Sending Your First Mail Campaign

Sending your first direct mail campaign can feel like a hefty experience. 

Luckily, with Postalytics, you can launch a campaign quickly and effectively in 3 simple steps:

1. Upload or use the drag-and-drop template builder for your creative
2. Connect to your data source via Postalytics integrations or upload your list
3. Send or schedule your campaign with a few clicks

Direct mail automation brings much more than a seamless process and speed. Think about having all the capabilities of the post office on your screen, only faster, more targeted, and more effective.

Let’s dive into how to send your first campaign.

Get Your Account Setup For A Campaign

First things first. Complete your profile and open your “Getting Started With Postalytics” checklist. It will lead you through the entire mailing process step by step. Users can follow the checklist to kickstart their campaigns and start generating leads in no time. 

Let’s take a closer look at each one of the checklist items.

1. Complete Your Profile

Completing your profile is the first step to sending your direct mail campaign. In the Profile, you can enter your default campaign return address, set up emails to receive system and billing notifications, and more. Users must complete their profile in order to use Postalytics. Alongside Profile, several other tabs can come in handy when managing your account.

Once you’re happy with your login and profile info, enter your billing information. If the billing information matches your Profile, you may check ‘same as profile’ to proceed. Once your Profile is ready, click on Save Profile.

Note you can navigate to the “Update Password” page from the left side menu if you need to change your password. 

2. Setup Online Tracking (Recommended)

If you want to measure the success of your campaign, we recommend setting up online tracking and using QR codes and Personalized URLs (pURLs) to get detailed insight.

You can start tracking online visitors when you install a tracking code on your website, set up a domain, and integrate it with your CRM. Every time someone uses a link in your mailing, you’ll be able to track their behavior on your website.

Postalytics then uses pURLs, QR codes, and online tracking codes to measure each target’s response on your landing page or website. You can generate pURLs in the campaign wizard using either your main domain or creating a vanity domain (a domain used only for your campaign). Each unique pURL is then printed and placed inside a QR code on each piece of mail in your campaign. You can automatically trigger pURLs with friendly URL strings that will spell out the recipient’s name or a keyword that fits with your campaign.

Once the recipient enters their pURL, they’ll be redirected to your landing page. This is where online tracking begins. If you want more functionality and oversight, you can set up a status for each recipient in your CRM that triggers the next marketing or sales workflow.

Read more about setting up pURLs, QR’s, and Domains in your account, or watch the quick overview below.

Set Up Your Tracking Code

Setting up your tracking code takes two steps. 

1. Add the code
2. Validate it works

You can also load the tracking code into a CMS feature that enables you to add tracking. Most modern-day CMS will have a tracking tab where you can seamlessly load tracking codes.

Set Up a Domain

We have developed a couple of domain options. If you’re using the personalized QR codes only, the fastest and most simple option is to use our free, shared p.ostal.us domain. If you’re planning to use the full personalized URLs in your creative, then you can get a Vanity Domain to host your pURLs. Obtaining and configuring these domains is quick and easy. Check our step-by-step guide on how to purchase and register a vanity domain for more information.

Connect to CRM or Marketing (Recommended)

If your data source is your CRM or Marketing Automation tool, Postalytics has made it easy to connect to it via our built-in integration tools. Not only can your systems drive campaigns in either triggered or list form, but you can opt-in to receive all your delivery and online response status codes in your CRM, reducing friction and keeping a unified dashboard for your entire team or company.

You can take advantage of over 3,000+ integrations, including HubSpot, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Zapier, ActiveCampaign, Zoho, HighLevel, and more in our Connect Marketplace. 

You can also use our native Incoming Webhooks and Webhooks tools to integrate, as well as our full-featured Direct Mail API. 

Read more about setting up your HubSpot Integration, Salesforce Integration, or Zapier Integration.

3. Import Your list

Every personalized direct mail campaign starts with a mailing list. Postalytics makes it easy to upload a contact list with all your customers’ information. 

Users can import lists from CSV/Excel files, directly from HubSpot or Salesforce or we can assist you in purchasing or renting a mailing list for your campaigns. Integrating with a CRM solution halves the time and work it takes to maintain an ever-growing mailing list. 

