Automated direct mail marketing is shaking up the old, tradition-bound world of direct mail. It uses new technology to enable direct mail to be used in conjunction with, and just as easily as, digital marketing channels like email.
Traditionally, direct mail marketing has been viewed as an effective channel, but with cumbersome limitations such as:
- Requirements for large batch (1,000+ pieces) print runs
- Offline, manual campaign setup
- Lack of tracking, measurement, and integration with other channels
However, new direct mail automation systems are enabling savvy marketers to avoid all the standard pitfalls of planning, managing, and launching direct mail campaigns. They even enable marketers to connect direct mail and email together in automated workflows.
Before we dive in further, let’s quickly remind ourselves what direct mail marketing is.
What is Direct Mail?
Direct mail, or direct mail marketing, is an older and clunkier cousin of automated direct mail. It’s how traditional marketing has been done for centuries, and it has been done that way because it can bring a staggering return on investment—even today.
Direct mail is any physical mail piece or promotion that lands in your real-life mailbox. Think postcards, letters, flyers, brochures, and such. Marketers use direct mail to generate more leads, stay top of mind, brand, sell, and/or raise money for a cause. Direct mail is used for all things marketing.
And recently, it’s gotten a whole lot better.
What Is Direct Mail Automation?
Direct mail marketers once faced limits, targeting only certain ZIP codes and demographics. Now, with automation, they can boost their targeting, precision, and conversion rates.
Direct mail automation is a new category of SaaS (Software as a Service) tools with the following characteristics:
- Cloud-based software that manages the direct mail process
- CRM or Marketing Automation Integration
- Easy-to-use postcard and letter editing tools
- Personalization tools that bypass the traditional pre-press process
- Small batch and triggered direct mail options
Direct mail automation offers benefits that companies want from email marketing, but it uses direct mail instead. Each direct mail piece can be tracked individually and in real-time, providing valuable insights into user engagement and campaign performance.
Let’s examine exactly how direct mail automation works and how it can help your company save time, money, and headaches.
The 6 Benefits of Using Direct Mail Automation
Direct mail automation has become as easy as email automation. This has led to many businesses utilizing it for their campaigns. Here are six major benefits.
1. Increased efficiency
Direct mail automation reduces the time spent on campaign management. It allows businesses to set up workflows that automatically send and track campaigns. For example, you can trigger a lead nurturing campaign when the lead takes a specific action, like signing up for your mailing list. These actions save time and increase the efficiency of your marketing activities.
2. Better targeting and personalization
Automation allows businesses to leverage customer data for highly targeted campaigns. Using tools like dynamic variable printing and CRM integrations, firms can personalize each mail piece to reflect the recipient’s interests and behaviors, leading to higher engagement. Marketers can use demographic, behavioral, and purchase data to craft mailers that feel personal and relevant to the recipient
3. Triggered campaigns
A triggered direct mail sequence could be activated by specific customer actions, such as signing up for a service. Once triggered, the sequence automatically sends a series of personalized mailings over time. These could be welcome letters, exclusive offers, and follow-up reminders. This approach nurtures customer relationships, increases engagement, and drives conversions.
4. Improve ROI
When you focus on your target audience and personalize your content, you see higher response rates – which means more conversions. Plus, with real-time analytics, you can easily track how your campaign is performing and make quick adjustments to get the best possible results. By driving better engagement, direct mail automation helps you get more out of your marketing efforts, delivering a much higher ROI.
5. Enhanced scalability
Automated systems allow businesses to scale up campaigns to reach larger audiences without significantly increasing time or resources. Features like dynamic content personalization and audience segmentation ensure that campaigns remain relevant and effective even as they reach a broader audience. This scalability allows businesses to expand their direct mail efforts while maintaining high-quality, targeted communications.
6. Better customer experience
Direct mail automation uses data-driven insights to tailor mailings to individual preferences, increasing engagement and satisfaction. Features like triggered sequences and dynamic content ensure customers receive communications that align with their needs and interests. Additionally, errors and delays are reduced, providing a seamless experience.
Types of Automated Direct Mail Formats
Automated direct mail can be in various formats to suit different marketing goals and customer preferences.
