Modern consumers don't follow a straight path to purchase, and your marketing strategy shouldn't either. From TikTok-fueled impulse buys to hyper-personalized E-Commerce experiences, the top of the marketing funnel has transformed into a dynamic space. Here, brand discovery and buyer intent can happen anywhere, at any time.
At Century Direct, we help brands adapt to this evolution through data-driven campaigns that blend digital precision with the proven impact of direct mail. We are also specialists in Omnichannel Marketing Services that allow our team to build custom strategies based on real customer behavior. This approach helps you connect with buyers earlier and more effectively.
Here's how your brand can stay ahead by rethinking top-of-funnel marketing through behavior-first lenses.
If you follow the customer buying experience closely, you’ll notice that they usually don’t go to one place or follow predictable steps to get there. Instead, they typically jump between channels, devices, and formats (often in the span of a few hours!).
You might find buyers exploring your brand on social media or comparing your products via desktop. Then, comes the clincher: they’ll often make a final purchasing decision after receiving something physical in the mail that aligns with their interests or recent activity.
These helpful nudges within the buying process have created a new baseline: Customers now expect a unified journey across digital and physical channels. In essence, they want to move seamlessly between online and offline experiences without encountering inconveniences like gaps in service or fragmented messaging.
Many brands are actively bridging the gap across platforms by building a stronger omnichannel customer experience. For instance, Starbucks’s strategy connects mobile product scanning with in-store pickup and loyalty rewards. Disney streamlines their theme parks by linking mobile apps with digital wristbands such as MagicBand+ and MagicMobile.
Century Direct has helped clients across industries, including retail, healthcare, and automotive, connect their outreach through omnichannel campaigns powered by behavioral data. Our advanced Intent-Based Solutions use real-time browsing behavior and machine learning to identify high-intent prospects, match them to physical addresses, and deliver both display ads and direct mail with precision.
We also integrate LLMs and intent signals to support predictive model marketing. This approach allows marketers to generate dynamic content and deliver personalized messaging in real time. It allows campaigns to respond to actual behavior rather than assumptions. As a result, your message is delivered to the right audience at the right time and place.
Direct mail can complement the digital in omnichannel strategies in a powerful way. To get a sense of how this works in reality, picture a well-timed postcard landing just after someone browses your site. It can guide them back to their digital cart, reinforce brand messaging they've already seen, or even reignite interest in a product they didn’t act on the first time.
When paired with display ads, social media, and other platforms, direct mail adds something special the screen can’t—a physical, tactile reminder that sticks. It deepens your digital investment and keeps your brand in mind. The strategy helps your brand stay visible and drive stronger engagement early in the buying process.
To connect with potential buyers early, it helps to look at what they're actually doing—in other words, what they're searching for, reading, and clicking on. Behavioral marketing data is built to support this kind of engagement. It helps you shape the message and choose the right moment to deliver it so it aligns with what people actually care about.
For instance, if someone in the home services industry is browsing websites about HVAC duct cleaning, Century Direct’s Advanced Intent-Based Solutions can identify that behavior, sort them into a relative segment, and connect that activity to a physical address. From there, you can follow up with a display ad offering a service quote or a postcard promoting a local special. These are examples of trigger-based campaigns and message personalization that respond to “intent in the moment.”
The benefits of these behaviorally targeted direct mail campaigns are clear: they reduce wasted spend, improve relevance, improve timing, and help you engage buyers at the exact same time they're considering a solution. Whether it's a printed piece, a digital ad, or both, reaching people early with the right message leads to exactly what you are trying to achieve—and that’s stronger results early in the funnel.
What personalization looks like in modern e-commerce is more than just using someone’s name in an email. Today’s e-commerce personalization includes dynamic product suggestions based on browsing history, and abandoned cart reminders, along with offers tailored to a shopper's location or interests. These small touches help brands connect early, right at the top of the funnel. They make the experience feel more relevant—and less like a generic pitch.
The role of AI and data in personalizing the top of the funnel is to spot patterns and deliver the right message before interest fades. This targeted use of marketing automation has become a key driver of performance.
These real-time insights help trigger timely and relevant outreach. While studies show that marketing automation can boost sales by 14.5%, not everything should be automated. In fact, when personalization feels forced or robotic, it often backfires.
