As a mail service provider, what is it your customers want from you? Advice-wise, I mean. When they send you a pre-production mockup to preview, they want to know if they designed it to postal requirements. Is there room for an address? Can they have printing in the corner of the mail piece? Is the permit number right?

If the aspect ratio is a problem or it’s got the wrong ancillary endorsement, they will be grateful for your advice. You’re a valuable resource.

However, if you tell them you don’t like their offer, or that you think their call-to-action is weak, they are probably much less interested in your opinion. Believe me, I’ve been there.

“I’m no marketing expert,” I explained to my customer, Michelle, one time. “But most of our customers find it more effective to have the sales letter as the top insert.”

Michelle expressed her appreciation for my opinion. “You’re damn right you’re no marketing expert! We have tested letter placement for 10 years. Put the letter where I told you to put it. Do you need me to write that down?” I did not.

Even if customers may not cherish us punching up their sales copy, is there great advice we can offer them, other than interpretations of the Domestic Mail Manual, or explaining what envelope will fit in what other envelope? The mail service provider is the control center of the mail campaign process – there’s a lot we can offer.

A Link to Digital Channels

Mail pieces tend not to have “buy now” buttons on them. To respond to your offer, the consumer needs to do something. Maybe they need to call an 800 number, or mail in an order, or go to a website. The perfect offer sent at the perfect time to the perfect prospect still risks ending up on the kitchen counter awaiting a later response that never happens. Making it easy and compelling to reply is essential. QR codes can be a powerful tool for boosting response. In most cases a consumer has their smart phone nearby as they leaf through their mail. A quick scan of the QR code comes about as close as possible to putting that “buy now” button on the mail piece. There are ways to optimize the effectiveness and value of QR codes:

• Create a compelling reason for a prospect to click on the QR code. “Click here to learn more,” is not very compelling. “Scan this QR code for a chance to win,” is better.
• Make the QR code personal. With digital ink jet printing, it is a simple matter to print a unique QR code on each piece leading to its own unique web landing page. When a consumer clicks on the QR code, they can be identified as soon as they visit. The landing page can be personalized to them – even prepopulated so all the consumer needs to do is say “yes!”
• Place the QR prominently on the mail piece. Yeah, it’s ugly, but you want your prospect to know it’s there.

Let the Postal Service Send a “Buy Now” Button for You

Informed Delivery is an amazing coordinating digital channel the Postal Service will give you for free. In fact, you basically get paid to use it – in the form of a postage discount. Every Informed Delivery ad carries a clickable ride-along ad that will take your prospects directly to a landing page. Give prospects a reason to click – “Click here to get your double savings code!” You can even personalize clicks from the ride-along, just as you can with a QR code.

Best of all, Informed Delivery ads are coordinated with the delivery of the mail to deliver an extra impression as well as an opportunity to respond.

Coordinate A Variety of Channels – Track and Trigger with Mail Tracking

The mail service provider can coordinate many of the channels in a multi-channel campaign. Direct mail is often the most expensive component of the campaign, and probably the least predictable in terms of timing. If different channels fall too far out of sync with one another, the campaign can lose the synergy associated with multi-channel offerings and just end up as separate efforts not supporting one another.

Mail tracking can be key to coordinating campaigns. Use the delivery day of the mail piece as a trigger event for your other channels: email, outbound telemarketing, and even local TV and radio. Mail tracking firms may allow you to create daily “trigger” files used to coordinate the other channels in the campaign.

Think About All of the Channels All the Time

In a campaign with multiple channels, each channel should support the other channels. When you design the mail piece, be aware that the first view many will get of it is on their phone. Make sure the address side will be compelling when viewed at a tiny scale. Landing pages should carry similar branding so prospects will recognize that different channels go together. If you can engage elements from one channel with another, you can build synergy and make almost a game of the campaign – “Enter the code found only on the back of your mailer here to be eligible for a free ….”

So, When You Want to Give Your Client Advice Other Than the DMM…

As the mail service provider, you should ask them about their other marketing efforts. Show them how they can connect them to physical mail with QR codes, Informed Delivery, coordinated emails, and more. Let them know they can personalize that QR code. Show them how you can help develop and execute the tactics of the campaign while they focus on strategy.

That is advice they can value and appreciate. Helping your customer proactively with tactical advice helps build great customer relationships. Every MSP has a copy of the DMM, but you have something more to offer.

Dave Lewis is President, SnailWorks.

This article originally appeared in the January/February, 2025 issue of Mailing Systems Technology.