Last year I wrote about how print technologies are integrating with other digital marketing technology tools. While these technologies are becoming more mature and easier to implement, they still are not commonly used.
There are two primary ways that digital marketing technologies can automate direct mail:
- Creating the list
- Behavior-Based Direct Mail
Automate Direct Mail List Creation
You can’t send a direct mail if you don’t have an address to send it to. Purchasing a direct mail list can be a good first step in a lead generation campaign. You can reach prospects that fit your ideal customer profile and make them aware of you and maybe even generate a response.
But visitors to your website already know of you and maybe closer to making a purchase. Sending a direct mail to these website visitors that is relevant to the pages they visited on your website can nudge a prospect towards becoming a customer.
Reverse IP Lookup
One way to generate a marketing list is to automatically generate a mail list using your website visitor’s IP address. The IP address is a unique identifier that allows computers and other devices to communicate with each other over the internet.
The IP address you use can be used to determine the physical location where you are accessing the internet, whether it’s your home, your company, or a coffee shop. Some databases go a step further and can often identify the exact person that is accessing a website.
These identifiers can be used to create a direct mail list using services like DirectMail2.0 Lead Match or El Toro Reverse Append. Commercial printers and direct mail companies can use these services to build targeted mail lists for your customers.
Ask Using a Form
A less sneaky way to build your mail list is to just ask website visitors for their mailing addresses. You can ask website visitors for their address so you can send them detailed information relevant to the page they are currently on. Or you can or ask B2B customers that may be working from home.
While you may not do this for random website visitors, you can offer to send a gift like a tchotchke or a gift certificate in exchange for a mailing address.
Send Behavior-Based Direct Mails
Sending direct mail based on a particular page that is viewed using a Reverse IP Lookup service is an example of behavior-based direct mail. But marketing automation platforms allow you to send even more relevant direct mails.
One of the most powerful things that marketing automation platforms offer is to track the behavior of known visitors on your website. They track the pages that are viewed across multiple website visits, making it easy to determine both what they are interested in and how interested they are.
Armed with this knowledge, marketing automation platforms can send tasks to CRM systems for a sales rep to reach out to sales-ready prospects, send automated emails, nor now, send automated direct mails.
Once you have the mailing address for a known website, your marketing automation platform can generate a mailing list along with behavior-based data such as products they are interested in or whether the visitor is a prospect or already a customer. This allows personalized direct mail that is highly relevant to your visitor.
Automating your customers’ direct mail is easier than it might appear. Whether your customers are experts in digital marketing, or only have a simple website, you can put together a direct mail automation solution that fits them and takes their marketing to the next level.
