Automated direct mail software is technology that enables you to send direct mail more efficiently and reduces the redundancies associated with legacy direct mail workflows. For enterprise marketers, this can include trigger automation to send out direct mail, integrations with your customer relationship management (CRM) or marketing automation platform, and tracking of each mailpiece amongst other benefits. It's usually third-party software that seamlessly integrates with the rest of your marketing tech stack.
Direct mail software makes it simpler to create, trigger, track, and measure your direct mail campaigns.
While direct mail has been long before many martech solutions, it doesn't mean it can't benefit from automation. In fact, enterprise marketers find that automating their direct mail workflows increases efficiency and reduces the redundancy often found in legacy direct mail workflows. This increase in efficiency and seamless integration with existing marketing tech stacks enable marketers to make direct mail part of their omnichannel marketing strategy which can increase the effectiveness of all their channels.
For example, by pairing your direct mail campaign with data from your CRM or marketing automation platform, you can personalize and customize your direct mail just as you would emails.
The bottom line? Automated direct mail software makes your offline channel as agile and measurable as your digital marketing.
One of the great advantages of direct mail software is campaign tracking. At a basic level, you should be able to see when each mailpiece is sent, where it is in delivery, and when it has been successfully delivered (or returned from a bad address).
More advanced direct mail software will also allow you to track which individuals responded to your mailpiece using personalized URLs, QR codes, or custom discounts. At a campaign level, you will be able to review which groups of recipients responded to your mailers and adjust accordingly. In addition, when your direct mail software is integrated with your CRM and marketing automation platform, the information will be logged at the contact level enabling a host of possibilities.
Direct mail tracking is one of the basic tenets of automation software, and it is also one of the most powerful ways to integrate your campaigns into your customer journey, just like the rest of your digital marketing touchpoints.
Direct mail software can be used for both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) marketing. While the software is often the same, the way enterprise marketers leverage it may differ depending on your strategy. Let's take a look at some of the key differences.
B2C marketing teams have been sending mail directly to consumers since long before the internet was even a gleam in anyone's eye. Because of that, their direct mail campaigns are often more complex and larger scale than a business-to-business marketing strategy.
For retailers, banks and financial institutions, and healthcare, direct mail software can help keep track of complex interactions. For example, you may want to set up campaigns with different wording for consumers living in urban apartment settings than their rural counterparts. Or you may need to track postcard advertisements for one campaign while ensuring customers receive crucial financial statements in business envelopes in another. Direct mail software helps you deliver customized, just-in-time messaging to each of your consumers, no matter where they are on your customer map.
In comparison, B2B marketing is usually less focused on converting a single individual than winning over an entire buying committee. Direct mail often fits in as part of an account-based marketing strategy to make sure the brand is top of mind with everyone on the buying committee.
Direct mail software incorporates your mailers into your automated omnichannel campaigns. For example, by integrating your direct mail campaigns with your sales cadence software, you can set up an automation so that when it has been three days since anyone in the account opened an email from your salesperson, they all receive a customized mailer reminding them of your company's competitive advantages.
No matter what kind of at-scale direct mail campaign you are planning, automated software will help you deliver more efficiently.
Direct mail software costs will vary depending on the platform you select. Some pricing may be based on how many mailpieces you plan to send within a month, quarter, or year. Others are on a subscription model and include a user-based model that gives you access to a more advanced platform of technology.
When considering direct mail software costs, take into consideration how much you will spend per mailpiece, the time your team would spend trying to manually accomplish the tasks that the software automates, and added benefits the software can offer.
There's no question that automated direct mail software helps enterprise marketers deliver smarter, more efficient offline campaigns. If you are ready to start shopping for a software provider, then you can begin by considering:
Once you and your team are agreed on these priorities, it's time to get shopping. A good rule of thumb is to talk to at least three providers to make sure you understand the market before selecting the right direct mail software for you.
At Lob, we have direct mail experts on hand to answer all your questions. Reach out here.