Using direct mail at every stage of the customer journey.

Most businesses think about direct mail as a one-time thing. Send a postcard, hope for a response, move on. But customers don't work that way. They discover you, consider their options, make a decision, and then either come back or don't. Direct mail can show up at each of those stages if you're paying attention to where someone actually is.

The trick is matching your message to the stage. Sending the wrong format or offer at the wrong time doesn't just waste money. It actively confuses people or makes them tune you out entirely.

Stage 1: Getting on their radar (awareness).

Someone doesn't know you exist yet, or they've heard your name but couldn't tell you what you actually do. Your job is to introduce yourself without immediately asking for a sale.

This is where most direct mail goes wrong. Businesses send elaborate offers and detailed product specs to people who don't even know why they should care. That's not awareness. That's just noise.

At the awareness stage, keep it simple. Who are you? What problem do you solve? What should they do if they're interested in learning more? Don't try to close the sale in the first touch.

Grand opening announcements work because the message is straightforward: we exist now, here's what we do, come visit. You're not asking someone to commit to anything beyond knowing you're there.

New homeowner mailers make sense for local services because the timing is right and the message is relevant. Someone just moved in, they need various services, and you're introducing yourself as an option. Simple introduction, not a hard sell.

Brand awareness postcards can work if you're genuinely building awareness in a new market or with a new audience. The goal is recognition, not immediate response. You're planting a seed so when they need what you offer later, you're already familiar.

The call-to-action at this stage should be low-commitment. Visit your website to learn more. Follow on social media. Save this postcard for when you need us. Don't ask them to book a consultation or make a purchase when they barely know who you are.

Stage 2: Helping them decide (consideration).

Now they know you exist and understand what you do. They're actively looking at options, comparing providers, figuring out who solves their problem best. Your direct mail needs to give them information that helps with that decision.

This is not the place for vague marketing speak about being "trusted" or "reliable" or "customer-focused." Everyone says that and nobody believes it. Give them specific information they can actually use to evaluate you against alternatives.

Show them how your product or service addresses their specific situation. If you're targeting abandoned carts, the postcard should show the exact items they left behind. If you're targeting businesses in a specific industry, reference challenges relevant to that industry. Generic messages die at the consideration stage because people are comparing details.

Abandoned cart follow-ups work well because the context is incredibly specific. You know exactly what they were interested in, exactly when they walked away, and you can address the most common objections (shipping costs, unclear return policy, hesitation about price). A postcard arriving a few days after abandonment catches people when they're still thinking about the purchase but haven't fully committed elsewhere.

Product comparison guides or detailed information help when you're selling something that requires research. Don't just list features. Explain which feature matters for which use case. Help them figure out if your solution fits their specific situation.

Property Finance Solutions used targeted direct mail to reach customers at exactly the right stage of consideration. This targeted approach achieved a 20% conversion rate, making direct mail their most cost-effective channel compared to digital ads.

The consideration stage is where self-mailers/greetings cards earn their keep. You need more space than a postcard provides, but you still want immediate visibility. Multiple panels let you walk through information without overwhelming someone on a single surface.

At Stannp.com, you can automate consideration-stage mail based on behaviour through our automations. Someone downloaded a guide but hasn't taken the next step? Send them a follow-up three days later with more detail or a case study. Someone browsed specific products but didn't buy? Send them comparison information or customer reviews specific to those products.

Stage 3: Closing the deal (decision).

They've narrowed it down. They're ready to buy. Now your job is making your offer more attractive than everyone else's final offer.

This is where most businesses either give up too early or push too hard. The people who give up assume the consideration stage will naturally lead to purchase. The people who push too hard send desperate "last chance" messages that feel manipulative. Neither works particularly well.

At the decision stage, your direct mail should present a clear, compelling reason to choose you right now. Not "someday soon." Now. Limited-time offers work because they create a deadline. Exclusive discounts work because they feel like special treatment. Clear next steps work because they remove friction.

Time-limited offers force decision-making. Not fake urgency where you're constantly running "this week only" sales every week. Real scarcity or real time constraints. "Order by Friday to get it before the event" works because the deadline is real. "Our lowest price ever" works if it's actually true and genuinely temporary.

Exclusive coupons or codes work because they feel personal. "For you specifically, here's 20% off" performs better than "Everyone gets 20% off if they use this generic code." Personalise the offer based on what you know about their interest or behaviour.

Clear, simple next steps matter more than you'd think. Don't make people figure out how to redeem your offer. Include a QR code that goes directly to checkout with the discount pre-applied. Include a phone number that goes straight to someone who knows about the offer.

The format matters less than clarity at this stage. A postcard works fine if the offer is straightforward. A letter works if you need to include terms and conditions or multiple options. The key is removing any ambiguity about what happens next.

Stage 4: Keeping them around (retention and advocacy).

They bought from you. Great. Now what?