The real value comes from knowing how to balance automation with relevance. The most effective campaigns use data and tools to deliver content that feels sincere and helpful. Customers are then free to move on to the next step easily.
Aligning strategic goals with current consumer expectations requires more flexibility than most static marketing plans allow. Habits shift quickly, and strategic marketing planning based on outdated models can quickly fall short. That’s why more companies are adapting campaigns based on behavioral signals instead of relying solely on projections.
Century Direct helps marketers fine-tune messaging, timing, and channels using real-time data. We also support planning for both digital and print integration. The result? A more cohesive strategy that delivers the right message in the right format wherever your audience happens to be.
Buyer psychology still plays a big part in how people engage with marketing, even in a world driven by data. People may click for one reason and buy for another. Emotions play a big role in how buyers respond to offers, particularly when urgency or relevance is part of the message.
These triggers are powerful on their own, but they're even stronger when supported across multiple channels. A well-placed print piece can reinforce digital psychological cues and make it feel more credible. In the end, understanding what motivates people gives marketers a definite edge.
Consumer behavior continues to shift—and fast. As digital habits evolve, marketers need to stay focused on how people want to discover, shop, and engage across channels. These key digital consumer trends are already shaping the top of the funnel in 2025 and will continue to influence how marketers engage consumers going forward:
To stay competitive, marketers need to build strategies that can evolve as quickly as their audience. Flexibility is key to that initiative, and companies that invest in real-time insight, personalized messaging, and a mix of print and digital outreach will be better positioned to adjust to this consumer behavior shift.
Century Direct helps clients do exactly that—developing campaigns that move with the customer, not after them.
Century Direct supports brands through targeted, behavior-driven campaigns that focus on identifying and engaging consumers with purchase intent across multiple platforms. Our top-of-funnel strategy blends print and digital for maximum top-of-funnel impact. This blended approach helps increase relevance and response by focusing on people already showing interest. It's not about casting a wide net—it's about showing up where it matters.
We provide our solution to many different industries to build campaigns that align with how people search, compare, and decide. If you're ready to engage today's buyers with data-backed delivery and a flexible channel mix, we’re here to help you move forward.
Contact us today to learn more!
Large language models (LLMs) enable the direct mail industry to produce data driven, omnichannel marketing campaigns. Also known as predictive modeling marketing, LLMs and intent signals combine forces to improve ROI through personalization and automation. Industries such as retail, healthcare, and automotive have successfully utilized Century Direct’s LLMs and intent signals for their direct mail campaigns.
Below, we’ll uncover some of the many ways that using LLMs and intent signals can completely change the face of marketing for the better.
Intent signals make it much easier to identify high-value prospects. These behavioral indicators look at a wide variety of things to slot each prospect into specific targeted marketing lists. Examples of intent signals include:
Essentially, intent signals look at the things that really matter to each prospect. Next, these signals are utilized to send your message only to the people who are most likely to be highly receptive to it.
LLM advertising is much more in-depth than regular marketing due to its ability to identify your customers’ intentions, interpret even the most complex interactions, and understand nuanced meanings. Once these things are added together, it results in vastly improved targeting of your top-of-the-funnel prospects.
Century Direct integrates LLM insights into our omnichannel marketing solutions. By utilizing LLM, we’re able to offer unparalleled targeting, which leads to higher engagement and improved ROI.
Predictive model marketing can take every intent signal and use it to provide customer segmentation and personalization. Through the process of data collection, analysis, and model building, we’re able to develop marketing campaigns that have the power to meet, or exceed, your goals.
What can LLM API be used for? Well, LLM marketing supports real-time engagement strategies such as:
By doing these things, LLM is able to boost your ROI results and save your entire staff a significant amount of time. By turning to Century Direct, you can save even more time, plus you’ll gain the perks of working with our well-trained LLMs.
Intent data tracks each prospect’s online behaviors to find the very best prospects. While the end results are easy to use, it takes a lot of work on the backend. Some of the signals that are looked at include:
Using this intent data, our LLM receives everything it needs to know to segment your prospects. For instance, they could be segmented into three groups: Likely to buy, neutral, and not likely to buy. To get the most out of your marketing budget, it makes good sense to reach out only to those who are likely to purchase your product.
