Going Digital with Your Direct Mail Campaigns

Even with the growth of online and email advertising, direct mail marketing is still number one. According to Target Marketing’s Sixth Annual Media Usage Forecast, direct mail had the highest rate of new customer acquisition (34%), as compared to 25% for email marketing. However, there is plenty of room for you to add digital elements to your direct mail marketing campaigns.

You can increase your campaign’s ROI using QR codes, personalized URLs, and integrated marketing techniques.

Stamp on a QR Code

QR (quick response) codes make it even easier for potential customers to transition between your mailing and your website. They don’t have to type in a URL or make a phone call – they just scan the code with their mobile device and it automatically takes them where you want them to go.

• Change where your QR code takes your customers – investing in a postage meter makes this process much easier, as printing and sending is at your discretion – change as often or as little as you’d like.
• Your QR code can lead customers to an audio or video file, a mobile coupon, your website home page, or a specific landing page with a personalized call to action.
• Just like with PURLs, QR codes are easy to track and give you important information for your campaign metrics.

Utilize Integrated Marketing

Direct mail, telephones, text messaging, social media, email: the multitude of marketing channels now available provides you with a distinct advantage when you integrate your campaigns across multiple channels.

A study by the Direct Marketing Association found that “customers who buy from two channels (vs. just one) are between 20 and 60% more valuable, while triple-channel buyers are 60-125% more valuable.” There are several techniques you can use to integrate your direct mail marketing with digital channels.

• Each potential customer has a particular set of marketing channels to which they prefer to be contacted. By integrating your various marketing strategies with a consistent message and call to action, you are more likely to effectively reach new clients.
• You can coordinate direct mail and email marketing campaigns to complement each other. For example, you can send an email reminder a week after clients receive your mailing, encouraging them to respond. Or, you can send an initial marketing email, then follow up by sending a direct mail piece to those who didn’t respond to the email.

Connect With Personalized URLs

One of the most important lessons that direct mail marketers can learn from digital and social marketing is the impact of personalization. You already have the ability to target your mailings to a specific subset and to address them directly to your prospective customers by name.

Take the process one step further by utilizing personalized URLs in your mailing’s call to action. A personalized URL (PURL) is a unique web address that directs users to a landing page tailored specifically to that user.

• You can use your customer’s name in the PURL in order to further amplify the effect of the personalization. Or, you can use a special code that takes less time for the user to type into their browser. Either PURL can lead to a landing page specifically tailored to that individual and containing a clear call to action.
• Utilizing a unique url for each potential customer helps you track which individuals respond to your mailing and which ones result in a conversion. The more metrics you can track in a marketing campaign, the better you can tailor it to appeal to your customers.

Going digital with your direct mail campaigns can help you engage potential customers, create a streamlined and complementary marketing campaign, and track your results with more metrics. Use emails, PURLs, and QR codes to bring your direct mailings into the digital age.

Megan Webb-Morgan is a web content writer for ResourceNation. She writes about small business, focusing on topics such as business sales. Follow Resource Nation on Facebook and Twitter, too!