Buyers now have more control over when and how they consume marketing messages and consider purchases. Therefore, marketing today is about being relevant to the consumer because it’s the seller’s responsibility to be at the right place at the right time.

Direct Mail Timing

When talking about relevancy in marketing, we often think of digital and native advertising, social media, and mobile apps. But the importance of relevancy spans across all marketing channels—including direct mail.

So, how can direct mail pieces be more relevant? Personalization is an obvious answer, as name-specific, demographically targeted messages are more relatable than generic pieces.

But another important piece to relevancy that is just as important as personalization is timing. The impact that perfect timing can have on a buyer’s purchasing decision is invaluable! The question is how to best use timing in your direct mail campaign.

Trigger campaigns are a great solution for ongoing, perfectly timed direct mail campaigns. Here are several ways that you can leverage your data to run trigger campaigns:

Industry Trends

If external industry trends drive customer action, use that data to your advantage. One of the most popular trigger-based mailing campaigns we see are those run by mortgage companies. When rates change, rising or falling, that data triggers mailpieces to specific potential buyers and customers notifying them of the change, making them aware of certain eligibilities, and informing them with recommendations for action.

Threshold Promotions

When a customer is close to reaching a certain threshold on their account, trigger a reminder piece in the mail to them to let them know. This is often used for when magazine readers are approaching subscription renewals.

This can also be used for rewards and loyalty programs. If your customer is only a certain number of points away from reaching a membership level, or one purchase away from achieving a coupon or discount, trigger a postcard to their inbox encouraging them to complete the purchase.

Life Changes

When a customer indicates that they’ve recently become engaged, homeowners, pregnant, or another life-changing status, celebrate with them! Not only can this change of status trigger a single, congratulatory mailing, it can also be cause for enrolling them in a long-term series of touch points to engage them throughout their new journey.

For example, a woman entering pregnancy will pass through many milestones throughout her 40 weeks before birth, giving you plenty of reasons to make contact with her over that timeframe. (And of course, after the baby arrives as well!)

Time-sensitive mailpieces can be extremely effective, but only when they’re properly executed. Be sure that your direct mail service provider knows how to handle your data and is experienced with running trigger campaigns of volume. Always ask about their processing time and turnaround, as well as delivery times and postal date holidays & cutoff dates. A competent vendor will always be able to answer these questions directly for you.