Century Direct gives you the power to do exactly this. Plus, your team won’t have to learn the ins and outs of utilizing LLMs and intent signals. Instead, they can focus on doing whatever your company does best!
Omnichannel campaigns offer a lot of room for the proper usage of AI. In fact, AI has the ability to enhance your customers’ experience, boost your conversion rates, and bring your costs down. How does this work? By training AI to send personalized messages, automate workflows, perform predictive analysis, segment your customers, and provide real-time insights.
A study of marketing automation proves that this process works. Other companies just like yours have reduced their marketing overhead by 12.2%, along with driving an increased sales productivity of 14.5%.
Some of the many benefits of marketing automation include:
Century Direct uses LLMs and predictive marketing to simplify the process of predicting future customer behavior. Our LLM collects data, builds future models, and analyzes the data to identify insights and patterns. From there, predictive modeling can use all these insights to create improved marketing strategies and campaigns.
Furthermore, we use a match-back process for campaign attribution and optimization. Key factors include:
Our match-back process ensures that we know exactly what marketing campaigns drive your conversions. Rather than having to guess, our data-driven insights offer campaign optimization by enabling more of your budget to move toward your highest-performing campaign.
Ready to transform your marketing campaigns with LLMs and intent signals? Century Direct’s expertise in data-driven strategies and marketing automation ensures high-impact, personalized campaigns. Contact us today to learn more!
Reaching potential clients and promoting your products is pretty much non-negotiable for any business that wants to succeed. Luckily, companies can thrive when they connect and zero in on an audience, inspiring them to engage with your brand using the appropriate lead generation services.
But how to do it, you might ask. That’s where Century Direct’s lead generation services come in. Unlike other providers, we differentiate ourselves with intent marketing. This method identifies and targets “intenders” which are simply customers who are sending out clear signals that they want to buy “stuff.” And people buying your stuff is exactly what you want to happen.
Using advanced tools like geofencing marketing technology and Mobile Advertising IDs, Century Direct pinpoints consumers at the perfect moment, thereby helping businesses convert shoppers’ interests into action such as making a purchase, signing up for a service, or visiting a store.
Lead generation strategies are a type of marketing approach that helps advertisers capture consumers’ interest in a brand’s products or services. Then, it converts that interest into sales.
At Century Direct, this means going beyond surface-level targeting. Our services combine intent-based marketing with digital and physical behaviors, identifying consumers who are most likely to make a purchase.
Propensity to purchase is demonstrated by relevant physical and virtual behaviors, such as visiting a competitor store, browsing a client company website, or engaging in specific internet searches.
For example, potential buyers who visit relevant locations, search for competitor products, or browse a client’s website are marked as “intenders.”
This method is powered by what we call the “Intender Trinity” to ensure precision targeting. This approach correlates a trio of 1) a physical address, 2) an IP address, and 3) a Mobile Advertising ID.
These insights allow businesses to engage with intenders through direct mail, digital ads, and streaming (OTT) services sent to any device connected to the home Wi-Fi network.
By aligning these signals, Century Direct helps businesses focus on only the most qualified leads. The result? Maximized engagement and conversion rates.
Century Direct uses an approach that combines real-world behaviors with digital signals. Using physical intent tracking, we generate virtual perimeters, or “geoframes,” around locations relevant to businesses such as stores, open houses, or auto dealerships.
When shoppers enter these spaces, their Mobile Advertising IDs (MAIDs) are logged, capturing relevant purchase intent. Additionally, this consumer data remains available for up to six months.
The insight gathered from these interactions enables businesses to aggregate past behavior. On the other hand, they could also launch real-time campaigns triggered by recent visits.
Virtual intent is tracked through tools like “Web to Home,” which connects anonymous website visitors to their home addresses, and “Intent to Home,” which links internet searches to over 21,000 categories.
These systems allow companies to better understand where consumers are in their buying journey. They discover whether consumers are just starting research or are further down the funnel actively evaluating products.
So, when someone visits a client’s website, we correlate the IP address with the user’s physical location, providing precise insights to guide targeted outreach.