- Postcards: Concise and eye-catching, postcards are perfect for quick announcements, promotions, or event invitations.
- Letters: Letters can hold more information and are suitable for welcome messages, offers, or detailed communications requiring a more formal approach.
- Brochures/Flyers: This is best for companies who want to showcase their products, services, or events with visuals and detailed information.
- Catalogs: Comprehensive product listings tailored to individual interests or purchase history, encouraging browsing and purchases.
- Packages: You can incorporate promotional items, samples, or personalized gifts with these packages and create a memorable and tangible brand experience.
- Self-Mailers: Folded or sealed formats that don’t require envelopes, providing cost-effective options for promotions or announcements.
- Dimensional Mail: This is a unique and attention-grabbing format that includes boxes, tubes, or pop-up cards, enhancing engagement and response rates.
- Integrated Mail: Combines print with digital elements like QR codes or personalized URLs, bridging offline and online interactions for a seamless customer experience.
Key Features of Direct Mail Automation Tools
Using automated direct mail automation software can offer many opportunities to expand and improve your marketing efforts. Here are a few of the key features explored in more detail.
CRM or Marketing Automation Integration
Direct mail automation has a huge advantage – integration with top marketing and CRM systems.
This means you’ll have access to in-depth analytics through digital channels for your direct mail campaigns.
Postalytics integrates with many of the popular marketing/CRM platforms, including:
- HubSpot
- SalesForce
- InfusionSoft Keap
- Active Campaign
- Zoho
- Active Campaign
- Act-On
- Pipedrive
- GreenRope
- Zapier
For the full list, please check the direct mail integrations page. These are just a small sampling of the more than 20 integrations that Postalytics offers through our platform.
Easy-To-Use Editing Tools
Traditionally, customizing content for direct mail campaigns can be quite a headache. It requires you to produce a series of files and communicate frequently with printers to ensure everything is correct.
Automated direct mail campaigns use modern, easy-to-use online editors to customize many different variations of postcard and letter sizes. The best systems offer portrait or landscape postcard options, as well as multiple-page letters that can be quickly modified by marketers rather than only designers.
Postalytics makes it dead simple to customize your content. Using our drag-and-drop interface, or pre-made customizable templates, you can edit and send your direct mail campaigns in minutes.
Personalization “Merge Tag” Tools
70% of Americans say direct mail is a more personal medium than other channels. Increasing the personalization within your content will only serve to make it an even more personal way to connect with your audiences.
Traditional direct mailers employ “pre-press operators” that work with sophisticated print job management systems and digital printing presses to enable variable data to be deployed on large batch print jobs.
Direct mail automation bypasses the time, cost, and back-and-forth of the traditional pre-press process. Marketers are able to embed “Variable Data” and “Variable Logic” into direct mail templates via simple drag-and-drop tools.
Variable Data inserts are like email “merge tags.” They are personalization fields from data files, CRMs, or Marketing Automation tools.
While Variable Logic blocks create dynamic content, they print text and/or images for different audience segments based on simple IF/THEN statements.
Postalytics makes it easy to pull data from your databases and insert it into every piece of mail you send. It isn’t limited to just the basics like names; use any data you have to ensure your recipients get relevant, valuable information.
Small Batch Direct Mail
Did you know that 79% of direct mail recipients will act on direct mail immediately, compared to only 45% who act on email immediately? A key aspect of automated advertising and marketing is being able to react to the actions of your customers. You want to be able to send new messages and ads to them quickly based on their behavior.
Traditional direct mail has been a large batch, slow, manual process. Most campaigns that include any type of personalization require minimum list sizes of 2,500 and 4-6 weeks to implement.
On the other hand, automation enables marketers to quickly send out frequent, small-batch campaigns that are personalized and reasonably priced. It uses a software-only interface, with simple wizards that enable a single marketer to set up and schedule a campaign to lists of any size, from a single mail piece to a million pieces.
Triggered Direct Mail
Triggered direct mail campaigns use automated workflows from CRM and Marketing Automation software to “trigger” individual letters or postcards to be sent without human intervention, just like triggered emails.
For instance, Postalytics-triggered drip campaigns will allow you to deliver new mailers to your prospects who have visited your website and downloaded high-value content. Since they signaled interest by engaging with your content, you want to follow up with them and continue to grow the relationship from that point forward.
