

The mailing lists play a vital role when using direct mailing solutions. Marketers understand that direct mail could be an expensive form of marketing. They need the latest mailing lists to reduce wastage and maximum exposure to recipients.

Outdated mailing lists increase the chance of failed deliveries and ineffective marketing. It can also dent the ROI of an organization.

For this reason, intelligent marketers constantly update their mailing lists for smooth deliveries of mail pieces. They often partner with a reliable direct mail automation company to ensure this.

Traditional direct mail solutions are evolving with automation and hyper-personalization. PostGrid direct mail API is the perfect way to send marketing materials on demand at any scale.

Marketers and companies prefer our API to send their prospects letters, postcards, and flyers. It gives them incredible automation capabilities to launch trigger-based campaigns.

PostGrid makes it easier to unify offline and online marketing efforts. Businesses can automate their advertising campaigns with smooth integrations. Here are other prominent reasons why you should consider direct mail solutions by PostGrid;

Smooth Integration Experience 

Marketing professionals often use CRM systems and marketing automation tools to launch their campaigns. PostGrid links to 1600+ apps without requiring coding. We use state-of-the-art equipment to facilitate such integrations.

It allows marketers to launch trigger-based campaigns based on user events. To avoid any hassle, we provide dedicated developer support for smooth integration. This way, direct mail marketing services feel like email marketing.

Streamlined Dashboard 

Marketers can enhance their campaign visibility by managing their templates, contacts, reports, and API usage. The brief histograms provide detailed analytics of all their mailings. It helps in managing customer service better.

They can receive detailed campaign reports with complete searchability of all orders. Our direct mail solutions make managing users in their organization easier by integrating our API.

 Address Verification Capabilities 

Companies can easily verify all addresses from their database with our API. PostGrid helps in automatically validating addresses according to Canada Post standards. Marketers can achieve accurate postal code targeting.

We also provide address parsing and autocomplete services to fix incorrect or partial addresses. Marketers can improve their deliverability rates by using our address verification services.

Adhere to Regulatory Compliances 

Companies and marketers must adhere to relevant regulatory compliances. It is never advisable to overlook any guidelines and compliance in their marketing materials. PostGrid works under all legal frameworks and requirements.

We follow PIPEDA, PHIPA, HIPAA, GDPR & SOC-2 certifications. They can send mail easily with Canada Post or the United States Postal Service.

Personalization Capabilities 

Marketing professionals often want to make their marketing materials personalized and highly targeted. PostGrid provides incredible personalization capabilities with its direct mail solutions.

Companies can use personalized mail templates and content pieces with our API.

We provide an inbuilt template editor and variable data printing (VDP) capabilities. It enables marketers to add their recipient’s name, address, and other relevant information. They can also use our template gallery to fast-track their direct mail marketing campaigns. Collaborate with a reliable mail marketing partner.

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