7 Big Reasons You Should Be Mailing Postcards

Sampling of Paw Print postcards

Do you receive a lot of emails? Too many? I know I do. The average American receives 88 emails per day, with office workers seeing over 120. Even if an email is full of worthy content, it can be hard for it to stand out in a full inbox.

What about direct mail? Some days, my household doesn’t receive any. When I do find something in my mailbox, I certainly notice it, and I tend to remember it. Some of the most memorable pieces I receive are postcards.

Direct Mail Works for You

In our increasingly digital world, direct mail continues to hold its own as an effective marketing strategy:

  • About 80% of direct mail is opened
  • 70% of Americans believe mail is more personal than digital communications
  • 56% of consumers have tried a new business, and 70% have renewed relationships with businesses, after receiving direct mail from them

And that just begins to scratch the surface of the powerhouse that direct mail can be for your business. It’s even more effective when used as part of a multi-channel marketing strategy. Direct mail is also a versatile medium, allowing you to be extremely personal with your audience and adding interest with a range of colors, textures, and shapes.

One of the most popular direct mail formats is the postcard. 56% of postcards are read by direct mail recipients, the most read of any direct mail piece. If you haven’t included postcards in your marketing strategy, here are 7 reasons you should consider doing so.

1. Strong Visual Potential

Direct Mail Snail Postcard
Direct mail postcards put your images and graphics front and center for an immediate impact on the recipient.

Postcards are attention-grabbers, standing out among the standard white envelopes that fill our mailboxes. Enticing recipients to open an envelope is one of the biggest challenges of direct mail. But with postcards, everything is immediately visible. Your message is right in front of the reader, increasing the chance that your audience will read your content and follow through on a call to action (CTA). It’s an opportunity for you to get creative, with exciting visuals, colors, and shapes.

2. Concise Content for Consumers

There are many media and marketing messages competing for our attentions on a daily basis. Consumers are short on time, and must be selective in the content they read and watch. Postcards don’t offer a lot of room to get technical, so they require you to be concise with your message. Short, compelling copy combined with attractive visuals effectively gets a message across to your reader, striking their interest and leaving them wanting more.

3. Postcards Save Time and Money

Direct mail is a versatile medium, and each type of mailing has its purpose. Multi-piece letter mailings and self-mailers are often effective, but come in at a higher price point. Postcards are an affordable option that allows you to cut down on costs while still delivering a compelling marketing message. Postcards are also faster to produce than other mailings. They require no folding or envelope stuffing. At Paw Print, we eliminate the need for labels by printing the address right on the card, at the same time we print the artwork.

4. Craft Targeted Campaigns

UVM Alumni Postcard
This postcard we printed for the UVM Alumni Association was personalized with the class and reunion year of each recipient. You can also segment postcards using different headlines, images, or offers to connect more deeply with all members of your audience.

Other traditional forms of advertising, like television or print ads, allow you to reach a wide ranging but not highly targeted audience. With direct mail, you know exactly who will receive your message, and you can craft that message accordingly. Since postcards are relatively easy and inexpensive to produce, you can create different versions to send to segmented audiences based on demographics like location or past purchase history. Messages that are more targeted to the recipient are more likely to be acted upon.

5. Pursue More Leads

Additionally, postcards are a better direct mail format for pursuing leads. Current customers are likely to be more receptive to receiving in-depth communications from you. If a recipient doesn’t currently have a relationship with your company, you have to work harder to pique their interest. Since postcards are inexpensive and visually engaging, they can be used to introduce a prospective customer to your company in a visually compelling way, and encourage them to connect with you.

6. Measure Mail Effectiveness

Direct mail campaigns are more meaningful when you measure how effective they are at compelling your audience to act. A postcard with a concise CTA is easier to measure, especially when your CTA includes a coupon or special offer. As recipients use the coupon or take you up on your offer, you’re able to see whether your mailing had the result you were hoping for, or whether it fell flat. You can easily adjust your postcards to do an A/B test, sending multiple versions at one time to find the offer that most effectively converts your customers.

Special Offer Postcard
In one of our recent postcard campaigns, our customers received free notepads if they mentioned the postcard when placing an order. We could easily keep track of who was responding to the postcard, and truly judge the effectiveness of our campaign.

7. Postcards Encourage A Conversation

Postcards are a popular format for promoting events, as you want lots of visuals and color to encourage people to attend. And, though postcards can be personalized, the format encourages them to be shared in a way that a letter wouldn’t be. A postcard may be viewed by multiple members in one household. This increases the reach of your message and generates a conversation.

At Paw Print & Mail, we’re specialists in direct mail marketing strategies and fulfillment. Contact us today to enhance your direct mail marketing strategy.

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This post was originally published on 10/18/17, and edited on 1/26/21.