In an age dominated by digital communication, the charm of a personal touch often gets lost. For small businesses looking to stand out, direct mailers like birthday postcards offer an invaluable opportunity to connect with customers on a deeper level.
Unlike generic email blasts, a thoughtfully designed postcard arriving in the mail feels personal, memorable, and meaningful. Whether celebrating a birthday, thanking a loyal customer, or sharing an exclusive promotion, direct mailers create an emotional connection that fosters customer loyalty and builds trust.
How Do You Really Connect with Your Customers?
Do you collect information like their date of birth, email, shopping preferences, or address? Depending on the type of business, all of these could be data points that help you stay in touch with your current customer base. And, if you aren’t collecting information, hopefully by the end of this article you will feel inspired to begin gathering more data to create intentional, relationship building connections through direct mail.
Why Use Birthday Direct Mailers
Direct mail has a consistent Return-on-Investment for small businesses. Even in the digital age, studies prove direct mail performs reliably, especially when key aspects are included. These include personalization, customization, and multichannel targeting. Birthday cards naturally lend themselves to all three components of direct mail success.
Personalization. Birthday cards are not everyday bulk mail. They are sent to a very specific person, which makes them valued by the recipient immediately. Printing technology not only allows for mailing labels to be personalized, but even the printed piece itself.
Plus, because the recipient is getting the mail piece on or near their birthday, it can’t get much more personalized, creating a true connection with them.
Customization. Birthday mailers are also customizable. Small businesses maximize this by finding a message that is directly related to their business, while also creating a high level of personalization. This creates engagement by the recipient. An example is a travel agent who sends a birthday card that shows the customer’s name written in the sand of a beach, the ocean lapping towards it. This is fun and memorable.
Multichannel. Multichannel marketing is the concept of having customers and potential prospects engage with your brand in more than one way. This could mean they have done business with you at a brick-and-mortar store, have heard or seen a commercial, and/or receive online exposure through your website, newsletter, social media or digital advertising.
When you send a birthday card, you are creating a multichannel marketing approach by giving a personal touch by mail after they have already interacted with your brand in another way.
How Small Businesses Can Use Birthday Postcards
If you haven’t used direct mailers to strengthen relationships and drive growth, you may not have known about this strategy. Most companies who use birthday mailers do one of two things: they either provide a customer list that includes birthday information, or, they use research data to build a list to a targeted area.
Build your list. To capture the birthdates of your customers, request it as part of your sales process. This can be in addition to capturing other contact information, such as an intake form. It can also be offered as an opt-in offer either directly related to a birthday club, or part of a rewards program or similar.
Reach more people. When the sales cycle you use doesn’t collect birthdates, or if you want to expand into another list of potential customers, you can choose to purchase a list. This is especially well-suited for restaurants, as studies show that people not only use the birthday coupons, but they also often bring someone with them, increasing the average ticket.
Give an offer. While a simple greeting is nice, when it comes to encouraging the birthday recipient to take action, it is best to offer them something. This can be a free desert or gift, a discount on services, or a special offer only available on their birthday/birthday month.
These offers are highly actionable because they timebound, personal, and valuable. These are all ingredients that drive customer response.
Work with a Professional Direct Mail Company
Finally, working with a professional direct mail company will save you time and money. Choose a company who can design, print and mail your birthday cards. Once you have your program designed with them, you can set your budget and then let it run without even needing to do more than watch your return on investment grow.
JET Print and Mail wants to be your direct mail company of choice for birthday mailers and beyond. Let us help you create a new strategy for your business this year. Our designers will listen to your goals and help you create eye-catching, personalized mailers to bring visitors to your door or website. Contact us today.
