Multichannel Marketing: Combining Direct Mail and Cold Emails

In today’s digital world, businesses are constantly seeking new and innovative ways to reach customers.

While platforms like social media, pay-per-click ads, and search engine optimization have become staples of any modern marketing strategy, some more traditional offline channels still hold significant power.

Direct mail and cold emails are two such channels that, when used together strategically, can form a highly effective multichannel approach to drive leads and sales.

Leveraging the Strengths of Each Channel

Direct mail and cold emails each have their own strengths that make them a compelling part of any marketer’s toolbox. Direct mail stands out for its physical, tangible nature that cuts through the digital clutter.

Receiving a personalized, well-designed postcard or letter in one’s mailbox still carries weight. Research has found that direct mail generates a 4x higher response rate than emails alone.

At the same time, cold emails offer massive scale and the ability to segment lists based on past behaviors and interests.

When used in tandem, direct mail can be used to prime prospective customers and generate interest, while follow-up emails nurture those leads and move them further down the funnel.

Creating a Multichannel Direct Outreach Strategy: Combining Cold Email and Direct Mail

Combining the personalized touch of direct mail with the scalability of cold email can create a powerful multichannel outreach strategy for B2B lead generation. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

1. Define Your Target Audience and Objectives:

• Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): Clearly define the demographics, firmographics, pain points, and motivations of your ideal customers.
• Set SMART Goals: Establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals for your campaign. For example, “Generate 50 qualified leads and schedule 10 demos within 60 days.”

2. Craft Compelling Messaging:

• Value Proposition: Clearly articulate the unique value proposition of your product or service and how it solves the specific pain points of your target audience.
• Personalization: Tailor your messaging to each prospect, referencing their company, industry, or relevant pain points. Use data points to show you’ve done your research.
• Call to Action: Clearly state the desired action you want prospects to take – visit your website, download a resource, schedule a call, etc.

3. Develop Your Direct Mail Piece:

• Choose a Format: Select a format that aligns with your brand and message, such as a personalized letter, a postcard with a compelling offer, or a dimensional mailer that stands out.
• Design for Impact: Use high-quality printing, eye-catching visuals, and a clear hierarchy of information to grab attention and encourage engagement.
• Integrate with Email: Include a teaser about the upcoming email in your direct mail piece to create anticipation and encourage recipients to look out for it.

4. Craft Your Cold Email Sequence:

• Email 1: Introduction and Value Offer: Start by referencing the direct mail piece they received, reiterate your value proposition, and offer a valuable resource or piece of content.
• Email 2: Social Proof and Case Study: Provide social proof in the form of testimonials or case studies that demonstrate how you’ve helped similar businesses.
• Email 3: Soft Close and Call to Action: Reiterate your value proposition, address potential objections, and include a clear call to action to schedule a call or demo.
• Email 4: Follow-Up and Reminder: If there’s no response, send a final follow-up email reminding them of your offer and expressing your willingness to connect.

5. Synchronize Timing and Sequencing:

• Direct Mail First: Send your direct mail piece a few days before your first email to create anticipation and increase the chances of your email being opened.
• Strategic Timing: Consider the best days and times to send your emails based on your target audience’s industry and typical work schedule.

6. Track, Measure, and Optimize:

• Use Tracking Mechanisms: Implement unique URLs, promo codes, or dedicated phone numbers to track responses and attribute conversions to specific channels.
• Monitor Key Metrics: Track email open rates, click-through rates, website traffic, lead generation, and conversions to measure the effectiveness of your campaign.
• Analyze and Refine: Continuously analyze your data and make adjustments to your messaging, timing, or offer based on what’s resonating best with your target audience.

Example Sequence:

1. Day 1: Send a personalized postcard teasing a valuable resource and mentioning an upcoming email.
2. Day 3: Send the first email referencing the postcard, introducing your company, and offering the valuable resource.
3. Day 7: Send the second email showcasing a case study of a similar company you’ve helped.
4. Day 10: Send the third email reiterating your value proposition, addressing potential objections, and including a clear call to action to schedule a demo.
5. Day 14: Send a final follow-up email reminding them of your offer and expressing your willingness to connect.

Key Considerations:

• Personalization is Key: The more personalized your messaging and offers, the more effective your campaign will be.
• Value-Driven Approach: Focus on providing value to your prospects at every touchpoint.
• Persistence Pays Off: Don’t give up too soon. It often takes multiple touchpoints to generate a response.
• Test and Optimize: Continuously test different elements of your campaign and optimize based on data.

