Gone are the days of treating direct mail as its own channel. Today, clever CRM managers integrate all offline and online channels into one smart workflow.
But some of the best omnichannel marketers still struggle to power direct mail with their CRMs. Without a print shop in-house, many marketers cede control to outside vendors to design, create and mail postcards—resulting in inefficiencies and lags further separating direct mail from integrated campaigns. But with the right technology, like Inkit’s CRM integrations, marketers can bridge this gap.
Read on for three ways marketers use Inkit with their CRMs to automate direct mail and integrate postcards into larger omnichannel workflows.

3 Ways Your CRM Can Power Postcards

1. Trigger Direct Mail Based on Behavioral Data

To truly automate postcard marketing, use Inkit with one of our CRM partners (we’re adding to this list all the time). This allows you to add direct mail triggers, making it no harder to send a postcard than an email.
When would you trigger a postcard vs. an email? There are many times during your customer’s journey that a tangible piece of marketing collateral is more effective than a digital message. Here are a couple postcard triggers we recommend:

• The re-engagement postcard: You’re probably already triggering emails when new customers sign up or when existing customers cancel or go dormant. When these emails fail to elicit a response, resist the urge to spam inboxes. Set up welcome/reactivation postcard triggers instead.

• The loyalty postcard: Direct mail and loyalty programs go hand-in-hand. Some of Inkit’s most successful customers send postcards to thank customers and to remind them of loyalty points. Direct mail is more personal than email, eliciting a more significant emotional response, so it could be just the tool your loyalty program needs.

2. Send Hyper-Targeted Postcards with Smart Segmentation

You can send highly personalized direct mail even if your CRM doesn’t have a full integration with Inkit just yet. Simply pull a CSV from your CRM and upload it into Inkit’s plug-and-play dashboard. Many of our customers keep postcard campaigns ready-to-go in the dashboard (often simply re-purposing emails as postcards), so they can pull a list and send a mailer in a matter of minutes. While this method isn’t quite as automated as workflow triggers, the speed-to-market still beats the old-school method of working with brick-and-mortar direct mail vendors. Just hit “send” and we’ll print and mail your postcards almost instantaneously.

• Social + Direct Mail Retargeting: Facebook and Instagram retargeting are excellent tools for increasing customer engagement and value. Adding direct mail to this mix can give you a great boost. (A Canada Post study found direct mail + digital increases brand recall by 10% and emotional response by 5%). Simply pull the same list you’ve built for social retargeting for a direct mail campaign.

• Reactivation Campaigns: Direct mail has a great track record when it comes to improving retention and win-back rates. Use your CRM to move customers into a direct mail reactivation list at specified points in the customer lifecycle (such as 30 days inactive and when they stop responding to an email sequence). Learn more about using direct mail for reactivation here.

3. Capture and Funnel Direct Mail Data into Your CRM

Few marketers think of direct mail when they’re looking for ways to learn about their customers. However, with extremely high open and response rates, direct mail can be a key channel for this. Add a digital tie-in to every piece of direct mail to ensure you are always gathering data. With advancements in personalization, there are a number of ways to do this, from QR codes to landing pages to coupon codes. LendingClub actually sends mailers to prescreen consumers for creditworthiness.
Wondering if Inkit has an integration planned with your CRM?