Ebook
What great direct mail campaigns get right
Four lessons inspired by the winners of Lob's
inaugural Postmark Awards
What does it take to create an award-winning direct mail program? For some brands, it's creative
that makes an impression long after someone opens their mailbox. For others, it's the ability to
personalize every message, connect mail to the broader customer journey, or reach new audiences
without adding operational complexity.
Lob's inaugural Postmark Awards celebrate brands raising the bar across design, personalization,
scale and more. Inspired by this year's winners, we've put together practical strategies to help you
bring some of that same thinking to your own direct mail program.
Design that earns a second look
Great direct mail creative does more than look beautiful. It captures attention, brings your brand to life, and gives customers a reason to engage. L'Occitane's award-winning mailpiece shows how thoughtful design can extend the brand experience from the mailbox to the boutique.
How to bring this approach to your next campaign:
- Bring your brand's signature look into the mailbox. L'Occitane uses rich imagery and its
recognizable beauty and lifestyle aesthetic to create a mailpiece that feels consistent with its boutiques. Choose two or three distinctive brand elements, such as photography style, colors, or typography, and carry them through your design. - Connect the mailpiece to the next experience. L'Occitane's mail helps bridge the experience
between the mailbox and the boutique. If you're driving store visits, feature a product or experience customers can discover in person. If you're driving online purchases, make the transition easy with
a clear URL or QR code. - Choose a format that complements your message. Think about how the physical mailpiece can
make your creative more engaging. For a premium product, consider high-quality paper and full-bleed photography. For a time-sensitive promotion, a bold postcard with an easy-to-spot offer
might work better. - Make the next step impossible to miss. Give your main message and CTA a clear place in the
design. Try the five-second test: Can someone quickly understand what you're offering, why it matters, and what to do next?
The winning play
Treat every mailpiece as an extension of your brand experience, with a clear purpose
behind every design choice.
Better together: Direct mail in the omnichannel mix
Great omnichannel marketing makes every customer interaction more relevant and connected. SimpliSafe shows how direct mail, email, and SMS can work together to deliver a more personalized, timely experience and measurable results.
How to bring this approach to your next campaign:
- Connect mail to your existing customer journeys. Look for opportunities to add direct mail to your email and SMS programs, rather than running it as a separate campaign. SimpliSafe uses Lob and Braze to coordinate these channels throughout the customer lifecycle.
- Let your channels work together. Mailing events flow from Lob into Braze, helping SimpliSafe time email and SMS follow-ups around when mail is expected to arrive. Try using delivery updates to trigger relevant digital messages instead of relying on a fixed schedule.
- Make your messaging relevant to the individual. Consider customer interests, behaviors, and lifecycle stage when choosing what to send. For example, SimpliSafe considers the type of security system a prospect is interested in so the offer matches their needs.
- Measure the impact of the entire journey. A customer might receive a mailpiece but ultimately convert online or over the phone. Use holdout testing and multiple conversion windows, to understand whether mail is driving incremental results across channels.
The winning play
Make direct mail part of a connected customer experience, where every channel
works together to deliver the right message at the right time – and customers can
respond however they prefer.
Design standout direct mail,
no coding required.
Bring your creative ideas to life with Lob's
No-Code Design Suite. Easily create,
customze, and personalize mailpieces with
an intuitive visual editor, no developers or design expertise required.
Personalization with a purpose
Personalization goes well beyond adding someone's name to a postcard. The best campaigns use customer data to make every mailpiece more relevant, from the products and offers featured to the timing of delivery.
How to bring this approach to your next campaign:
- Start with a meaningful customer signal. Use purchase history, browsing behavior, product
interests, or lifecycle milestones to identify what someone might need next. For example, a beauty brand like L'Occitane could recommend products based on past purchases rather than sending everyone the same promotion. - Personalize what matters most. Think beyond names and addresses to the offer, imagery, headline, or CTA. SimpliSafe considers which security system a prospect is interested in when choosing an offer, recognizing that someone shopping for a comprehensive system may have different needs than someone looking for a starter package.
- Make personalization easy to scale. Build flexible templates that let you swap out products, offers, imagery, or messaging without creating an entirely new mailpiece for each audience. Start with two or three variations based on your most valuable customer segments.
- Get the timing right, too. A relevant message is even more powerful when it arrives at the right moment. Test triggers like recent purchases, abandoned applications, or customer milestones. SimpliSafe is exploring how AI could eventually help determine the best time to reach individual customers.
- Test what actually makes a difference. Compare personalized mail against a generic version to see whether tailored offers, creative, or timing improve response and conversion rates. Use those findings to refine your next campaign.
The winning play
Focus on the details that make mail genuinely useful to each recipient, not
personalization for personalization's sake.
Think bigger, send smarter
Best Growth Campaign
Winner: Ramp
Scaling direct mail isn't just about sending more. It's about reaching new audiences, increasing campaign volume, and driving results without adding unnecessary complexity. Ramp's recognition for Best Growth Campaign highlights what's possible when direct mail becomes a scalable marketing channel.
How to bring this approach to your next campaign:
- Make campaign execution repeatable. Standardize audience preparation, creative templates, approvals, and reporting so you're not starting from scratch with every send. Focus your team's
time on improving performance, not managing repetitive tasks. - Automate more of the process. Connect direct mail to your existing marketing workflows to trigger sends based on customer actions. SimpliSafe's lifecycle approach is one example of how mail can become an ongoing program rather than a series of one-off campaigns.
- Expand your reach strategically. Use campaign performance and audience insights to identify promising new segments or geographies. Test smaller groups first, then scale what works.
- Keep an eye on efficiency. Track costs, delivery performance, and conversions as volume grows. Tools like Lob's Print Delivery Network and Postal IQ routing intelligence can help manage production and delivery more efficiently at scale.
The winning play
Build a direct mail program that can grow in reach and impact without growing in
complexity.
Your next winning move
Explore how Lob helps marketers create, personalize, automate, and scale direct mail programs that deliver measurable results.
Explore Lob's direct mail platform