Lead generation service is part of Century Direct’s broader omnichannel marketing strategy. The approach integrates targeted direct mail, digital ads, and streaming services to get consumers to engage across platforms.
These “Intenders” who are identified are then contacted through the use of direct mail, digital ads, and OTT sent to any device connected to the home WiFi.
This interconnected approach makes sure that each point it touches reinforces a consistent message. That way, familiarity and trust build at the same time engagement occurs. With each channel working in unison, businesses reap the rewards earned from this communication, ultimately driving conversions.
This “Intender Trinity” plays an indispensable part in making these campaigns effective by synchronizing offline and online signals. For example, a consumer who visits a competitor’s store might later receive both direct mail and OTT ads targeted to their household WiFi, reinforcing the marketing message across channels and devices.
Century Direct’s ability to integrate physical and virtual behaviors ensures businesses can deliver relevant messaging at the perfect time, reaching customers when they are most likely to act.
While lead generation is essential, adding powerful filtering elevates it to the next level. This strategic approach not only identifies potential customers but zeroes in on those most likely to take meaningful actions like making purchases.
Through precise filtering, Century Direct targets the right audience (intenders) and delivers personalized messages that strike a chord with prospects. This method sifts through the noise, helping businesses connect with individuals who are ready to engage and take action.
Filtering also eliminates less promising prospects, saving time and resources by focusing on the leads that matter most. Century Direct achieves this precision by blending online behaviors with physical address data. For instance, individuals showing interest—whether through browsing habits or offline activities—receive targeted outreach via direct mail, digital ads, or streaming platforms.
Here’s how Century Direct fine-tunes lead quality:
With this filtering in place, businesses aren’t wasting effort on unlikely leads—they’re connecting with the right people at exactly the right time. This focus makes it easier to reach high-potential customers, increasing engagement and improving campaign outcomes.
Century Direct’s lead generation services offer several advantages, helping businesses achieve their marketing goals with precision and efficiency. Here’s how these benefits translate into measurable success for businesses:
A long-time client approached Century Direct to explore new ways of improving response rates by integrating digital ads with their existing direct mail efforts. The goal was to enhance engagement and increase conversions by leveraging Century Direct’s lead generation services alongside a coordinated omnichannel marketing strategy.
Using advanced cookieless technology, Century Direct correlated home addresses from the mailing list with their corresponding IP addresses, ensuring targeted digital ads reached the right households.
Managing both the digital and direct mail campaigns under one roof allowed Century Direct to precisely time the outreach—digital ads were delivered a week before the mail arrived to build familiarity and awareness, with additional ads running the week after to reinforce the message and prompt action.
The campaign involved two distinct mailing lists:
During the test period, one group within each list received only direct mail, while the other group received both direct mail and approximately 20 impressions of digital ads per household.
The results showcased the power of combining lead generation with omnichannel marketing:
This case study demonstrates how Century Direct’s lead generation services, when integrated with a well-coordinated omnichannel strategy, drive higher engagement and significantly improve conversion rates. By aligning physical and digital touchpoints, the campaign ensured that each audience received the right message at the right time, maximizing the impact of both channels.
Century Direct is an intent-based, omnichannel, direct marketing provider—ready to help businesses grow their customer base and improve sales through data-driven campaigns. If you’re looking to enhance your marketing efforts with precision targeting, seamless integration, and measurable results, we’re here to make it happen. Partner with us for customized lead generation strategies to help grow your customer base and improve sales.
Here’s how we do it:
Ready to take the next step? Contact us today to see how Century Direct can help you grow your business. While you’re here, explore our client testimonials and case studies across industries to learn more about what we can do for you.
Reaching people via direct mail isn’t a difficult process, but it’s highly important to take advantage of the latest marketing innovations. For example, you can take your customer targeting to the next level by using USPS Informed Delivery. How does USPS Informed Delivery work, you ask? Read on to find out!
USPS offers Informed Delivery to every household in the United States. By signing up for this service on their website, you can find out what pieces of mail are being delivered to your home each day. Once you’ve signed up and verified your identity, you’ll begin receiving a daily digest that shows you exactly when you can expect mail and packages to be delivered.
