60% of consumers say no to making a purchase at least 4 times before saying yes. This proves that following up with any marketing campaign is essential, including following up with direct mail marketing.

The truth is, direct mail advertising is an extremely effective form of marketing and there are only a few reasons why it might not be working, including an improper design, the wrong audience, and of course, not following up on your direct mail campaign. 

Let’s take a look at the importance of following up and some successful ways you can follow up on your direct mail advertisements that will result in an increase in sales.

Why Creating a Follow-Up Timeline for Direct Mail Advertising Is Important

While direct mail advertising receives on average a 9% response rate (higher than all digital marketing efforts) and a 112% return on investment, there are a few things that need to be done to ensure such amazing results, including having a direct mail follow-up timeline in place.

The Benefits of Following Up on Direct Mail Marketing

Stronger Customer Relationships: Reaching out to prospects and customers multiple times shows that you’re committed to helping them and that you’re ready to provide them with your product or service when they’re ready.

Better Brand Awareness: When your audience sees and interacts with your brand multiple times, it makes your brand more recognizable and memorable.

More Conversions and Sales: Because following up results in better brand awareness, it also results in your brand being top of mind when it comes time for a recipient to make a purchasing decision.

Better Chances of Repeat Business: Once someone makes a purchase thanks to your direct mail advertisement, you shouldn’t stop there. Send a follow up offer, or simply a thank you note which will result in persuading them to come back.

Effective Ways to Follow Up After A Direct Mail Campaign

No matter how you take advantage of direct mail marketing, always make sure you’re optimizing your campaign through a seamless and effective follow-up strategy.

Here are a few strategies you can use to follow up on your direct mail advertisements:

Send A Follow Up Direct Mail Piece

Because direct mail already receives the highest response rates compared to email, social media, paid search, and online display ads, sending a follow-up direct mail advertisement is the perfect follow up marketing strategy.

You may see impressive results from your 1st direct mail advertisement, but you will always see even better results from your 2nd, and amazing results from your 3rd.

Send A Follow Up Email

While following up on direct mail with direct mail is very effective, it’s also extremely beneficial to combine offline and online marketing. In fact, campaigns that take advantage of direct mail and 1 or more digital forms of marketing can experience a 118% lift in response rates.

If it fits within your direct mail advertising budget, sending an email, then a direct mail piece, and then another email is the perfect way to follow up with your audience. If including additional direct mail messages doesn’t work out for your budget, then always follow up with emails and at least one other tactic like social media, phone calls, or both.

Below is an example of how you can implement direct mail, email, and outreach calls within your direct mail follow-up timeline:

Set Up an Automated Direct Mail Campaign

Creating a direct mail follow up timeline is extremely easy when you have the right tools.

Within your CRM or marketing automation platform, there are tools built for you to create automated campaigns using email, SMS, and social media. However, you can also integrate direct mail into your campaign using Direct Mail Integration. 

With this CRM integration, you can send your initial direct mail advertainments to a list of individuals within your CRM or marketing automation platform. From there, you can set up triggers where a follow up email is automatically sent, a notification to team members to make a call is sent, as well as triggered follow up direct mail pieces.

Follow Up Based on Responses

Tracking the results of your direct mail advertising campaign is an easy way to know how a recipient responds. For example, if you include unique discount codes on your direct mail advertisement, you can see whether someone responds to your offer or not.

For this direct mail follow-up strategy, it’s best to automate your follow-up campaign as mentioned above. For instance, if someone makes a purchase using a special discount code you can set up triggers so a thank you postcard is automatically sent. If someone does not respond you can enter them into a different strategy where a follow-up email is sent, a second direct mail piece, and then a notification can be sent to a sales representative to let them know it’s time to give the recipient a call.

Below is an example of how you can use marketing automation to perfectly follow up on your direct mail marketing campaign based on how your recipients respond.

How to Enhance Your Follow Up After A Direct Mail Campaign

Personalize Your Follow Up Message

Whether you follow up with direct mail, email, or a direct message through your social media handle you will gain better results if you personalize your message to be tailor made for each of your recipients.

For example, with email or direct messaging, starting out your message with “hey there” or “hello” will not grab your recipient's attention as well as adding in their name.

This goes for direct mail as well. In fact, personalized direct mail advertisements can generate a 135% increase in response rates, and with Variable Data Printing, adding customized elements like names, images, and more is easy and affordable.

Make It Easy for Your Audience to Respond

One of the easiest ways to make it easy for your audience to respond to your direct mail advertisement is to include QR codes that allow them to easily scan and visit your website.

This can also help you direct individuals to a specific page on your website that you have set up to track actions that are taken. For example, if someone visits your site and adds an item to their cart but then abandons it, you can send a follow up email to bring them back to your site. Or if they jump to a different page showing interest in a different product, you can send a follow up email offering details on the product they showed interest in.

QR codes and shortened pURLs are great ways to make it easy for your audience to respond. However, if your goal is to get your audience to call or email you, then make sure your phone number or email address stands out from the rest of your direct mail design. This will make it easy for your audience to navigate to your contact information, increasing the chances they reach out to you.

Make It Easy for You to Follow Up with Direct Mail Tracking

Depending on your direct mail campaign, you most likely need different direct mail follow-up strategies based on how your recipients respond. For example, if you’re promoting a new product and someone makes a purchase right away, you wouldn’t use the same follow-up messaging you would use for someone who ignored your direct mail advertisement.

To help make it easy for you to follow up appropriately on your direct mail campaign, you need to track your direct mail responses. Luckily tracking your direct mail campaigns is easy and there are a few options you can choose from including QR codes, call tracking numbers, pURLs, and coupons or discount codes.

Make Sure Your Team Is Ready

About 50% of sales go to the company that responds first. So, if your follow-up message requires your audience to email or call, then if a recipient reaches out, and you don’t respond in a timely fashion, chances are they’ll look elsewhere.

Make sure your customer service and sales team are all well informed of your direct mail advertising campaign and that they have the tools and knowledge to respond and close the deal.

For example, if you’re using marketing automation for your direct mail follow-up strategy, make sure to include triggered notifications to sales reps, or as individuals respond or receive your follow-ups to your direct mail campaign, that they are moved to specific marketing lists to make it easier for your team to follow up appropriately.

So, How Do You Follow Up with Direct Mail Advertising?

Following up on your direct mail campaign is essential for your entire marketing funnel. Whether you’re marketing to current customers or looking to convert prospects into customers, you need to follow up to gain the best results.

To get started on your direct mail follow-up strategy you can choose any of the above examples to ensure a successful campaign. For example, try a follow-up email, a 2nd direct mailer, and then another email. Or try social media, a 2nd and then 3rd direct mailer, a follow-up email, and then a phone call.

As long as you have a strong follow-up timeline for your direct mail advertising campaign in place that meets your goals and budget, you’ll experience better brand awareness, increased sales, and more.

To help make your follow up strategy easy and effective, click below to learn more about Direct Mail CRM Integration today!