Future of Direct Mail

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Future Of Direct Mail Marketing And Why Is It Important For Your Business?

Electronic brands keep launching new product versions every year. For instance, Apple recently launched the new iPhone 14 series. And you always have that friend who says it is all a marketing gimmick. It is not all for a scheme. With new launches, Apple wants future-proof its products. Similarly, business organizations must prepare themselves for the future of direct mail campaigns.

Some may not know this, but direct mail has come a long way from what it used to be. You already have advanced automated solutions like PostGrid that lets its clients send over 10,000 mail automatically every month. However, the future of direct mail extends way beyond automation, and below, we are discussing the same in great detail.

Is The Future Of Direct Mail Digitally Powered?

The future of practically everything is digital. You can already see it happening to every other print media. Instead of books, we now use Kindle, digital news instead of newspapers, and we even have giant 3D screens instead of large billboards. Hence, it seems pretty safe to say that the future of direct mail is digitally powered.

How can we say that for sure? Well, because the truth is that the future of direct mail is already here. According to Napco Research, eight out of ten marketing executives saw a better result when they incorporated direct mail with their digital marketing efforts. 

Direct mail with a QR code finds its way into the hands of 84% of 2 Gen Z, which takes them directly to the online brand. And out of this, almost 40% of the campaigns could generate a positive ROI. Moreover, we say the future of direct mail is digitally powered because we already have fully-automated direct mail systems like PostGrid.

Digitally powered direct mail campaigns are significantly more effective and efficient than traditional ones. Unlike traditional direct mail campaigns, there is no need for human or manual involvement in a fully automated mailing process. Now, if that doesn’t sound like the future of direct mail, we don’t know what does.

The Future Of Direct Mail Is In Meaningful Online Experience

Direct mail is always associated with personal experience. Unlike email and text,t messages manage to create an emotional response from the user. Direct mail enjoys a 5x to 9x higher response rate than any other form of advertising channel. But, that is hardly the future of direct mail because direct mail was always a highly responsive marketing channel.

The challenge with direct mail was never about getting noticed or generating a response. If you think about it, the real challenge is in streamlining the customer’s experience after they decide to respond. A reply envelope or a traditional toll-free number can hardly help enhance the customer experience. It is here that the future of direct mail comes into the picture.

You see, the future of direct mail is not merely about automation. Direct mail marketing works best when it is a part of a multi or omnichannel campaign. Why? Because this way, you can catch the target’s attention using direct mail and keep them engaged with a meaningful online experience. 

Including a QR Code in the direct mail alone could do wonders for your campaign’s response rate. Instead of dialing a too-free number or using a return envelope, the audience can visit your website or landing page directly. As you can guess, the future of direct mail needs to be fast, and a QR code accomplishes this.

For instance, if you are having a sale on your website, you can use the QR code to take the audience to the sale page. You can even use personalized direct mail to pitch the customer with offers based on their purchase history. You can already see all this with a tool like PostGrid, which is why we say the future of direct mail is already here.

QR Code Its Role In The Future Of Direct Mail

There are different ways you can implement print-to-digital touchpoints for your multi or omnichannel marketing campaigns. However, some combinations click with you. And are likely to be a part of the future of direct mail for the years to come. 

QR code is probably at the top of the list of things you can expect in the future of direct mail campaigns. You might remember that QR codes were not always in demand. They have made a tremendous comeback, especially since it no longer needs a standalone app to read them.

In 2022, we saw an increase in QR code scan numbers go up by a staggering 443% compared to the 2021 figures. It is no wonder that QR codes are the fastest-growing method of engagement in direct mail. In other words, the fastest-growing engagement device for direct mail uses digitally powered tools. Hence, QR code is the future of direct mail, and they will not change anytime soon.

QR codes are perfect as a CTA in direct mail. It is fast, convenient, and accurate, which is everything you need for the future of direct mail that is powered digitally. Moreover, the customer always has access to their smartphones. And last but not least, QR codes are super fast. There is no delay, and you get a quick window between the digital and real worlds.

