The 5 Best Ways to Use Direct Mail to Encourage Customer Loyalty

Direct mail is a powerful marketing tool, and also one of the best ways to reinforce customer loyalty and retention

It can be tempting to earmark the majority of your marketing budget to fund efforts that generate leads and boost new customer conversions. However, while attracting new business is a crucial component for any healthy bottom line, your customer retention strategy is equally important.

Think of it this way: It is 5 to 25 times more expensive to generate new customers than it is to retain your existing ones, and 80% of new leads won’t even convert into paying customers.

Because it’s much more expensive to find and attract new customers than it is to stay in touch with people who are already familiar with your brand, it’s important to encourage customer loyalty with direct mail campaigns that target existing customers.

Here are ­­five ways to encourage customer loyalty with direct mail.

1.  Take a multi-channel approach

On it’s own, direct mail delivers a much higher ROI and response rate than any other marketing tactic. But when coupled with digital marketing channels, the results are even better. To encourage customer loyalty with a multi-channel marketing strategy, you can:

• Send a mailer that drives traffic to your customized loyalty landing page or an online contest.
• Use online data to send targeted direct mail offers to defined audiences, like mailing a coupon for a complimentary product after someone makes an online purchase.
• Send triggered direct mail after online activities such as website purchases, newsletter signups, or abandoned shopping carts.

2.  Surprise them with gifts

When it comes to direct mail, coupons are a dime a dozen. If you really want to make your customers feel appreciated, send them a surprise gift. This gift doesn’t have to be a “freebie,” per se. It can be an insider look at next season’s products, a merchandise gift card, or even a hand-written thank you note with a special discount just for them.

3.  Encourage reactivation

Re-engaging lapsed customers is a great way to re-ignite customer loyalty due to their prior experience with and knowledge of your company. These preexisting relationships can lead to much higher response and conversion rates. To implement an effective reactivation campaign, it’s important to tell your recipients that they’re missed, address the reason they chose to leave, and make it easy for them to come back. You can do this with an enticing offer, personalized “we miss you” mailers, or with opportunities to use any unused loyalty or rewards points.

4.  Offer insider benefits

Offering current customers access to “insider perks” is not only a great way to distinguish yourself from the competition but also an effective way to distinguish current customers from those who have not bought from you yet. Access to benefits like special phone numbers or the email addresses of the management team, add-on services like free deliveries and extended business hours, or access to members-only products and reserved event tickets can make your current customers feel like VIPs and solidify their loyalty to your brand.

5.  Make your presence known

Your customers receive mail every day, which means you have a consistent competition to contend with. If you want to promote brand loyalty, you have to reinforce your brand every chance you get. Each time you design and send a new mailer to current customers, use consistent brand elements to create visual cohesion among all of your correspondence. That way your customers will know it’s from your company before even reading your note.

Direct mail is a powerful marketing tool and one of the best ways to reinforce customer loyalty and retention levels. Be sure to build retention strategies into your marketing budget at the forefront, and always try to think outside the box when encouraging people to stick with you. With a little creativity, you can hold on to your valued customer base for years.

Need help designing your next direct mail campaign? Drop us a line.