Once your list is in our system, Postalytics will automatically de-duplicate and sort your contacts to avoid sending duplicate mailings. The sorted list will include first names, last names, cities, states, and zip codes. Your list will also be scrubbed of any records that do not have fully formed addresses that cannot be mailed to. 

Postalytics currently delivers smart and personalized mail to all Canadian and U.S. addresses, including Puerto Rico and US Territories. We’ll be expanding our operations to more countries in the future. If you wish to automate your direct mail to reach recipients outside the U.S. and Canada, let us know via the contact form. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

For more information on how to set up your contact lists, check the latest Contact List Tips.

4. Create Your Template

Postalytics brings several options for building creative templates. Before we get into the available features, you can try the Direct Mail Editor. Simply follow the link to access our visual Direct Mail Editor – no login is required. Once you’ve got a feel for the editor, let’s explore its features.

Users can Create new templates or choose from the library of Pre-Built Templates. Beyond our online editor, users can also design and upload their own templates using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign or other visual design tools. Just be sure to export the creative as images to the exact specifications outlined in our design guidelines. 

Once your designs are ready, our editor will ensure that all the important information is in the right place and that nothing is obstructed. You then can generate a full “proof” or sample of your creative using the innovative Postalytics Proofer tool. The Proofer will guide you through a series of questions that will ensure that your creative will render properly when printed and give you PDF versions of your mailers to ensure that everything is rendering correctly. 

Agency users can take this a step further. You can build, manage, and distribute templates among your clients within Postalytics’ ecosystem. As a result, creating and sharing your creative assets has never been faster or easier.

5. Create Your Campaign

Postalytics generates campaigns by using simple Campaign Wizards that walk you through each step of the process required to create a campaign.

Users can choose between three types of campaigns: Smart Send and Triggered Drip campaigns. Smart Send campaigns are based on lists that have been imported into Postalytics. Triggered Drip campaigns are driven from a CRM or Marketing automation tool that has a workflow or automation setup to drive individual mailers to “drip” out one by one. Finally, FTP Batch Drip campaigns combine the concepts, giving you the option to send in lists via FTP that then drip out individual mailers. 

Smart Send Campaigns

With Smart Send, users can build, launch and manage their direct mail campaigns from a single dashboard. Moreover, you can personalize each mailing and embed unique landing pages to impress your recipients and move them closer to your goal.

To find out how to set up your campaign, check out the Smart Send Campaign guide.

All the Smart Send features are also available in our Free Account. If you haven’t signed up yet, we assure you it won’t take more than a few minutes to set up your free account.

Triggered Drip Campaigns

Triggered Drip campaigns bring the full might of direct mail automation, halving work hours and supercharging your marketing efforts.

Our simple integrations will transform your CRM into a direct mail marketing powerhouse. You can then set up triggers to personalize and send out direct mail with the right message and precisely at the right time. Your marketing will work hard for you while you sleep.

To read more about direct mail integrations, check out the Triggered Drip Campaigns guide.

The Direct Mail Wizard

We have built a fail-proof wizard that will take you step-by-step through the entire process of setting up your campaign. You don’t need to have any technical knowledge to start mailing personalized postcards and letters.

The Postalytics Wizard will make sure that everything is 100% ready before you move to the next step. As a result, you can rest assured that every mailing piece will be as imagined and nothing less.

5.1. Send Samples

Inspecting samples is a good practice before sending out your first campaign.

We use top-quality printers and focus on delivering an incredible experience to your recipients. However, it’s always best to see it for yourself. Simply order samples of your campaign to inspect the quality, feel and finish of your mailings.

Once your campaign is ready, navigate to Campaigns in the top menu and choose Send Samples from the drop-down. Then add your mailing address, and we’ll send the desired samples your way.

To find out more about Sending Samples, check out our step-by-step guide.

6. Measure Your Success

The final part of sending your campaign is measuring the success of your mailings.

The Postalytics dashboard will let you know who has received your mail, open rates, and returns. You can also measure how many visitors have interacted with your landing pages via pURLs and QR codes.

Measuring your campaign success is essential for informing future decisions and tweaking the overall marketing strategy. Furthermore, your sales teams will know exactly when to reach out to a recipient with a follow-up offer.