By following these steps and consistently refining your approach, you can leverage the power of a multichannel direct outreach strategy to generate high-quality leads and drive meaningful business growth.

Developing an Integrated Multichannel Strategy

To truly maximize results, direct mail and email efforts must be carefully coordinated within an overarching multichannel strategy. Some best practices include:

• Using direct mail primarily as the initial outreach tool to introduce offers or build awareness, then following up via email. The physical direct mail piece helps validate the subsequent emails.
• Segmenting lists based on past purchase behaviors, website activity, or demographic data, then targeting different customized messages to each segment via the most relevant channel.
• Including clear calls to action in all communications directing recipients to a landing page or contact method to capture leads. Both direct mail and email should include URLs, phone numbers or reply cards.
• Testing creative elements like subject lines, copy, offers, formats and sequencing to optimize response rates across channels. A/B testing is key.
• Integrating email and direct mail campaigns with other channels like social media, web banners and search to create a consistent multichannel experience.
• Analyzing campaign performance data to improve future campaigns and further refine audience targeting and messaging.

Measuring Success and Driving Continuous Improvement

To ensure multichannel strategies continue generating value, marketers must closely track key metrics and refine efforts based on results. Some metrics that should be monitored include:

• Open, clickthrough and response rates for both direct mail pieces and emails. These indicate audience engagement levels.
• Lead and conversion metrics like form submissions, calls or online purchases generated from each channel.
• Lifetime customer value of leads acquired through the multichannel strategy to measure ROI.
• Attribution modeling to understand the true impact of each channel versus standalone performance.
• Qualitative customer feedback gathered through surveys can also provide valuable insights.

Armed with performance data, marketers can make ongoing adjustments like testing offer variations, personalizing content more, segmenting lists differently or modifying the cadence and sequencing of communications across channels. The goal is to achieve the highest possible response rates while maximizing lifetime customer value.

FAQs

Q: How often should follow-up emails be sent after an initial direct mail piece?

A: There is no definitive answer, as the optimal frequency will vary based on the product/service being marketed and the customer base. However, most experts recommend waiting 7-10 days after the initial direct mail contact before sending the first follow-up email. Then, additional emails could be sent at intervals of 7-14 days for 2-3 more times to properly nurture leads without becoming spammy. Testing different cadences is advised.

Q: What is the best format for direct mail – postcards, letters or catalogs?

A: The best format depends on the goals and budget of each campaign. In general, postcards tend to generate the highest response rates due to their visual impact but only allow limited copy. Letters provide more space for detailed offers/pitches but cost more to send. Catalogs work well for driving consideration and purchases of multiple related products. Testing different formats can uncover the most effective option.

Q: How can the content of direct mail and emails be personalized?

A: There are several ways to personalize direct mail andemails. Include the recipient’s first name, personalized offers/recommendations based on past purchases, local area references, and personalized greeting/closing lines pull quotes from previous customer conversations. Personalized URLs, email signatures, and one-to-one responsive design based on open/click data also enhances personalization. Segmentation is key to personalization at scale.

Q: Is the multichannel approach more expensive than a single standalone channel?

A: While executing a multichannel strategy does require more coordination and upfront costs to design and distribute campaigns across multiple mediums, the overall costs per lead/conversion are often lower compared to relying on just one channel. By leveraging the strengths of different channels synergistically and improving response rates, businesses can acquire customers more cost-effectively in the long run through a multichannel approach despite higher initial expenses.

Q: How can multichannel marketing be optimized for mobile experiences?

A: To ensure the multichannel strategy remains effective as customers increasingly engage with communications on mobile, marketers should optimize direct mail/email design for smaller screens with scannable quick facts. Include mobile-friendly URLs, add responsive design, and leverage SMS/QR codes to capture leads. Geofencing and location-based messaging can also enhance personalization. Testing content/layout adjustments across desktop and mobile is important. Analytics should track engagement metrics on all devices.

Conclusion

In today’s attention-deficit landscape, a strategic multichannel marketing approach is essential for businesses to cut through the noise and engage customers.

By carefully coordinating direct mail and email campaigns, marketers can take advantage of the unique strengths of both mediums to drive awareness, generate qualified leads, and improve customer lifetime value in a cost-effective manner.

Continuous testing, segmentation, and measurement ensures these multichannel strategies keep delivering top-of-funnel and bottom-line results over the long run.