Retargeting with Direct Mail Marketing

Online marketing experts understand retargeting through e-mail and paid ads but, this isn’t the only way to recapture the attention of those who have visited your site. Small boutiques, small businesses, and large corporations can all benefit from retargeting prospects with direct mail marketing. Every time your customer sees your retargeted mail, your brand gains traction and more recognition.

If you want to develop a deeper engagement with previous visitors of your site or store, below are thing you must consider doing to maximize building more leads and sales.

Collect contact information

When someone comes in to your shop or visits your site online, ask for their permission to send them coupons, discounts, and other promotions to their address.

If you run a website, it’s often easier to get their mailing address than it would be if they just stopped in to your store. However, the promise of a discount or free product is often enough to entice someone to give you their contact information. When possible, collect the following information:

• Get the basics. You’ll need their name, e-mail address and mailing address at the very least.
• Interests. Check boxes at the end of the form are one of the easiest and friendliest ways to ask what their interests are. Consider the products, solutions, whether or not they want recommendations.
• Lifestyle/Business. Ask what type of business they own. If you’re B2B, ask how they would classify their lifestyle if you’re selling directly to a consumer, and find out why they are considering your business.

Segment customers

Using your online data or in-store information can help you segment your audience for a more successful direct marketing approach. It is much easier to keep track of people browsing through products on your websites than on a regular store. However, unlike website owners, store owners can get valuable one-on-one time with a potential customer to gain insight into what their needs and wants may be, provide recommendations, and build a more personal relationship.

• Take a customer inventory. Use your reports to see who is buying what. If you don’t have reports that show you this information, invest in reporting software solutions or create a way to track the information yourself.Below are things you should do to take advantage of the personal approach and turn it into an opportunity for market segmentation.
• Create a demographic profile. Take their age, location, gender, products purchased and volume. This can come from an online report or the form they filled out when you received their mailing address.
• Dig deeper! Many marketers think an inventory and demographic profile are enough. Also consider your customer’s lifestyle and product usage to create more specific segments.
• Take notes. If you run an online site, make the most of CRM software. If you run a boutique, note whether someone needed a lot of help or very little, wanted things on-demand, or bought in volume.

Tailor Your Retargeting

Once you figure out where someone is in the buying process and what people like about your business, you can create tailored direct mail marketing messages. The tone, design and overall feel of your direct mail efforts need to match both your business and your customer. Focus on one segment at a time, with each aspect of your marketing message geared directly towards that portion of your prospective customers.

• Balance creative and copy. Don’t go overboard with your content. Create your retargeting message by focusing on your audience.
• Have a clear call to action (CTA). Your CTA should be easily seen an understood. Asking your customer to take a step forward in engagement with your business is asking them to take a step from lead toward conversion.
• Promote an offer. Whether it’s a free product trial, access to an event, or a buy-one-get-one deal, make sure each direct mail marketing effort promotes an offer.
• Reach out at the right time. There are different buying stages so make sure your content is tailored to where your customers may be in the buying cycle. Each piece of content should move the buyer closer to a purchase, but start from where they are, not where you want them to be.

Tagged as: direct mail, direct mail campaign, direct mail marketing, direct mail marketing campaign, retargeting

About Erica Bell

Erica Bell is a small business writer who focuses on topics such as direct mail messages and e-mail marketing. She is a web content writer for Business.com Media.

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