On top of it all, you can customize QR codes. You can add your company logo and use varying colors and backgrounds. In other words, your QR code would represent your brand itself, and that, my friend, is the future of direct mail you need. 

PURL Or Personalized URL For Better Engagement

Another excellent approach you can use in your direct mail campaigns is PURLs or Personalized URLs. Employing PURLs is one of the most promising trends and the future of direct mail because it has a way of intriguing the audience. 

PURLs or Personalized URLs create a personalized microsite (like www.nothing.com/bobbyben) for every recipient. You can see why including such a PURL intrigues the recipient and urges them to open it. Using such PURLs is an excellent strategy for the future of direct mail as it appeals to the target in a more personalized way.

Moreover, personalization doesn’t just end with the URL. The microsite greets the recipient by their name. Even the content is personalizable for the recipient. In other words, the future of direct mail will take personalization to a new level.

You can quickly implement such a direct mail strategy using advanced direct mail automation software like PostGrid. It would be best if you remembered that your online and offline efforts should align. So, your direct mail should have the same offering as the microsite. Additionally, the future of direct mail should maintain a consistent flow, especially for omnichannel campaigns. 

PostGrid can connect with your CRM solution and make direct mail personalization a breeze for your business. And since it automates the entire mailing process for your business, all of this takes only a few minutes after the initial setup. Hence, a tool like PostGrid is an integral part of the future of direct mail marketing.

Informed Delivery For Proof Of Delivery

Informed delivery is a USPS service that lets customers access a free digital image of the mail reaching their address on that day. It almost sounds like the future of direct mail is already here. USPS sends this digital preview to over forty-one million registered consumers all over the country. 

Even more interesting is that registered mailers have a 64% open rate! That’s significantly more than any email campaign you can execute. Currently, USPS allows you to view 

• The greyscale images of the mall’s exterior.
• The address side of letter-sized mailers.

Since USPS’s customers can already provide such capabilities, it is safe to assume that the future of direct mail is even brighter. With informed delivery, the consumers have the option to respond to your mailer even before they receive it. 

However, it can be a double-edged sword if your targeting is poor. In the future of direct mail, we can expect even more capabilities that make tracking easier for both the sender and recipients. And if you haven’t already guessed, such capabilities are always digitally powered.  

Reengaging Prospects With Digitally Powered Direct Mail

Engaging with prospective customers is no easy task; any marketer can vouch for this. Although re-engagements are relatively easier to accomplish, they are no cake-walk either. Nonetheless, direct mail still manages to make re-engagement easier for businesses. Hence, the future of direct mail is promising for your re-engagement strategies.

Moreover, engaging with prospects online is significantly more challenging. The digital world is so distracting that the customer receiving a notification is enough for them to disengage and abandon the cart. Hence, you can bet that the future of direct mail marketing is much more promising than digital marketing.

Direct Mail Over Email

Unfortunately, most business organizations are still stuck on the same-old email marketing campaigns. They fail to realize or accept that most marketing emails remain unopened until they get deleted. Furthermore, the future of direct mail could further streamline your marketing efforts in ways that email marketing can’t.

Let’s face it, email itself is a digital marketing channel, and there are only so many innovative uses you can use it. Even in its present state, email marketing has very little success in a re-engagement strategy. We are not saying that email or digital marketing is a lost cause. The future of direct mail marketing is dependent on digital channels, including email.

As mentioned above, the key is to grab the target audience’s attention with direct mail. Once the customer is intrigued by the direct mail and responds, you can rope them into your digital marketing strategy. In other words, the future of direct mail goes hand-in-hand with digital marketing.

