It’s time to get personal with your customers. No, no—we’re not talking about divulging the details of your personal life. We’re talking about using the power of print to personalize their offers! That’s where personalized direct mail comes in. Personalized direct mail can help you create a more personal connection to your target audience. It can increase engagement and even increase purchases or conversions. So what exactly is this “personalized direct mail,” and how does it work? Let’s dive in!
What is direct mail, and how do I personalize it?
Direct mail is a type of marketing that goes directly to your customer’s mailbox. Also called variable or personalized mail, this type of direct mail allows you to send a more personalized message rather than one mass message to your entire audience.
The personalization comes in when you utilize information you may know about the customer to send a special mail piece. This could include a name, information about where they live or an offer based on their previous purchases. Check out a robust list of ways that you can personalize direct mail below!
Direct mail? In a digital world? Why would I choose it?
When email and social media came around, many businesses jumped to adapt. And rightfully so! Digital marketing is a must in today’s marketing landscape. However, direct mail offers a way to stand out.
Consider how many emails you get in a day or how many social posts you see. Now compare that to the amount of mail pieces that show up in your mailbox on any given day. Direct mail is a great way to stand out, especially when you add personalization elements. For the best success, pair your personalized direct mailer with digital marketing efforts. This helps reach your audience multiple times in multiple ways so they recognize your brand and are further compelled to make a buying decision.
How do I get started?
Whether you call them by name or use some sort of collected data to better serve their needs, previous marketing campaigns have shown that personalization works. In fact, one study showed that by using three points of personalization or more, responses were improved by more than 1000%. Any improvement in responses is a good one, but 1000% is an incredible return!
So, let’s talk about how you can get started. When it comes to personalization, there are many things you can vary to personalize for your audience including:
- Name on the headline
- Images
- For example, does your audience live in a city? Don’t use imagery of rural living. Is your audience older or a certain ethnicity? Don’t use imagery of a younger generation with a different ethnicity. Cater your images to what you know about your audience.
- Salutations
- Personalized Offers
- Special Rates
- Donation Offerings
It all comes down to the systems you use to track this information and how you store and manage data. You’ll want to ensure that you have a system that can help maintain clean lists with correct information so that it makes personalization easy!
Personalizing your direct mail marketing efforts can make or break a successful campaign. By using variable data printing, you can change the text, graphics and images from one printed piece to the next, personalizing to match the data you desire from each recipient.
If you’re ready to take the next step, we can help! Contact us to see how we can help you develop fliers, postcards and any other print pieces you can dream up by strategically integrating them into your marketing approach. Together, we can make printed personalized pieces that wow!