In the past, direct mail companies would simply create a mailer and send it out. Now, though, they have the opportunity to go further by leveraging USPS Informed Delivery. You’ll be able to create a representative image for your direct mailers that will automatically show up in each person’s daily digest. Additionally, you’ll save advertising dollars with this free add-on service, and you’ll be able to expand your reach and boost engagement. Plus, you’ll receive valuable customer insights and elevate the customer experience.
Non-personalized direct mail typically has a response rate of around 2%. Adding personalization, though, will increase the response rate to approximately 6%. This one fact alone shows the power of personalized mail and proves that if you’re not already using it, you really should.
If you received your daily digest and saw that one of the mailers used your actual name on it, you’d be more inclined to check it out, right? This is basic psychology. Once you toss in audience segmentation tactics, you can greatly enhance your response rate. For instance, Marley Spoon successfully segmented their audience and received a 20% response rate from former subscribers. [1]
Another good example can be found in Lollypop Farm, an animal shelter in NY. They harnessed the power of personalization and almost doubled their response rate. Furthermore, they received more than double their usual donations. [2]
Addressable advertising is a way of showing a customer something they’ve already indicated they’re interested in. A prime example is that Facebook customizes the ads they show you based on a series of signals you unconsciously show them. Are you interested in bestselling books? You’ll begin to see lots of book ads. Are you looking for art from your favorite artist? Suddenly, shops that sell their art will show up in your ads.
One way that direct mail companies utilize addressable advertising is by combining their efforts with digital advertising campaigns. Thanks to Informed Delivery, it’s possible to run a simultaneous direct mail campaign with a free digital ad inside of each person’s daily digest. In a test of the system, the USPS discovered that 57% to 65% of these ads were clicked on.
Valvoline targeted specific customers by tying picture texts in with a written explanation. Adding in this one extra form of marketing enabled them to increase their coupon’s reach by 76%. [3]
Direct mail thrives on marketing innovation. One example is the usage of sensory experiences. By adding embossing, foiling, or scent to your mailers, you’ll be in a stronger position to capture attention and improve ROI. [4]
USPS Informed Delivery mail, sometimes incorrectly referred to as USPS Information Delivery, makes it easier to experiment with your messages and imagery. Rather than trying something completely new on your expensive direct mailers, you can see how well your audience responds by using Informed Delivery’s representative image instead.
To get the most out of each direct mail campaign while leveraging the power of Informed Delivery, you should always use these best practices from the USPS:
Using addressable marketing in concert with direct mail marketing will become an increasingly successful endeavor. After all, combining these two factors makes it possible to reach your customers wherever they are. It’ll be critical to properly manage your data from these campaigns, though. Otherwise, you’ll just be tossing money down the drain.
Informed Delivery has already increased website traffic for 39% of users, but what other innovations are on the horizon? [5] Informed Visibility will take on a bigger role, which is good news considering it increases website traffic for 48% of users. [5] Overall, there will be an even bigger emphasis placed on combining direct mail and digital advertising.
The Pittsburgh Pirates tested different ride-along images through Informed Delivery, which clearly showed them what option works best. One of their images had a 9% higher response rate, while the other had an astronomical 39% higher response rate. [6]
Another company that uses Informed Delivery, Bono’s Pit Bar-B-Q, experimented with grayscale versus color imagery. Surprisingly, the daily digests with the grayscale image saw a 35% higher click-to-open rate than the full-color image. [6] This confirmed what Informed Delivery already knew, as grayscale images have an average of a 13% higher click-to-open rate. [6] These campaigns teach us that it’s always a good idea to test out a theory rather than putting your entire marketing budget behind the idea that you think looks best.
Are you in the market for an enhanced direct mail campaign? Century Direct can help your business increase your ROI through direct mail processing, targeted mailing lists, postal optimization, and much more. Learn more by visiting our website. Once you’re ready to move forward, contact us right away!
Every Door Direct Mail® (EDDM®) makes it easier to advertise your local small business. Whether you want to call attention to a sale, offer coupons, or open a new location, EDDM can help ensure you reach the right consumers. EDDM is available for sending flyers, menus, postcards, and more!
