How To Use Direct Mail Marketing To Improve Your Online Performance

Direct mail marketing may not be the first thing you think of when you think about digital marketing tools – in fact, it seems almost antithetical to digital marketing as a whole.

After all, digital marketing is marketing that takes place in the online space, whether through mail newsletters, digital ads, social media posts, or more. Direct mail marketing, on the other hand, seems solidly offline and traditional, with no room for innovation.

Well, that’s how it looks on the outside. In reality, direct mail marketing is an incredible tool that can be used for nearly any company or campaign. Despite its lack of flashiness, it can actually be one of the most effective tools in your marketing arsenal.

It has one of the highest ROIs among all contemporary marketing techniques and yields an incredibly low cost per lead. And when used effectively, it can lead to an increased number of hits and engagements in your websites and eCommerce shops.

In a previous post, we’ve discussed the role of Click Through Rate (CTR) in digital marketing, and how it can be used to measure the impact of your marketing campaigns. Today, we’ll talk about how you can use direct mail marketing to improve your CTR and generate more responses and engagements for your investment than ever before.

QR Codes

One thing you can absolutely use your direct mail campaigns for is for QR code scanning. QR codes are like a digital barcode: when scanned, they can redirect users to a website almost immediately. This eliminates the hassle of customers needing to sit down and type in a complicated website link.

They’re also a great marketing tool in and of themselves. In a list of statistics collected by Blue Bite, it was found that QR code reach grew 28% from 2018 to 2019. It’s much easier to use than it ever has been before.

And most modern smartphones now include QR scanning technology in their native camera apps. On the whole, it’s a great way to make linking your direct mail campaign and online materials seamlessly and looks impressive to boot.

UTM Codes

Thinking about using direct mail marketing but are worried you won’t be able to track your hits? No need for concern, as there’s a quick and easy solution to determining just how many clicks your direct mail campaign pulled in. UTM codes are short text strings that you can append to the links that can help you track who is clicking and how often.

Search Engine Journal states that UTM codes can be used to determine the source, medium, and even terms that led a user to visit your site. This is very important information that can be used not only to determine your current campaign’s effectiveness but also to further refine future campaigns and strategies.

Retargeting

You can also use your direct mail campaigns to reach out and motivate previous customers to become return customers. Remarketing is an important part of your campaign, and can often tip responses in your favor if used well. However, digital remarketing is not always effective, and can subsequently be expensive and intensely competitive.

That’s where direct mail marketing comes in. Triadex Services outlines that direct mail retargeting can yield over eight times more responses than digital remarketing. Engaging mail pieces can help you stand out from the competition, and have a longer shelf life than digital advertisements.

This means that customers can always return to your physical campaign pieces or coupons and redeem them, without fear of the pieces disappearing upon a website refresh. Direct mail can help keep your marketing campaigns fresher for longer, at lower costs than digital.