6 Ways to Increase Retention with Direct Mail

Let’s talk about customer retention.

Scaling your business isn’t possible without a sturdy foundation of loyal customers – repeat consumers who come back to your products and services again and again.

The acquisition of new customers is a necessary (and fun!) part of growing your business. But without a strategy to nurture relationships with your current and past customers, you’ll slowly lose them – and growing your business will be like trying to fill a bucket of water with a hole in the bottom.

If you’re looking for a marketing channel to build your customer retention strategy that’s non-intrusive but highly effective, we’ll clue you in – it’s direct mail.

Direct mail can be used for retention of your customers at the moment of acquisition and all the way through the customer journey.

Direct Mail for Customer Retention

Onboard New Customers with a Mailer

Part of retaining your customers is making sure they feel valuable from the very beginning of your relationship. A simple, non-intrusive postcard in the mail can accomplish this.

Did a customer just sign up for your new product launch or fill out a contract for services? Let them know you’re happy they’ve chosen your business with a welcome postcard. Customize the piece with a friendly greeting and let them know you’re looking forward to serving them. Include relevant information about your business, like your business’ address and contact details. You can even include a welcome gift, like a coupon for their next round of services.

Example:

Personalize to Build Trust

The more you can let your customers know you think of them as individuals and not just an addition to the balance sheet, the better. Personalization is key to reaching the modern consumer, and direct mail can be highly personalized with customer details and demographics. Personalization can increase direct mail response rates 500% by including a person’s name, using full color, and tailoring the piece with specific customer demographics. Tailoring your campaigns with demographic information, also called targeting, increases ROI significantly, boosting responses by up to 10%.

Create Rapport with Frequent Touchpoints

Reaching out to your customers frequently helps build your relationships and keeps your company top of mind. You’ve heard that it takes seven or more interactions before a customer makes a purchase, but the interactions shouldn’t stop once you’ve won the customer over the first time. With direct mail, you can plan out and schedule interactions throughout the year, and then rest assured that your clients will hear from you in a timely manner, all according to a cadence you select.

Incorporate QR Codes for Feedback

Direct mail can also be used as a non-invasive method to survey your clients without blowing up their inboxes. Once you provide a product or service to a client, it’s a good idea to send a follow-up postcard a few days later.

An even better idea is to incorporate a QR code on the postcard linking to a customer satisfaction survey. That way they can scan the QR code to fill out the survey whenever it’s convenient for them. Since direct mail pieces tend to stick around on people’s counters much longer than emails stay in their inboxes, you’ll have a higher chance of survey completion.

Incorporating QR Codes can also add a point of interest to your postcards, gives your clients another way to contact you, and allows for campaign tracking as well.

Educate with Scheduled Campaigns

The more value you provide to your customer, the more likely they are to remember your business. The value you can offer includes more than your products and services. It can be your stellar customer service, your quick response time, or your expertise. If you use your industry knowledge to educate your clients, it can draw them to you as a trustworthy source they want to do business with.

One great way to educate your clients is through direct mail postcards or newsletters. For example, if you’re in a home services business, send out a postcard before cold weather arrives reminding clients to winterize their homes or yards. If a change is going on in the economy that might affect your industry, send out a newsletter explaining the changes with your advice on what’s next.

Businesses can benefit from sending out newsletters on a regular basis, but this doesn’t have to be difficult. With Scheduled Campaigns, you can set up a recurring newsletter send with just a bit of setup.

Automate It

Automation can make sending out newsletters a breeze, but there are even more benefits to automating your direct mail sends. By building an automatic retention strategy with AmazingMail, based on actions your customers take, you can easily keep on top of reaching out to your long list of clients. For example, if you own a home maintenance business and you recommend that your clients get their gutters checked once a year, schedule a postcard with an appointment reminder that will be sent a year after their last gutter check. Or, when it’s time for a contract renewal, you can send a reminder a month before each contract is up.

Retention is About Relationships

A good retention strategy is about making sure the customer knows they are valued and giving them frequent, but not overbearing, reminders that you’re there to serve them. Direct mail is key to striking this balance. Want more information? Reach out to your Account Manager today or contact info@xpressdocs.com.