Every Door Direct Mail, better known as EDDM, is a service offered by the USPS. By using the postal service’s EDDM Online Tool, you’ll have the ability to choose specific features for your intended audience. This includes their age, income, neighborhood, and even whether they’re a residential or commercial property. Revolutionize your direct mail!
With typical direct mail, it’s necessary to know the names and addresses of every receiver. However, EDDM provides an easier system. By making it possible to reach out to every residential and commercial address that meets your chosen criteria, EDDM can significantly reduce your expenses. For instance, using this method provides flat-rate postage fees, which offer a reduction on the cost of postage.
There are a wide range of benefits involved with choosing EDDM to advertise your company. One thing to note, though, is that EDDM is not right for B2B companies. That’s because EDDM can be sent in two different ways: To residential consumers only or to residential and commercial properties. At the current time, there is no way to select only commercial properties.
Approximately 26% of U.S.-based consumers recognize direct mail as an important, non-digital advertising touchpoint. Furthermore, 72% of people read direct mail on a regular basis, 60% say that digital mail is more memorable than digital ads, and 58% indicated that they trust direct mail. By contrast, only 48% of people trust TV advertising. These numbers make it clear that sending out direct mail via EDDM will definitely increase your company’s local visibility and brand recognition.
Traditionally, it’s necessary to purchase postage permits or a targeted mailing list. Fortunately, EDDM allows you to skip this purchase! Instead, you’ll pay a flat rate mailing price. This brings your costs down, plus you’ll be able to take advantage of EDDM’s streamlined distribution process, which makes it even more affordable.
Let’s say that your goal is to connect with homeowners to teach them about your lawn-cutting services. By carefully selecting specific neighborhoods, you can avoid wasting money on apartment dwellers. Alternatively, perhaps you want to advertise your pizza business to consumers within one mile of your business. This is also possible by harnessing EDDM’s local targeting tools.
Why should you rely on EDDM? According to Every Door Direct Mail reviews, the USPS has an excellent track record. In fact, 92% of business owners reported to Trustpilot that they received 5- or 4-star service. Out of their current 599 reviews, EDDM has a 4.7-star average.
Any local company that wants to attract more business should consider trying EDDM. Some examples include:
EDDM is also a fantastic way for political campaigns to connect with local voters. If you’ve ever received several local political postcards before an election, then you’ve received mail via EDDM.
There are two specific things to include in any EDDM mailer template: ‘Local Postal Customer’ where the address usually goes, and the EDDM Retail Indicia postage mark.
The EDDM Retail Indicia needs to be placed in the above right area from your Local Postage Customer mark. Make sure it is larger than 0.5” x 0.5” and uses all caps, along with a font size of four or more. Leave a buffer of 1/8” of blank space by the top and right edge. Finally, ensure it fits into the area that’s 1.375” from the top edge and 1.625” from the right edge.
Fortunately, Every Door Direct Mail size requirements provide a lot of wiggle room. The three most popular sizes are:
Having said that, though, you can make your mailer up to 15” long, 12” high, and .75” thick. The smallest size you can use is .25” thick, along with either 10.5” long or 6.125” high. Finally, the total weight of each direct mail piece needs to be 3.3 ounces or less.
After selecting your route with the EDDM Online Tool, you or your direct mail marketing and printing service will need to complete an EDDM facing slip. These slips require the following information:
By providing this info, the USPS will be able to better assess their mail schedule to help ensure your mailers are received on time. They generally deliver to local addresses within two to five days. If you want to use EDDM on a national level, it can take between two and four weeks. Always plan accordingly!
Even though the USPS has endeavored to make EDDM relatively simple to use, it still takes time and specialized knowledge to get it right. For most small business owners, time is at a premium. The good news is that you can easily turn to a direct mail marketing company to coordinate your EDDM efforts.
Century Direct provides EDDM services to make your life much easier! Additionally, we also offer addressing and inserting services, direct mail processing, digital printing, bindery, and data management, omnichannel marketing campaigns, targeted mailing lists, and postal optimization and logistics. We’ve been offering our services to businesses like yours since 1932, and we’re aware that using a cookie-cutter solution is not the answer. Instead, we tailor each campaign to your specific company!
Ready to learn more? Contact us today!
