Interactive Direct Mail Ideas & Examples

Top 15 Interactive Direct Mail Ideas and Examples

1. Use Oversize Envelopes and Postcards

Oversize envelopes and postcards stand out from other mail items easily. Clearly, they get more visibility and attention. Sending oversize mailers is one of the best interactive direct mail ideas as they have the highest response rate of 5%. There are many oversize postcard sizes available such as 5” x 8”, 6” x 9”, and 6” x 11”. They are all effective in boosting responses and can be sent through the USPS at letter rates.

Such creative direct mail ideas are seen to be used by many big companies. For example, Adobe sent out large-sized postcards to their subscribers as a renewal reminder.

2. Incorporate Variable Data Printing

Personalizing seems to be very basic, but it is one of the most effective direct mail marketing ideas. Incorporate variable data printing for using your prospects’ interests in an interactive way. Target them based on their own preferences and choices. For instance, you can send personalized mailers to users who have abandoned their shopping carts. Though sending email follow-ups and reminders is convenient, drafting a personalized direct mail item mentioning their selected items can renew users’ interest. You can even offer a discount to motivate users to complete checkouts.

Even adding a person’s name to a mail piece can attract responses. Using certain demographics and geographics can increase the chances of your conversion drastically.

3. Drive Online Traffic

Continuing the last point, you can add personalized URLs or unique QR codes which take the recipients to their personalized landing page on being scanned. QR codes are a better choice as customers can directly scan them through their phones and reach the landing page instead of having to type the entire URL.

Through this method, you can also drive online traffic to your website and social media pages. You can combine interactive direct mail ideas with social media and email marketing to get in touch with more people and raise awareness. The more marketing channels you deploy, the better are your chances of landing customers.

Brands can also include certain hashtags and ask their recipients to post images of the mailer along with the hashtags. Elsewise, you can give your prospects a task and ask them to post the results on their social media handles with the hashtags. This kind of customer-generated content is more engaging and can drive online traffic effectively.

4. Include an Upfront Call-to-Action

Direct mail items without an upfront call-to-action can be worthless. You need to mention what you want from your audience clearly. Some examples are:

• Call today for a 10% discount on your first purchase
• Set up an appointment through the link given below
• Sign up on our website
• Visit our store with this mail piece to avail of the buy one get one free offer

By mentioning such things, you inform your audience that a particular action is expected from them. Hence, the purpose of your mail gets clarified.

5. Print in High Quality

In order to conduct an interactive direct mail campaign, make sure that your printing capabilities are top-notch. Blurred images or ink bleeding can create a bad impression and make your audience lose attention easily. You need to keep your direct mail recipients hooked for them to take the desired action. It can be achieved when your printing quality is excellent, and everything on your mailpiece is bright and eye-catching. Many people save mailers and stick them on their refrigerator doors.

6. Form Personal Connections

Try and form personal bonds with your prospects so that they see a glimpse of their own life through your mailers. Most home loan providers add photos and quotes related to happy families to make people emotional and form a personal connection with them. Direct mail marketers should make their audience feel that they understand their needs and have the exact solutions to them.

7. Send Mailers to Inactive Members

Some marketers are so busy brainstorming ideas for direct mail campaigns that they forget about their old customers. Customer retention is vital for business sustainability and growth. Hence it is important to keep in touch with your old or inactive customers who haven’t done business with you in a long time. You need to interact with them equally as much as you interact with your new prospects. This way, you can get repeat business easily.

While sending marketing messages to old customers, ask for feedback and propose new ways to conduct business with them. This feedback can help you win your customers back and serve them better. Marketers can also send thank-you letters and postcards as an appreciation gesture.

8. Use an Interactive Copy

The copy is yet another important part of your mailer. It has the power to communicate your message to people interactively and persuade them to complete the said CTA. Make sure that the copy takes in consideration the needs of your audience and is focused on providing solutions. You can even add a pinch of humor and create witty content to grab your audience’s attention in a fun way. Such interactive content can help your brand accomplish goals and get some valuable engagements. Use catchy titles and select easy-flowing words.

9. Focus on the Imagery

It is all in the image. Graphics play an important role in designing interactive direct mail. Therefore, you need to focus on graphics extensively, especially on the imagery part. The images that you select should be based on your messaging. Images create a sense of trust and make people relate to them.

In one of their direct mail marketing campaigns, PayPal sent out postcards focusing on their merchant services. They used an image of a man relaxing peacefully as a demonstration of using their services. The image went well with their message and stressed the fact that users can enjoy their services without any hassles. These postcards used by PayPal are a great direct mail design inspiration.

10. Add Testimonials

By adding testimonials, you include real-life reviews and examples that are relatable. This way, you present your brand as real and trustworthy. The testimonials also convey that your products and services are being used by a lot of people. Therefore, your audience can gain confidence in your brand and think about giving it a try. Simply boasting about your brand can’t impress your prospects; testimonials give life to your brand and display it as a legitimate company.

Charles Schwab had put together a direct mailer consisting of insights from their existing customers. The mailer added value to their services and proved to be one of their most interactive direct mail pieces.

11. Create Urgency

If you are looking for some great direct mail promotion ideas, you should start by creating a sense of urgency. No matter what you are offering, make it time-bound. Include words like “Grab the Offer Before This Weekend” or “15% off Till 15th April.” This kind of urgency creation helps in triggering recipients and making them act immediately. It makes them feel that they have got hands at an excellent deal that is only available for a limited time period. If you leave the offer open-ended, your audience might not react instantly and simply forget about it after some time.

12. Emphasize on Benefits

People don’t always want to hear about your product features because they are often technical and unrelatable. Moreover, the long list of features may sound boring, and your recipients might never read them if you include these things in your mailer. How about adding real benefits that your prospects have been looking for? Marketers should always emphasize benefits rather than features. For example, you might not include the technical features of your bike carrier, but you can include the fact that it is lightweight and can be easily carried around.

13. Provide Value With Your Offer

Interactive direct mail campaigns are all about proving value to customers and gaining business. It should be two-way communication. If you expect your prospects to do something for you, it is expected that you offer something valuable in return. For instance, you can ask your direct mail recipients to scan a QR code for availing free delivery on their first three orders. Though it sounds too much, such offers form the base for strong customer relationships and long-term business.

Restaurants can offer free desserts on $20 meals, and banks can offer low-interest rates on their retirement plans. Every company can get more business by first offering something valuable. Offers should not be left alone. You should add a compelling CTA against an interesting offer. This way, you can get something for offering something as per your capability.

14. The Right Combination

Having discussed everything, let us talk a little about the right combination.

• Never add too many images or words.
• Maintain a balance between your texts and graphics and use appealing colors. Again, the use of too many bright colors can fail your campaign easily.
• Use direct mail interactive print combinations to mix fonts, colors, messages, and images rightly. They should not be too overwhelming for the audience. Hence, make sure to be creative and yet not overdo the entire thing.
• Images should match your messaging. Similarly, your choice of colors should match your template.

The right combination can keep your audience engaged and make them share the mailer with their family and friends.

15. Automate Direct Mail

All of the above interactive direct mail marketing ideas can be executed easily through automation. Using PostGrid’s print and mail API, you can design impressive postcards and letters along with getting them printed and mailed speedily. Automating direct mail campaigns can help you get rid of the manual tasks and focus more on direct mail ideas that can drive business and achieve goals.