How to Integrate Digital with Direct Marketing

It’s a fact that including Direct Mail in a marketing campaign helps to increase the overall campaign ROI. At Romax we have several great case studies where the ROI has rocketed by 350%. But the question is how a company can use direct mail to reach those figures?

Let’s Start with the Basics

Mail is hard to ignore. According to the 2018 JIC Mail Report, the average UK householder receives 1.3 addressed mail and 3 unaddressed mail items per day, compared to 281 emails per day. So, including a piece of Direct Mail in a campaign will help your brand to stand out from the crowd.

If you want to know more about how Direct Mail works, you can find useful tips in our blog posts listed below:

• 2018 Direct Mail Facts & Figures
• 7 tips to increase your Direct Mail response rate
• 3 Ways to measure your Direct Mail campaign.

There are different ways to integrate Direct Mail with your digital campaign. Here is some advice on how to do it. How to tailor them to obtain a higher response and increase the ROI of the overall campaign:

Use Direct Mail as part of the Whole Campaign

You can use Direct Mail as another channel of your campaign. Or take a step further and use it as a channel that stands alone. The first option reinforces the other channels and helps the user to take an action on your website or store. The second one gives your mail an opportunity to present your brand or product/service in a way that it lasts for a while. The JIC Mail report also shows that 57% of householders open an addressed mail item and keep them for 28 days on average. So, you can create a printed communication that you know will have longevity.

For example, product catalogues help customers get to know your brand. It helps them to get a better understanding of your products and to make an informed decision. It can be either impulsive if you have a short promo or a meditated if they want to buy out of season.

Drive your users to Digital and other channels using Direct Mail

To integrate Direct Mail into your whole campaign it’s recommended to drive recipients to your key purchasing channels to have a result. The Mail and Digital study by Royal Mail MarketReach confirms that 92% of people move to digital as a direct result of receiving direct mail. Moreover, the study shows that 43% of people download something and 54% engage in social media.

You can drive them to download your app, visit a physical store, attend a live event or visit your website/landing page. Send them a sample, a catalogue, a voucher, or whatever you consider would help you to build a new database and increase sales and brand awareness.

Tailor your Direct Mail to suit your audience

How you present your direct mail will depend on the age and living standard of your audience. There is a series of advice that you can find for every type of customer. However, if you want that target audience to respond in all your channels, you would want to tailor your campaign, both on digital and direct marketing.

Young people have a high rate of response and sharing in communication on social media, so that should be one of the focuses with direct mail. Elderly couples have more time and prefer more detailed texts with proper grammar. Adapting your communication, on length, expected response or language that suits your audience will help you to have a higher global campaign ROI.

Personalised Direct Mail

Your customer will feel that you care about them if you personalise the communication to their needs. You can tailor your message for the group that your customer belongs to. But the personalisation message will grab their attention.

If you are already promoting your campaign on the digital, you can connect more with your audience with a personalised printed communication.

Hello “First name” is a good start, but if you are working with your database, you have a huge amount of information about your clients and their behaviour. You can personalise the content, images and more.

If you want to build your database, you can use a personalised door drop with location or redirect to a specific store or landing page. It can also help you to know the impact of this channel.

Stand out from the crowd

One advantage of incorporating Direct Marketing into your global campaign is that you can use different paper and finishing process to attract a sophisticated audience. Use embossing or foiling. If you want to stand out from competitors, use a thicker stock on your next postcard (we advise to use 530 gsm compared to a standard 350 gsm). There are multiple options in Direct Marketing that you can choose to offer the best user experience for your target group.

Automate your Direct Marketing Communication

To provide the best user experience for your future or returning clients, having personalised, automated communication is crucial. At Romax we work with companies who connect digital with direct marketing to send both, personalised electronic and printed communication. Examples include: welcome packs, including membership cards, welcome letters, periodic communications, the website generated responses and call centre responses. The impact on your customer's perception of your brand, as a result, is extremely positive. Helping to build trust and confidence for a long-term client relationship.