A direct mail company is one that provides direct mail services, software, or management of your direct mail pieces.
These direct mail services can range from printing letters, postcards, and catalogs to managing company gifts and swag. Some direct mail companies operate alongside marketing agencies or are offered as in-house services, and some simply integrate with your existing martech stack and take the hassle out of manually managing direct mail.
Direct mail technology and processes are continually evolving, and a direct mail company can help you stay on top of those changes and ensure your mail is compliant and designed to meet your needs.
There are several other benefits of working with a direct mail company:
Industry knowledge and guidance: Rely on your direct mail service provider to help you create and produce effective direct mail campaigns in your industry, based on their own industry knowledge and understanding. The direct mail company you choose should be able to provide education and resources to ensure you’re getting the most out of your partnership.
Integrations: No one wants to spend hours importing and exporting data or creative assets between systems or business tools. Many direct mail companies offer integrations, so your marketing technology stack plays nicely together.
Templates: Having access to direct mail templates can be a lifesaver, especially for small teams or limited graphic design resources. These templates are designed to be compliant with USPS standards, making it a simple plug-and-play to get your campaign created.
Time-savings: We’ve heard horror stories of how many hours of lost productivity organizations have faced by having employees spend their time manually folding letters, stuffing envelopes, and getting mail pieces out for delivery. By working with a direct mail company, organizations get that time back to be spent on more impactful work.
Printing and delivery: Most direct mail solutions include printing and delivery as part of its offerings, saving your time and sanity from negotiating with a bunch of different vendors.
Additional services: At Lob, we don’t want to just create your direct mail, we want to ensure it’s deliverable. Which is why we also offer Address Verification services. We know other direct mail companies also offer similar additional services to ensure you get the most out of your investment into a direct mail solution.
There are many companies on the market today that offer a variety of services and direct mail solutions.
Some direct mail companies act more like an agency and do everything for you, and some let you keep the design and workflows in house and coordinate printing and delivery on your behalf, and some are a blend.
Some popular choices for a direct mail company include:
Learn more about these direct mail services by reading our blog: 13 Best Direct Mail Services (And Which is Right for Your Team)
As a direct mail company, Lob offers direct mail via our SaaS platform that integrates seamlessly with your CRM or customer data tool and then intelligently routes your direct mail through our Print Delivery Network.
What kind of direct mail solution you choose will be dependent on your business needs, budget, and goals for direct mail.
Here are some things to consider when you’re figuring out how to choose a direct mail company:
Expertise in direct mail: The direct mail company you partner with should be able to support your specific direct mail goals. Whether you’re sending one-off sales promotion postcards as part of a marketing campaign or need secure, compliant customer communications that can be tracked for auditing purposes, the company you choose should understand your specific needs.
Features: Direct mail solutions offer a wide variety of services, products, and features. You may not need all the bells and whistles but make sure the company you choose for your direct mail operations offers the features you need, such as robust reporting, design services or customizable templates, the ability to personalize direct mail, printing, address verification, and so on.
Convenience: Will this direct mail company actually streamline your direct mail campaigns? Whether through full direct mail management or integrations with your existing tech stack, the solution you choose should make your direct mail operations convenient and not more cumbersome.
Timelines: Have an understanding of how quickly this direct mail company can get your mail printed and in circulation for delivery, especially if your organization needs to be compliant with regulatory requirements.
Tracking: Your direct mail should be trackable for your own peace of mind as well as for any auditing purposes, as well as sync with an analytics dashboard so you can quickly see how your direct mail is performing.
Scalability: The direct mail service you use should be able to scale up with your mailing needs and not require minimums to get your pieces delivered.
Cost: Are you looking for an affordable direct mail solution or is your budget allowing for a more white-glove approach? Talk with the direct mail company to fully understand all the associated costs with using the company or its services, printing costs, postage costs, and anything else you need to account for with your direct mail program to find the right value at the price.
Customer support: Does the direct mail company offer customer support and make it easy to get in contact with that team or find its help center? Like relying on the company’s expertise in direct mail, you should be able to easily reach out to customer support and get the help you need to make sure your campaign is successful.
Sustainability: Meet your organization’s ESG goals one direct mail campaign at a time by partnering with a direct mail company that prioritizes sustainability and eco-conscious practices. At Lob, we’re setting a new sustainability standard for direct mail by sending 100% carbon neutral mail.
It can feel daunting trying to choose the best direct mail company for your organization. Don’t worry; thousands of businesses have found success with their direct mail programs by finding the right solution for their needs, which was Lob’s automated direct mail platform. Get inspired about what automated direct mail could mean for your business by reading these success stories.
Branch, an insurance company, faced a labor-intensive and costly challenge with its manually-managed direct mail processes. Not only did it require several employees to manage the processes, but it also required a lot of customized input on a variety of mailings. Branch was expanding and needed a solution for its direct mail before it became a logistical and operational nightmare.
Branch decided to partner with our direct mail company, Lob, as the features and capabilities would support the company’s needs and adhere to strict industry regulations. Plus, Lob’s commitment to carbon neutral mail aligned with the organization’s sustainability goals.
Branch implemented automated direct mail with Lob and immediately saw results with its customers engaging with direct mail campaigns. In fact, even the simple addition of a QR code to its mailers contributed to an impressive 25% improvement in retention, and approximately 35-30% of recipients actively scanned the QR code.
Branch also has peace of mind knowing the mail tracking capabilities would aid in future audits and keep the organization compliant, further strengthening the brand and reputation.
Branch’s Senior Operations Manager, Gabriel Tornberg said, “Mail wasn’t the first thing we did. It was the last thing we did, but we could retain 25% more customers because of it. We can’t get through via text, and customers don’t check email. Having direct mail as part of our multichannel campaigns is key.”
iExit, a travel app, allows businesses on interstate exits to claim listings and sponsor them, but the organization was having trouble reaching these business owners to explain the value of sponsorships. It was looking to acquire new customers to fuel its growth and recurring revenue.
iExit Founder and CEO Evan Metrock and his team were trying to reach these business owners with digital channels and seeing little success. It was time to change lanes and bring in an offline marketing channel.
When searching for a direct mail company, Metrock found Lob and decided to run a test of the platform. Metrock said, “We tested a postcard campaign with Lob and got immediate results with an Annual Recurring Revenue ROI of 155%. We realized that this has potential. Our sales methods couldn’t scale in any form or fashion. It was around this time that we came across Lob and the light switch for direct mail came on. Not only could it scale, but direct mail was profitable right off the bat.”
After some A/B testing, iExit found the right format for its mailers in the form of a two-page letter that delivered a 40% increase in users claiming their business listing on the app, and a 60% increase in purchased sponsorships. Now, the team ha a business mailer with highly predictable and highly profitable results.
Metrock also used Address Verification from Lob and saw a savings of 12% by not sending undeliverable mail.
The Direct Mail Marketing Blog
The Lobcast Podcast: Mixers & Marketing
Lob is the only direct mail company for the digital age. Lob’s platform automates the direct mail execution process for enterprises at any scale - from creation, printing, postage, delivery, and sustainability with end-to-end analytics and campaign attribution. Over 12,000 businesses trust Lob to transform their direct mail into intelligent mail.
Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, Lob is venture-backed by Y Combinator, Polaris Partners, Floodgate, and First Round Capital.
Find out more about Lob’s automated direct mail solutions at https://www.lob.com.
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