Direct Mail Secret Sauce: Dos and Don'ts

Direct mail is more powerful than ever, especially for microtargeting new customers and deepening relationships with existing ones. But up until now, direct mail marketing has been both time and resource-intensive -- and hard to track the ROI.

In this infographic, you’ll get a taste of some dos and don’ts to make your direct mail as effective as possible to drive more response, conversion, customer lifetime value, and ROI.

Do:

Explore effective ways to personalize your direct mail, including QR codes and referring to previous interactions with your brand. Personalization can remind people of the positive experiences they had with your brand, making them more likely to engage again. 68% of consumers are more likely to engage with a brand’s message when it’s personalized.

Don't:

Personalize messages by only addressing people by their first names or using a term like "occupant." There are many ways to personalize beyond just using the first name. If you have to use "occupant" that's not personalized. You can use a variety of personalization elements including behaviors, demographics, and geolocation.

Do:

Track your direct mail so you know it reaches all intended recipients. Then, you can use tracking data to measure how many people actually respond and how long it takes for them to engage with your brand after getting your mail piece.

Don't:

Trust that mail delivery services can provide accurate, real-time mail tracking, especially for large direct mail campaigns. Everyone has received mail intended for someone else, so you know that some of your direct mailers will go to the wrong addresses.

Do:

Verify addresses using Address Verification so you don't waste time and money on direct mail that never reaches the right person or household. The right technology will do the work for you.

Don't:

Assume that consumers provide complete and accurate addresses. Verify addresses before you send your campaign. Ideally, you should standardize all addresses to improve accuracy and on-time delivery.

Do:

Schedule delivery times so you can reach potential customers at just the right moment, such as when a promotion begins or when you release a new product.

Don't:

Commit to direct mail without developing a timetable that will help optimize your results. Nothing is worse than a mail piece that arrives after a promotion or time-sensitive offer ends.

Do:

Integrate digital triggers with direct mail to get better results from all of your marketing strategies. For example, you might start sending direct mail to your e-commerce customers. Direct mail has a better chance of converting with people who want to do business with you.

Don't:

Don't rely on emails to replace direct mail. Over 70% of marketers use direct mail alongside their email marketing efforts for a highly effective, multi-channel approach.

Do: 

Partner with a tech-driven service that can make your direct mail marketing more efficient using automation to simplify your workflows. Lob’s APIs scale as needed and to help to grow your business while controlling costs.

Don't:

Make the mistake of believing you can get optimal results through guesswork. The data collection, designing, writing, printing, and delivery services add to the expense of your direct mail campaigns. With technology on your side, you can increase conversions, grow your brand awareness, and make the process more efficient. 

What’s the Lob secret sauce? 

With Lob's automated direct mail, you can design, print, target, segment, send, and track direct mail, making it faster and more efficient to get the right message to the right person at the right time.  

Sources:

https://postalpro.usps.com/mnt/glusterfs/2019-02/Fall%202018%20Mail%20Moments%20(January%2031,%202019).pdf

https://faq.usps.com/s/article/How-is-Undeliverable-and-Misdelivered-Mail-Handled#undeliverable_USPS_Marketing_Mail

https://www.statista.com/statistics/420391/spam-email-traffic-share/