How to Follow Up After a Direct Mail Campaign

This might sound familiar: you launch your direct mail campaign, but you’re not getting your desired results. You’ve run analytics, tested your messaging, what time you send your marketing, and which audience would suit your business best.

But your postcards remain unanswered.

You’ve tried everything, so what’s preventing you from reaching your marketing goals? Maybe it’s your follow-up strategy.

Don’t have a follow-up strategy? We’ve got you.

Repetition is the key to success for your business. In fact, many prospects say no four times before they say yes. With your customers’ busy schedules and hectic lives, sometimes it takes being (politely) persistent to get their attention.

Don’t worry, it’s entirely possible to remind your audience of your business’s value in a nice way. For your next direct mail campaign, before you expend valuable resources conceptualizing and executing a strategic direct mail campaign, try a few of the following strategies:

Email Drip Campaigns to Fill Out Your Marketing

Print and digital messaging, combined, is an incredibly powerful strategy. It’s like the dream team of marketing. When you send one or more follow-up emails to recipients who didn’t respond to your mailout, remember these essential elements:

• Brief Copy – Boil down your offer to the main idea with no frills
• Call to Action – Give your recipients a clear direction like “Call us today!” or “Order now!”
• Subject Line – Make them want to open your email

Social Strategy

Billions of people use social media regularly. Regularly posting engaging content is a great way to increase your brand’s awareness, especially when you use it alongside your direct mail campaign. Even better, social media is excellent for following up with your customers. Direct messages are highly accessible and casual. DMs are available on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other platforms.
Here’s an example of a DM:

Even if you don’t receive a reply, recipients will likely check your profile, so re-targeting via social media is a win-win!

Direct Mail Round 2 (Or 3)

Many direct mail strategies involve two or three rounds of messaging. Recipients will start recognizing and identifying your brand when you send a series of assets back-to-back. For maximum impact, plan an email communication between direct mail pieces like postcards.

Marketing Timeline Tango

When it comes to fruitful marketing, your timing is as essential as your audience. You can reach out to your ideal customer, but if you fail to meet them at a time they’re open to your messaging, you’ve still missed the mark.

For example, it’s not the best approach to follow up the same day the mail is scheduled to hit their mailbox. Maybe they haven’t checked the mail yet or had a chance to really look through everything. Here’s a solid campaign timeline:

Day 1: Direct mail arrives

Day 3: Email

Day 6: 2nd direct mail arrives

A week later: LinkedIn message

If you feel inclined, you can squeeze in a text message or extra email but don’t feel pressured to use every channel in every campaign. Some services, products, or seasons work best with specific messaging types. For example, summertime works well with a direct mail campaign because heading out to the mailbox is more of a treat.

A few bonus tips for conducting a stellar direct mail campaign:

• Pair mailouts with list-building tools to expand your reach.
• Optimize pieces with clear and clever copy, vivid images, and personalized touches.
• Track items through QR codes or trackable URLs

Follow-up Notes

Using direct mail campaigns as part of your multi-channel marketing approach is not at all a cumbersome or costly affair. Thanks to technology, today’s print gurus can automate, optimize, and dominate their marketing efforts. And so can you! With the right follow-up, your business will be unstoppable.

Xpressdocs has been empowering businesses to streamline and strengthen their marketing for over two decades. We have cutting-edge printers plus in-house mailing, a combination that makes our turnaround times some of the fastest in the industry, and our quality is unparalleled. Want to learn more? Reach out and schedule a demo today.

Blog originally published June 15, 2022.