What can you do if you’re a cutting-edge e-commerce company looking to expand your customer base? You can get your message out via all the digital marketing channels everyone uses, of course. And you can invest in traditional print, event, and broadcast advertising too. But what about direct mail? What kind of approach to “old school” postal mail would appeal to a 21st-century company selling some of the latest high-tech products to consumers for their homes?

For Deako Corporation, makers of the building industry’s first plug-and-play light switches, old-fashioned spreadsheet-based direct mail, without any integration with their HubSpot CRM, made no sense. The company found the speed, tracking, ease of use, and deep HubSpot integration that comes with Postalytics to be just what they needed—even though they had no previous direct mail marketing experience.

Deako’s switches allow homeowners to design a lighting experience customized to their home and lifestyle. Property owners can swap out traditional, old-school electric light switches on their own for Deako switches, with no tools or wiring required. 

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Deako’s Marketing Challenges – Awareness & Price Sensitivity

Deako sells their technology to new home builders who install the Deako in-wall back plate units throughout the home during construction. Interesting fact: One out of every six new homes being built in the US today features the company’s technology. The Deako in-wall module enables residents to change the switches, which come fitted initially with standard on-off rocker panels. After a builder sells a home, they provide Deako with homeowner contact information. Deako adds that information to their HubSpot CRM database.

Building Awareness of Deako’s Products and Technology

Deako’s biggest challenge is brand and product awareness. They need to inform homeowners about the capability already built into their homes, and introduce the buyers to the benefits of changing their standard light switches to Deako’s advanced technology. Deako switches include dimmers, smart switches with built-in timers, and motion-sensing switches. The company even offers astronomical timer switches with internal clocks that keep them in sync with the sunset and sunrise according to the property location. Deako wi-fi enabled switches allow homeowners to control their lights from anywhere, using an app.

More Expensive Products are Tough to Sell Digital-Only

The company’s second challenge is overcoming price objections. Deako’s products are more expensive than standard light switches anyone can buy at a home improvement store. Initially, Deako concentrated on email and SMS messaging offering a variety of discounts and enticements to convince homeowners to try their products, and realize the benefit of installing upgraded Deako switches in their homes. They were dissatisfied with the results from a digital-only approach.

Cutting Through Digital Clutter and Filters

Enter automated direct mail–a way to break through the clutter of digital marketing, avoid spam filters and opt-outs, and grab the attention of potential customers. It was critical that owners of Deako-ready residences be familiar with the variety of switches available to them. Customers could respond to the direct mail pieces–by scanning the personalized QR code or visiting their personalized URL (pURL) printed on the pieces—to order their switches, install the solution, and customize their lighting, all from their computers or mobile devices.

Though builders have equipped about a half-million homes with Deako technology to-date, many homeowners are not aware their homes include this feature.

“Our email unsubscribe is pretty high because lots of these people wonder why they are receiving marketing from Deako. They might not know who we are. We wanted to try postal mail as a channel to reach out to homeowners directly at their addresses.”

Amie Hsu
Head of E-Commerce, Deako Lighting

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The Solution: HubSpot Driven, Automated Direct Mail

Deako already had HubSpot in place as their CRM and marketing automation platform. The tight Postalytics integration with HubSpot was an attractive characteristic that provided the company with instant direct mail capabilities. They could venture into this new-to-them channel while avoiding the normal hassle of finding a direct mail designer, a print/mail service provider, or coordinating with the US Postal Service. Without Postalytics, launching a campaign using traditional direct mail can translate to companies spending weeks–as opposed to only days–getting their direct mail out the door. 

Postalytics Onboarding Services Lay the Foundation for Success

The Postalytics implementation was nearly seamless. In an onboarding call, the Postalytics customer success team helped Deako’s marketing team connect to their HubSpot account,  and run a test campaign. Postalytics’ vast collection of knowledgebase articles and guides were also helpful in answering questions, such as artwork specifications for the graphic designer.

Deako also liked Postalytics’ ability to do small-batch mailings from HubSpot lists (Smart Sends) and individual mail via HubSpot workflows (Triggered Mail). They immediately realized potential benefits to both approaches. 

Highly Targeted Mailers For Different Demographics

It may seem that details concerning most marketers, like buyer demographics, wouldn’t be important to Deako because they have a captive audience, but that is not the case. Some builders specialize in homes targeted to a specific type of buyer, such as aging-in-place. Deako’s messaging to that group will differ from the approach they might take with a first-time home buyer, for instance. Deako can incorporate these differences in their direct mail piece copy & graphic design, and vary product recommendations based on the target audiences.

The Results

5% Conversion Rate Winner From Easy-Offer Testing
In Deako’s first Postalytics Smart Send campaign, they tested three different offers: a free switch vs. a dollar-amount discount vs. a percentage discount. Of the three, the free product offer performed the best, with a conversion rate of 5%. Not bad for the company’s first venture into direct mail! The 6” x 9” postcard format they chose included personalized QR codes, a powerful Postalytics feature included in all plans, which allowed Deako to track and monitor results right down to the individual customer level.

Mail Delivery & Response Events Drive Sales Outreach

As the mail pieces are being received and interacted with, HubSpot workflows alert Deako’s inside sales team to follow up, even with customers who scanned the QR code but did not claim the offer. The company also takes action with customers who received the postcard but did not engage. The sales team sends timely, personal emails to these people, referencing the offer and inviting the customers to learn more about the benefits of Deako switches.

Personalized Postcards Outperform Email & SMS
Interestingly, Deako’s analysis of the campaign showed that the response rate from people who had never opened a Deako email was essentially the same as from the group that had previously engaged with the company. The personalized postcards outperformed the email and SMS channels, and worked equally well for both groups.

Next Steps – More HubSpot Workflows Driving Triggered Direct Mail

The company plans to continue exploring different ways to leverage the power of HubSpot-driven direct mail, including integration with other channels.

“We want to embed direct mail into our ongoing automations,” says Ms. Hsu. Our ‘Welcome Home’ drip campaign is currently executed only through email and SMS. We’d love to send those customers direct mail with an offer as well.”

Trying triggered direct mail and testing different offers to see what works best with Deako’s captive audience is next on the agenda as they expand their use of direct mail. The company also intends to further the use of demographic and geographic data to refine their direct mail campaigns, as well as personalize the imagery and offers per recipient – another big benefit of using the Postalytics platform.

Thinking of Adding Direct Mail? Automate & Succeed!

Amie Hsu and the team at Deako hadn’t previously used direct mail as a primary marketing channel. After trying out Postalytics, working with the client success team to integrate it with HubSpot, and testing initial campaigns, they discovered that automated direct mail can work for marketers without a direct mail background.

Especially for marketers who’ve invested in HubSpot, Postalytics makes it easy and economical for companies to get started in direct mail. With no minimum send sizes, automation, and excellent help and reference resources, companies in any industry—as well as marketing agencies—can now take advantage of the re-evolution of direct mail and the unique benefits it offers.

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