Most businesses stop mailing after the purchase, which is backwards. Existing customers are significantly cheaper to market to than new prospects. According to Semrush's 2024 customer retention research, repeat customers spend 67% more than new customers, and for 61% of small businesses, over half their revenue comes from repeat customers.

Post-purchase direct mail does several things simultaneously. It reminds customers you exist when they might need to buy again. It makes them feel valued rather than just another transaction. It gives them reasons to recommend you to others. And it catches people who had a bad experience before they disappear forever.

Thank-you postcards or welcome packages reinforce the purchase decision. Someone just gave you money. Acknowledge that with something physical that shows appreciation. This doesn't need to be elaborate. A simple "thanks for your order, here's what to expect next" postcard works fine.

Replenishment reminders work for consumable products. If someone bought something that runs out or needs replacing, send them a postcard around the time they're likely running low. "Time for a refill?" with a reorder link and maybe a small discount for subscribing. This isn't rocket science, but hardly anyone does it consistently.

Loyalty program updates or exclusive offers keep customers engaged between purchases. Not constant bombardment. Strategic touches that remind them you're there and give them a reason to come back. "Your birthday month discount" or "You've been a customer for a year, here's something special" feels more genuine than random promotional mail.

Win-back campaigns target people who used to buy but haven't recently. These need to acknowledge the lapse without being weird about it. "We noticed you haven't been by in a while" works better than pretending nothing happened. Offer something compelling enough to overcome whatever caused them to stop buying in the first place.

Woolacombe Bay Holiday Parks achieved a 143% conversion boost by combining direct mail with email for customer reactivation. They automated personalised postcards targeting abandoned bookings and past visitors, achieving an 8% higher conversion rate with direct mail compared to email alone.

The key is automation. Nobody has time to manually track purchase dates and mail schedules. At Stannp.com, you can set up automated sequences that trigger based on customer behaviour. Someone makes their first purchase? Welcome series starts automatically. Someone hasn't purchased in 90 days? Win-back sequence starts automatically. Set it up once, then it runs without manual intervention.

Choosing the right direct mail format for each stage.

Different stages work better with different formats. Not because of arbitrary rules, but because different formats serve different purposes.

Postcards work best for awareness and decision stages. At awareness, you want maximum visibility with minimal commitment. At decision, you want a clear offer that's impossible to miss. Postcards deliver both.

Self-mailers/greetings cards work best for consideration. You need space to explain but still want immediate visibility. Multiple panels let you walk through information progressively without requiring someone to open an envelope first.

Letters work best for high-value decisions or formal communications. If you're selling something expensive or complex, a letter signals that you're taking it seriously. If you're sending transactional mail (invoices, statements, contracts), letters are standard. UK businesses handling high volumes of transactional letters might also want to check out virtual printing as an alternative to franking machines.

Automated sequences often mix formats. First touch might be a postcard to grab attention. Follow-up could be a self-mailer/greetings card with more detail. Final touch might be a postcard with a time-limited offer. The sequence matters more than any individual piece.

Tracking direct mail ROI across the customer journey.

None of this works if you can't tell which stage someone is actually in. Guessing based on demographics or generic behaviour doesn't count. You need actual data about how people interact with your business.

That means tracking more than just direct mail. When someone receives a postcard and visits your website, you need to know that happened. When someone gets an abandoned cart mailer and completes their purchase, you need to connect those dots. When someone receives a win-back offer and makes another purchase, you need that attribution.

Most CRM systems handle this if you set them up correctly. Tag people based on their stage, track which campaigns they receive, measure response rates by stage. Stannp.com integrates with platforms like HubSpot, Klaviyo, and others specifically so this data flows both directions automatically.

The businesses seeing the best results aren't necessarily running the most creative campaigns. They're running the most precisely targeted campaigns because they actually know where each person is in the journey. Creative matters, but relevance matters more.

Getting started with customer journey direct mail campaigns.

The customer journey sounds complicated when you lay it out like this. Four stages, different formats, automation, tracking, integration with other systems. In practice, it's simpler than it sounds if you start small.

Pick one stage where you're currently doing nothing. Maybe you're good at awareness but never follow up with consideration-stage prospects. Maybe you acquire customers fine but never mail them again after purchase. Start there.

Build one automated sequence for that stage. Test it. Measure results. Refine based on what actually happens rather than what you assumed would happen. Then add the next stage.

Most businesses never get past two stages, and that's fine. Doing awareness and decision well beats doing all four stages poorly. The goal isn't perfecting a complex multi-stage system. Rather, it's meeting people where they actually are with messages that make sense for that moment.

If you're using Stannp.com, the automation tools make this significantly easier. Set up triggers based on customer actions, create templates for each stage, connect it to your CRM or email platform, and let it run. You can always refine later based on performance data.

The hard part isn't the technical setup. The hard part is actually thinking through what message makes sense at each stage instead of sending the same generic mail to everyone regardless of where they are in their relationship with you.