Holiday Direct Mail: Tips to Get a Head Start

Maybe it’s because Labor Day was early this year, or how cooler weather in my area has finally turned consistently cooler after brutal heat in July. But I was still taken aback by the holiday merch appearing in my local supermarket the other day.

No, not Halloween candy. That was stocked way back in July.

I’m talking about a big Thanksgiving/Christmas/winter holiday season floor display for holiday spices. You know, for those who bought pumpkin spice everything weeks ago.

So I like to prepare early too. And with a shaky economy, how far along is your holiday mail planning? You don’t have to panic, but as the saying goes, if the best time to start was yesterday, the second best time is today.

Here are some practical tips to get things rolling.

Start with Clean Data

My perennial favorite piece of advice, because it works. You know the drill: NCOA, CASS, de-duping. This really helps to set the stage for all of the great ways to tap your behavioral, first-party data and market smartly.

Mail Sooner Rather Than Later

October is just around the corner. And with worries about inflation, tariffs, and jobs, some people are going to want to start their holiday shopping earlier to avoid stress and save some money. Getting in the mailbox now and coordinating those efforts with the other channels your customers in gives them and you the jump on the competition. It also gives you more time to make adjustments as the shopping season continues and extends past the end of the year with those New Year’s sales.

Integrate Physical with Digital

Just to drive this point home: your customers (or donors for nonprofits) can be found in several channels simultaneously. So make sure that your campaigns are run wherever they are present to create additional impressions that can raise your response rates. By the way, mailing an Informed Delivery campaign as an add-on to another USPS promotion can provide a discount of up to 1.5%. Pretty sweet.

Reward Loyal Customers

You already know each other, right? Whether you’re looking at typical RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) data or focusing on behavior, tap some of those hundreds of data points with targeted offers and discounts. It doesn’t have to be all that elaborate. Authentic, small touches, like thank you postcards, or handwritten-type notes in greeting card-style envelopes can reinforce and build on your relationship.

Personalize Your Messaging

Use that profile you have on your customer to show how much you appreciate them. Instead of going mass market, speak to them 1-to-1 with a Variable Data Print (VDP) mailpiece. Whatever you’re selling, personalized data that’s leveraged in headlines, subheads, offers, pricing, and images is more relevant, and more likely to be noticed and acted upon.

Emphasize Urgency … and Make It Easy

Your customers and prospects may act more out of worry about the future, as I mentioned above. With competitors ready to swoop in even before Black Friday, emphasize limited quantities, pending price increases, and deadlines, to get them to take action and not miss out. And make it easier for them by providing digital paths to respond in every channel, including a QR code on the mailer.

We’ve seen this movie before, so we all know what’s coming: crowded inboxes, jammed stores, endless hours scrolling everywhere online. Get ready now and start reaching your audience early with your direct mail to help them avoid the holiday rush.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with Printing Impressions. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of Printing Impressions. Artificial Intelligence may have been used in part to create or edit this content.