Addressable advertising & media communications take many forms, but what’s truly important is that they can help you connect with the people who are best suited to respond positively to your message. In other words, it can provide you with a much bigger bang for your advertising buck! Let’s take a closer look at addressable advertising and media communications, along with how it can help you increase your profits with digital ad campaigns. What is addressable advertising?
Addressable advertising can mean many different things, depending on the specific audience. However, in general terms, this form of advertising has measurable and confirmable metrics that prove it has reached its target audience.
Also known as addressable marketing or addressable media, the difference between addressable advertising and non-addressable advertising is stark. For example, non-addressable advertising could be a magazine ad. While it most likely will cause your phone to ring, it’s basically impossible to measure where their initial interest came from.
Addressable advertising, on the other hand, can be directly measured. Let’s say that you’re on Facebook, and you’ve looked up and/or clicked on several articles about WNBA star Caitlin Clark. Suddenly, you begin to see ads for Clark’s jerseys, t-shirts, etc. Facebook has used addressable advertising, combined with signal-based marketing, to capture your attention. Once you click on an ad, you’ve delivered a measurable and confirmable metric. Even better, because you’re interested in the topic, your odds of making a purchase shoot way up!
Benefits of addressable advertising
As of 2022, a whopping 67% of marketers indicated they were using addressable advertising methods. This is no surprise, as there are many benefits involved with using data driven insight to improve sales. As you read through the following list, keep the Caitlin Clark example listed above in mind:
The marketing rule of seven helps explain why it’s best to combine your marketing efforts. Essentially, the more often someone sees an ad for something, the more likely they are to pay attention and, ultimately, to make a purchase. In fact, combining your direct mail with a digital advertising campaign can provide you with a staggering conversion rate of 40%! [1]After you’ve sent out direct mail, use the following digital advertising campaign tips to increase the overall effectiveness of both ads:
Use your mailing list to target digital devices located in the same area. This will boost your signal by allowing people to receive your message multiple times. Furthermore, it will also extend your overall reach.
When someone sees your ad across multiple channels, they begin to feel more comfortable with the idea of buying something from your company. This leads to a 118% bump in response rates! [2]
You want to create the best digital ad campaigns to go with your direct mail, and fortunately, we can help you do just that!
Harness the power of your targeted mailing lists by using the same criteria when setting up your digital ads. You can—and should—make it so that you advertise to the same geographic regions that you sent your direct mail to. You can also drill down further by selecting specific ages, incomes, interests, etc.
Do you want to improve the effectiveness of your marketing while simultaneously enhancing customer experience and predicting trends in consumer behavior? Of course you do, and that’s exactly what data driven insights can provide. Using the following tips can provide your digital ad campaigns with a major boost!
And lastly, a responsive and engaging website will enhance your advertising efforts!
Finding a one-stop direct marketing communications company like Century Direct will allow you to achieve the best possible results! In fact, Century Direct can offer you omnichannel marketing campaigns, direct mail, real-time data insights, and much more. Addressable advertising is also a major part of what we do. We’ve been in business since 1932, and we’ve got the expertise and experience to take your company to the next level. Learn more today!
As you probably already know, direct mail actually has a higher response rate than digital advertising. However, it’s critical to take full advantage of your direct mailers if you want to meet and exceed your goals.
There are several ways to improve response rates, including partnering with an experienced, knowledgeable direct mail company. But first, let’s talk about factors that influence response rates for direct mail campaigns.
The most seasoned direct mail experts consistently wrestle with fine tuning their direct mail campaigns to get the best response rates. The factors that influence campaign performance are many, including:
So how do you gauge a baseline response rate? And how do you determine what to refine in your strategy to cut through the advertising noise and achieve higher response rates for direct mail?
Most direct mail campaigns will receive a response from approximately 2.7% to 4.4% of receivers.[1] To put this into perspective, a digital ad online only has a 0.3% average, and emails generate 0.6%.[2] Ultimately, a goal for your direct mail response rate will be determined by lots of factors, but establishing a baseline and refining your direct mail campaign strategy is your best bet to improving your ROI.