Trigger-based mailings allow you to more accurately send follow-up content to your prospects in a hands-off way but in a way that most of your competitors haven’t considered. You don’t have to wait for them to fill out a contact form and match it to a previous mailing that you delivered.
Industries That Can Benefit From Automated Direct Mail
Every industry is now using direct mail because of its advantages. Here are four key industries where direct marketing has become popular.
Healthcare
Healthcare can use direct mail automation to boost patient engagement, reminders, and education. Personalizing messages using patient data, like appointments or health needs, increases relevance and response. You can send reminders for screenings or medications. Also, it can share educational materials, promoting wellness and managing diseases.
Finance
Direct mail automation can help financial firms deliver targeted offers like credit card promotions or investment opportunities based on individual financial behaviors. By streamlining account management processes such as statements or notifications, automation boosts efficiency and enhances the overall customer experience.
Real estate
Imagine getting a postcard of your dream home tailored just for you. This is the magic of direct mail automation in real estate. Automated systems analyze interests and behaviors. Then, they send relevant listings, market updates, and open house invites. Real estate pros can easily reach potential buyers, showcase properties, and close more deals.
Read More: Real estate investor uses direct mail automation to schedule in-person meetings and tours
E-commerce
E-commerce businesses can send personalized promotions, recommendations, and exclusive offers using customer data. Businesses can segment audiences by purchase history, browsing behavior, or demographics for targeted marketing. Moreover, automated follow-ups can re-engage inactive customers or those who abandoned carts. This strategy recovers lost sales and boosts revenue.
Read more: Zogics generates a 500% ROI jump with automated direct mail
Best Practices for Direct Mail Automation
Want good conversions and ROI from your direct mail campaigns? Here are some best practices you can follow.
- Segment and create targeted lists: Divide your audience based on demographics, behaviors, or preferences to deliver personalized and relevant content.
- Use clean data: If you’re not using first-party data, get access to data that is sourced ethically and in line with privacy laws
- Define campaign KPIs: Clearly define your objectives and KPIs before launching a campaign. This will guide all the other strategies like content creation, targeting, etc.
- Focus on design: Invest in top-notch design and printing. Create eye-catching mail pieces that reflect your brand.
- Integrating with tools: Integrate direct mail automation with other marketing channels and tools for a seamless omnichannel experience and consistent messaging.
- Evaluate success: Track metrics like response rates, conversions, and ROI. Use them to assess the campaign and make data-driven decisions.
- Use automation tools: Set up automated workflows for triggered mailings, drip campaigns, and follow-ups with direct mail automation software like Postalytics.
Get Started with a Direct Mail Automation Tool like Postalytics
Getting started with direct mail automation using Postalytics is simple and efficient. With just a bit of planning, you can launch automated direct mail campaigns with ease.
- Define Your Goals: Are you aiming to increase sales, boost brand awareness, drive website traffic, or nurture leads? Setting clear objectives will help you shape your strategy and measure success.
- Set Up Your Campaign: Use Postalytics to create and automate your campaign. Set up triggers and workflows that automatically send your mail when specific actions occur, such as when a customer signs up for your newsletter or completes a purchase.
- Design Your Mail Pieces: Postalytics provides easy-to-use design tools for creating postcards, letters, and brochures, or you can upload your own designs. With Postalytics, you can also personalize each piece using dynamic content for more targeted messaging.
- Launch: Once your campaign is ready, launch it through Postalytics. The platform takes care of the printing, mailing, and tracking for you. Use the built-in analytics dashboard to monitor performance and make adjustments based on real-time data to improve your results.
Postalytics simplifies the entire process, from setting up automation to tracking and optimizing your campaigns, ensuring you get the best return on your direct mail efforts.
Automate Direct Mail Campaigns Today
Direct mail marketing automation lets you fully control your direct mail process. It reduces the need for manual work, project management, and vendor reliance. This approach prevents bad printing, non-compliant designs, and long mail creation times.
Anyone who can use a computer can create and send a direct mail campaign today with Postalytics, the leading direct mail automation software.
If you are looking to transform your marketing efforts, activate a free Postalytics account.