Create the perfect pairing:
Six ways to integrate direct mail
with your marketing stack
Quick guide | 5 min read
When most people think of direct mail, they imagine something physical—postcards, brochures, or letters landing in a mailbox. But direct mail, when integrated with digital platforms, can be just as smart and data-driven as your email campaigns or digital ads. This is where software integrations come in, bridging the gap between physical direct mail and the rest of your digital marketing strategy. With the right tools in place, you can make it much easier to automate, personalize, and track your campaigns.
Why integrations are a must for direct mail marketers
- Automate with ease: Set up triggers to send mail automatically when customers take action—no more manual work.
- Make it personal: Use your data to create mail that’s tailored to each customer, and send engagement up and to the right.
- Track what matters: Keep an eye on how your mail performs, just like with digital ads. See conversions, revenue, and more.
- Keep the customer journey smooth: Make sure direct touches flow flawlessly into digital with a consistent brand experience from start to finish.
Six perfect pairings for omnichannel magic
Sometimes, it’s hard to understand which integrations you might need – and which might deliver the most impact to your overall strategy. In our quick guide we’ll walk through the common categories of tools and how you may use them to achieve your goals.
Make it personal with CRM + direct mail
Your CRM is the heart of customer relationships, housing detailed profiles, interactions, and preferences. By integrating CRM data with direct mail, you can deliver highly personalized messages based on real-time customer actions, like sending a welcome offer to new sign-ups or a reactivation discount to dormant leads. This deep connection to customer behavior allows you to create relevant, one-on-one experiences that drive customer loyalty and conversions through the power of direct mail.
Tools to integrate:
Get perfect timing with your CDP + direct mail
Your CDP is the engine for deep, cross-channel insights, aggregating data from across your entire marketing stack. With a CDP-direct mail integration, you can harness these insights to trigger perfectly-timed mailings based on customer lifecycle events or behavioral signals—whether it’s a win-back campaign after a period of inactivity or a personalized offer based on online browsing. By leveraging the power of customer data at scale, CDP-driven direct mail helps create more timely, meaningful touchpoints that are both personalized and fueled by big-picture data.
Tools to integrate:
Use case:
How Lob integrates with SFDC
Salesforce data is your source of truth when it comes to your prospects and customers. By integrating Salesforce (or any CRM) you use then use your data points to trigger personalized mail that’s more effective at driving action.
Set it and forget it with marketing automation platforms + direct mail
Turn your direct mail campaigns into an automated, always-on strategy by integrating with your Marketing Automation Platform (MAP). Whether it's sending a cart abandonment reminder, a loyalty reward, or a post-purchase follow-up, MAP-powered direct mail lets you set triggers based on customer actions. This means you can automatically deliver timely, relevant mail without lifting a finger, so that campaigns stay consistent, scalable, and personalized to each customer’s journey.
Tools to integrate:
Create high-performing campaigns with design tools + direct mail
Bring your creative vision to life with seamless design-to-mail workflows. Integrate your favorite design tools to quickly turn your custom designs into personalized, high-quality direct mail—without any coding or manual adjustments.
Tools to integrate:
Automate the little things with iPaaS + direct mail
Simplify your workflow by connecting all your apps with integration platforms (iPaaS) and automating direct mail triggers based on customer actions. You might use Zapier to make the right connection to send a personalized thank-you card after a service or use Formstack to trigger a direct mail touchpoint after a form submission. With everything connected, you can focus on strategy while your direct mail flows seamlessly.
Tools to integrate:
Track, measure, improve with analytics platforms + direct mail
Make your direct mail campaigns smarter by integrating analytics platforms that give you real-time insights into performance. With data-driven tracking, you can monitor campaign results, identify what’s working, and optimize your strategies for better outcomes. No more guesswork—just clear, actionable insights that help you continuously refine your mail campaigns.
Tools to integrate:
Where to start with direct mail integrations
Ready to integrate direct mail with the rest of your tech stack? Here are three tips to help you get started:
Prioritize your most critical goals
Focus on the integrations that help you achieve your top marketing goals. For example, if re-activation is top of mind, you might want to use your CRM to set up campaigns sent at regular intervals following purchase. Or, if economics of scale is important, pair direct mail with your marketing automation platform to trigger mailings based on customer behavior, without always having to be in the platform doing manual sends.
Build an integrated marketing plan
Integrating direct mail with digital channels creates a powerful omnichannel strategy, but it doesn’t happen without a little heavy-lifting. Map your customer journey – both pre- and post-sale. How and when do they receive touchpoints from your brand? You can then poke holes in your existing journey and map out your ideal one. Once you have it on paper, you’ll be ready to actually build the supporting integrations to make it happen.
Find the right direct mail platform
Choose a direct mail platform that offers robust integrations, including no-code options that make it easy for your team to get up and running without technical support. Look for a platform like Lob that seamlessly connects with your existing tools—whether it's a CRM, CDP, or marketing automation software. With the right platform and strategy, you’ll be sending smarter, more effective mail campaigns in no time.
Ready to make perfect pairings within your marketing mix?
Learn more about Lob integrations with a guided tour of our platform.