Every day, people are inundated with advertisements — at least 4,000 total ads per day, which includes direct mail, online ads, TV ads, etc. To get the best direct mail response rate possible, you’ll need to take several steps to ensure your direct mail message stands out in the mailbox.
The good news? Over 30% of Gen Z relies on direct mail advertising, and Boomers are over 50%. In other words, each generation pays more attention to their mail than you might think. By putting the following ideas into place, you can help drive even higher mail engagement, no matter who your audience is.
Sometimes, direct mail can be sent to the wrong people, wasting your valuable advertising dollars. Understanding key demographics can help you avoid sending ads for lawn care or home renovations, for instance, to people who live in an apartment community.
TIP: Know your direct mail mailing list and invest in quality data to help you target the right people for the right reasons. Plus, you’ll be able to tailor your messages and creative to specific audience segments, which can greatly enhance your direct mail ROI.
Great direct mail companies already have access to updated demographics information. At Century Direct, we compile consumer information through affiliates such as the National Change of Address (NCOA), USPS Informed Delivery, and expert data collection and assessment.
It’s no secret that we all have personal preferences. Maybe you like a red car, but your co-worker prefers blue. With personalized messaging, you can increase your response rates for direct mail by tailoring the words and pictures in your design to align with your audiences preferences. You might send a high-class neighborhood an upscale direct mail piece while saving the cost of fancy finishes on oil change advertisements that go to the general public who own mid-sized, mid-priced cars. Bottom line: Groups of people value different things, and you want your direct mail to play well with varying audiences.
TIP: Be aware that the National Change of Address program doesn’t typically forward direct mail. Therefore, it’s critical to keep your mailing lists up to date in order to align messaging and creative.
The USPS is on a trend of raising their rates approximately twice per year, which keeps driving up the cost of sending direct mail.[3] In order to get the best response rate possible, you’ll want to take advantage of design protocol to qualify for postal discounts. At Century Direct, our USPS experts can help you assess your direct mail design and optimize it for USPS delivery with our Postal Optimization and Logistics services. We’ll consult with you regarding mail piece size, dimensions, packaging, delivery logistics and more.
TIP: Your audience wants to know they’re special. Using their name can raise responsiveness by 135%,[4] so don’t forget about personalization! Personalized content always gets a better response rate than a general mailing.
Who doesn’t like an offer they can’t refuse? Including a unique offer or discount is a great way to boost your direct mail response rate. Whether your goal is to acquire new customers, retain current ones, or increase brand awareness, identify something meaningful to your audience and deliver a delightful surprise they just can’t pass up!
TIP: Adding a bit of urgency never hurts either! Including “for a limited time only” or “while supplies last” can increase response rates, too.
Through the help of a knowledgeable IP data provider and USPS informed delivery, you can target recipients before and after your direct mail lands in homes by integrating digital ads. Without the help of third party cookies, your targeting will be much more accurate and timely. Plus, you can target devices by matching physical addresses to IP addresses.
When it comes to integrating digital ads with your direct mail campaign, devising the right strategy from the start, tracking and follow up campaigns are paramount to improving your direct mail marketing response rates.
Speaking of tracking…
The best way to monitor, measure, and adjust your direct mail strategy is to track your campaigns from start through follow up. From determining ROI and cost-effectiveness to enhancing your planning abilities for future direct mail campaigns, working with a direct mail company that provides data in real-time equips you to:
TIP: Finding a direct mail company that provides a dashboard where you can see all the data in one place is a big win!
Ultimately, as seasoned as any marketing director or company stakeholder may be in their direct mail marketing efforts, the best way to increase your response rates for direct mail is to partner with an expert direct mail marketing company. They work in the industry every day, and can help you stay up-to-date on the latest direct mail solutions, tactics, and strategies to meet and exceed your goals.
At Century Direct, we believe you deserve expert, responsive guidance to tackle every direct mail project with transparency and timeliness. We understand the complex, evolving landscape of direct mail marketing. That’s why since 1932, we’ve helped businesses and nonprofits efficiently strategize, produce, deliver, and track direct mail campaigns to meet and exceed their response rate goals. Contact us to get started today!
Sources:
2. https://www.ana.net/miccontent/show/id/rr-2018-ana-dma-respose-rate
4. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/direct-mail-statistics#
