Customers today interact with brands across a wide variety of preferred platforms. They engage with them actively on social media, read emails, and also flip through their mail to find information about business openings and the latest sales. Marketing personalization can be an important part of this puzzle: helping brands reach out to their customers at precisely the right moments based on their activities across these various platforms.
Customers appreciate brands that use automation because they present the prospect with the information they need at precisely the right time. Organizations, therefore, drive more value from campaigns. Considering that only about 3 percent of mid-market businesses implemented marketing automation practices by 2014, the window is still wide open for brands who want to get to the front of their industry.
Using personalization with your mailings, however, requires careful consideration of the latest direct mail best practices. As you develop your campaign, do not neglect to consider the following factors.
Base your triggers on concrete, analyzed behavior
For trigger-based campaigns to be effective, they must be based on concrete statistics that reveal how customers behave at particular points in the buyer’s journey. Understanding the information that customers seek at each stage, how they behave on the various platforms, and their likely next step based upon the behavior they exhibit currently will also ensure that the direct mail automation campaign runs smoothly and produces the high yields desired.
Personalize the mailing to demonstrate how you can help the individual
Personalization remains the driving factor behind all forms of modern marketing, including direct mail. Customers respond better when they feel as though businesses take a direct interest in their needs. A survey of large businesses found that 60 percent of campaign respondents came from campaigns that were personalized or at least segmented.
Brands that show through their advertising that they keenly understand the prospect’s pain points and that they have the insight needed to solve them will be the ones that engage the user. Personalize direct mail campaigns based on interactions with other forms of advertising, demographic and geographic factors. Consider your target ideal personas and use regional demographic data to find the optimal populations to target.
Integrate with the rest of your marketing strategy
Automated messaging works best when it has been integrated with other marketing principles. For example, letters that are generated based upon particular browsing online or opening certain emails will show a far greater insight into what the customer wants to read than simply sending a mailing to a certain neighborhood. Make sure you collect data points on your key prospects based on a variety of different sources.
Do not neglect the visual appearance of the mailing
Although the mailing will now already offer key advantages, since it has been triggered by specific user behavior and reflects personal data points, that does not mean the conversion will come easily. The direct mailer itself must still be designed to catch the eye and engage the prospect from those first few words they scan. Cards that offer appealing deals or information alongside images that instantly attract people will help drive the well-planned campaign forward.
Getting personalized direct mail marketing to work for you
- Remember to base your strategy on well-studied statistics to find the optimal triggers
- Personalize your mailing so customers know you care about them
- Integrate with the rest of the marketing strategy to effectively engage users across all platforms
- Do not neglect the visual appearance of the mailing
Trigger-based direct mail marketing best practices can take brands even further with their direct mail campaigns by correctly targeting those most likely to want a particular type of deal or information. Brands that use these strategies will be able to enhance their ability to actively engage their customers and take their marketing to the next level. Reach out to Ballantine today to learn more about how we can help you maximize your marketing investment. With experience across a variety of SEO industries, we have the insight you need to move forward.
I'm the Director of Digital Services and Partner at Ballantine, a family-owned and operated direct mail & digital marketing company based in New Jersey. and started in 1966 by my great uncle!
