There are still many benefits of using direct mail for marketing efforts. Even with digital marketing as the principal medium for a majority of companies today, you can take advantage of this to complement your online efforts and further bring the customer along the buyer’s journey.
Here are some ways to use direct mail throughout the buyer’s journey from beginning to end.
Using Direct Mail Marketing in the Awareness Stage
A prospect will enter the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey when he or she discovers something missing from his or her life and decides to learn more about the problem and the possible solutions. Direct mail during this stage can contain more general informational and educational content about your products and services.
The key is to avoid being too aggressive, pushing more prospects online by including a call to action that leads them to your website, and frequent mail pieces to provide plenty of information until they enter the next stage.
Direct Mail During the Consideration Stage
During the consideration stage, buyers will have identified and explored their issues and are ready to find a solution. This stage will often feature a lot of research, but this isn’t necessarily always the case.
During this stage, you’ll want your prospects to start considering you as the go-to to solve their problems. Direct mail at this point should provide the prospect with relevant information specific to his or her problem and how you can help, with personalized mail pieces that truly speak to the prospect. The key here is to tell the prospect what the solution is and how you can help them with that solution.
The Decision Stage
This is when prospects are considering the types of solution to help fix their problem, i.e., when they’re looking for the right company to turn to for the right products or services for them.
During this stage, direct mail will be pushier with more aggressive offers to encourage a purchase, trust signals that establish your business as trustworthy such as certifications and customer testimonials. You want to make sure the prospect sees you as the company he or she can count on to provide the best solution.
After the Decision Stage
Even after you make a sale and the buyer has become a customer, the buyer’s journey isn’t over. Following their purchase, customers will continue to reflect on whether or not they made the right choice. This is why it’s important to convince them through further direct mail pieces that you were the right choice.
Following the decision stage, mail pieces should still come into play to encourage repeat business through additional offers and ask them to return to you. It’s also important to thank your customers for their loyalty to your brand, with rewards such as coupons, exclusive discounts, and accumulated points through loyalty programs incentivizing their return.
Taking these measures following the decision stage will make your customers more loyal and could lead to more upsells that increase profitability.
Boosting Your Online Efforts
With the help of a direct mail campaign that’s integrated with your digital marketing efforts, you can smoothly guide your prospects along through the buyer’s journey, answering their questions and giving them all of the information they want about your products or services. Whether using brochures, offers, calls to action, or other types of mail pieces, you can attract customers from initial curiosity to long-time loyalty.