Direct Mail Response Rates For Reengagement Strategies

According to DMA – Database Marketing Association, the response rate of retargeting via direct mail can be up to 25%. To those who don’t know this, the 25% response rate is vastly higher than any digital retargeting method. However, it is only a matter of time till other businesses realize this and jeopardizes the future of direct mail marketing.

eCommerce companies can significantly benefit from direct mail retargeting strategies. According to the data from Statista, you can reduce cart abandonment by around 14% using direct mail retargeting. As you can see, the future of direct mail retargeting has much potential. 

You can also try retargeting customers by focusing on the recipients that did not open or respond to your email message. It is a great way to target prospective customers based on their engagement with your brand. Hence, the future of direct mail depends on how innovatively you can use different channels together.

The Future Of Direct Mail In Delivering Extensive Content

The reason why the future of direct mail seems so promising is that digital channels support it. You can use a small postcard to deliver extensive content in any digital form, including videos and PPTs. The only thing you need to do is provide a QR code leading to the relevant landing page. 

Postcards are an excellent way for you to grab the target’s attention. You can use attractive images that convey your offer in a single glance. More importantly, you no longer need to worry about providing all minute details in the cramped-up space. Why? Because the future of direct mail marketing allows you to tell the extended story digitally.

In other words, the future of direct mail marketing combines the postcard’s urgency and the storytelling capability of online channels. Instead of filling up your business letters with multiple inserts to tell your brand story, you can add a QR code or PURL. 

Think of the landing page as somewhere you can put every information you would put in a letter as inserts. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can just put random pieces of information everywhere. You can’t expect the future of direct mail to be successful without adequately conveying the relevant information.

Ensure that you maintain a good flow of information on your landing pages and that every piece of information is relevant to the audience. As a result, you can boost your chances of getting a conversion using digitally powered direct mail. With technologies releasing every day, the future of direct mail may have even more scope for optimization. 

Pre-Validation Using Digitally Powered Direct Mail

Marketers who use direct mail as a part of their marketing efforts often tend to love and hate it at the same time. Direct mail is valuable because of its high response rate and ability to connect with the target audience emotionally. It is the core reason n why people believe in the future of direct mail marketing.

On the other hand, direct mail is not always a convenient marketing channel for businesses. Of course, things are very different if you have a direct mail automation solution like PostGrid. Arguably, advanced solutions like PostGrid are a step toward the future of direct mail marketing. However, PostGrid is a tool you can easily access here and now.

With advanced solutions like PostGrid, it becomes significantly easier to test various aspects of your direct mail marketing campaigns, such as:

• Audience 
• Design 
• Offer 
• Format
• Message

Even now, digitally powered direct mail helps you test the critical aspects of your direct mail campaigns. Hence, the future of direct mail is likely to be even more measurable than now. Indeed, wrinkles still need ironing with direct mail testing and pre-validation. However, with a little effort and a tool like PostGrid, you can quickly validate different elements of direct mail.

How To Ensure The Better Future Of Direct Mail?

Direct mail is no longer a traditional marketing channel as it has long crossed conventional limits. With advanced direct mail solutions like PostGrid, you are already accessing the future of direct mail marketing. Direct mail solutions like PostGrid optimize your direct mail operations significantly.

PostGrid facilitates your direct mail marketing efforts with advanced automation and tracking capabilities. The advanced capabilities it offers may make you feel like you can already access the future of direct mail campaigns.

Some of the features you can access using PostGrid’s direct mail automation that you may find helpful include the following.

• Metadata tagging.
• Direct mail history.
• Standard and intelligent mail tracking.
• Editor for direct mail templates.
• Bulk mailing via CSV file.
• Registered and certified mail.
• And more.

Looking at the features listed above, you can make an educated guess about the future of direct mail marketing. Soon, you will be able to access high-quality data directly from tools like PostGrid and run complex multi-or omnichannel campaigns almost entirely automatically. 

Hence, to secure the future of direct mail, it is best to invest in an advanced direct mail solution like PostGrid. With a solution like PostGrid, it is possible to evolve your direct mail campaign and digitally powered solutions for the best results.

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