New USPS Irresistible Mail website

 

Creating direct mail can be a challenge, as many marketers struggle to create effective messages. A great place to start is to take a look at what others are doing to either grab good ideas or to avoid bad ones. Recently, the USPS launched an “irresistible” direct-mail themed website to help generate ideas. Some of these ideas are decidedly high tech, but even if you don’t go that route, they illustrate how an effective direct-mail piece can be more than words and images on a paper. Here are a few ideas from the USPS to make your direct-mail irresistible: 1. QR Codes provide access to many forms of online content from the direct-mail piece. They can link to websites or to videos for more information or to landing pages for purchasing. While the promise of QR codes has not met matched the hype from a few years ago, they can still be an effective tool for selected usages. 2. Use direct mail to expand the reach of social media. Advise recipients how to connect with your social-media channels and ensure they can make purchases directly from them. 3. Near-field communication (NFC) gives users an interactive experience on a mobile devices, without an app download. Like QR codes, NFC is unlikely going to became a mainstream direct-mail technology, but for certain highly visual or engaging activities, it could be a great marketing technology. 4. The USPS demonstrates an embedded video in a direct mail piece with a paper-thin screen, a URL to live stream content or visuals coming alive on the page with video-enhanced print. 5. Augmented reality creates interactive experiences by layering digital graphics over reader’s surroundings. You can oncorporate a visual trigger into mail pieces for customers to activate with any smartphone’s camera. The effect is an interactive experiences bringing vivid dimension, movement, and power to your product and demos. 6. Formats present unique and tangible was to grab attention, and boost response rates. Think of different folding options, inserts, sizes and other ideas. They are many options to get pieces to stand out in the mailbox. 7. If videos and multimedia content aren’t in your direct-mail plans, rest easy. Good old analytics are the key to most successful direct-mail campaigns. Trackable and targeted direct-mail pieces can show you what’s working and what needs improvement. 8. Of course, variable data printing (VDP) is one of the  best ways to make each piece relevant to each recipient. The USPS cites data from the Digital Printing Council, noting, “Using VDP to personalize your mail pieces during the color print process outperforms standardized mail by 500%.” Whenever you add extra features to direct mail, like the ones listed above, you are adding to its appeal. (Just don’t use them all in the same piece!) The more visually appealing or tactically interesting a piece, the higher value recipients will perceive, and engagement will increase. Higher engagement means better response rates and boosted ROI. Get creative and provide a great experience to your recipients. By Mark Pageau, vice president, sales and marketing email: mpage@darwill.com Twitter: mpageau