Direct mail is one of the oldest and most traditional methods of advertising, but it is also currently one of the top-performing marketing channels too.

The statistics don’t lie; direct mail has higher response rates than email and digital advertising. About 84% of marketers agree that direct mail delivers the best response rate of all channels they use.

Research also indicates direct mail can have a significantly higher response rate than email, with a Data & Marketing Association (DMA) report showing direct mail response rates of approximately 9% for house lists and 5% for prospect lists, compared to an average email response rate of around 1%.

Even better:

Targeted direct mail isn’t your average “spray and pray” mass mailing. Instead of sending the same message to everyone, it sends focused, individual-level messages to the right people at the right time — based on their traits, actions, or preferences. Each piece of mail feels more personal, relevant, and way more likely to get noticed.

With targeted direct mail being a top-performing marketing strategy, it’s essential to capitalize on the best automated solutions available.

Triggered mail has the additional benefit of not only saving time but money too.

Want to know the top ways to launch a direct mail marketing campaign? Follow these top 7 direct mail marketing best practices in order to achieve the best results for your business.

1. Know your audience to maximize returns on targeted mail

Knowing your audience is one of the first steps to setting up a direct mail marketing campaign.

Who are you trying to reach? Make a detailed list of all the characteristics associated with your main targets and then acquire mailing lists that reach them.

Here are a few basic characteristics to consider when narrowing down your audience:

• Age – What generation are they? (Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers?)
• Gender – Does your product/service skew toward men, women, or appeal to all?
• Income Level – Do they have disposable income for your offer?
• Occupation/Industry – Are they professionals, tradespeople, students, etc.?
• Education Level – Can shape messaging style and product fit.
• Family Status – Single, married, parents—life stage often drives needs.
• Location – Local neighborhood, city, region, or national audience.

It may help to look at your current customers more closely and see if they share certain characteristics.

You might even want to delve deeper and consider why your customers buy

• Values & Beliefs – What matters most to them? (Convenience, quality, sustainability, savings?)
• Lifestyle – Hobbies, routines, or daily challenges.
• Buying Behaviors – Do they shop online, prefer in-store, or mix both?
• Spending Habits – Are they budget-conscious or willing to splurge?
• Pain Points/Needs – What problem are they really trying to solve?
• Brand Loyalty – Do they stick with favorites, or like to try new things?

Pro tip:

Consider segmenting your target market into different groups based on where they are on their customer journey.

Some examples:

• Separate prospects from customers
• Segment prospects who may have called in from those that haven’t
• Segment fresh leads (within one week or month) from older leads
• Classify new customers separately from customers who haven’t purchased anything in months or years

Then tailor your follow-up for each separate group as prospects move through your categories.

The more data you have on prospective buyers, the better. Speaking of…

2. Clean and maintain your data to avoid wasting money on mailings

Each postcard, letter, or brochure costs money to mail, so it’s advantageous to ensure that none are wasted on bad addresses. Postage costs add up quickly!

This can be avoided by running addresses through a verification system.

Here are a few options that can help clean your mailing lists:

• Check your list against the NCOA: aka the National Change of Address database. It checks addresses against the USPS’s latest change-of-address records.
• Get CASS (coding accuracy support system) certified: this USPS program validates that your addresses are standardized correctly (and can save you money on postage)
• Standardize your list of addresses: The USPS will return any mailer with an address that doesn’t meet their standardized format.
• Remove duplicate addresses and contacts: If you have multiple entries for the same household, ditch the oldest ones.

If you are pulling contact information from a customer relationship management (CRM) system, you or your staff can check to make sure all records are accurate before forming lists and launching a direct mail marketing campaign.

3. Personalize your direct mail marketing to optimize your return

Every results-minded mailer should include:

• A clear, compelling headline
• A strong call to action
• Eye-catching images
• A compelling offer (with an expiration to create urgency)
• Trust-builders like five-star reviews or a map of your location

But you can supercharge your results with personalization — without alienating prospects.

Direct mail is among the safest channels you can personalize, 59% of respondents are more concerned about seeing their personal information in a digital ad than in a direct mail ad and 64% have privacy concerns with personalized and targeted digital advertisements.

Here are a few ideas to take your campaign further with personalization and automation:

• Add a recipient’s first name to the design. For example: “Hi Chris, thanks for trusting us with your last project — here’s 15% off your next one.”
• Personalize based on past purchase behaviors. For example: “Thanks for choosing us for your kitchen renovation. Enjoy 10% off new appliances.”
• Consider location-based personalization. For example: “Welcome to Freedom Heights! New mover special: 15% off all home services.”
• Remember: timing is essential to personalization. For example: “Thanks for getting a quote! Here’s an extra 5% off that expires at the end of the month.”

To put this level of personalization to use, all you have to do is keep track of your prospects’ and customers’ actions — something most CRMs are designed to do.

If you aren’t putting that data to use, you’re missing out on prime conversion opportunities.

To get started, connect your CRM to a direct mail automation platform (like PCM Integrations), then program your mailing schedule through your CRM, available workflows, or our done-for-you webhooks.

4. Keep your direct mail design and messaging focused on conversion

You have multiple options when it comes to launching a direct mail campaign. You can choose from: postcards, letters, brochures, or snap-apart mailers.

While any of these can help jumpstart your lead generation, the mail you send should align with your goals.

Here’s a quick guide to different mailer types and what they say about your business:

• Postcards: efficient and effective (no envelope or clutter)
• Letters: more formal, effective when more context is needed
• Brochures: maximally informative, great to hold on to
• Snap-aparts: very official, possibly governmental matters

No matter which format you choose, your mailer will perform better if it’s in full color and has a strong call to action.

A couple of design principles to follow to maximize your conversion rate:

• Use easy-to-read fonts
• Your most important text (the headline, offer, and call to action) should be the biggest on the card
• Don’t overwhelm your audience with too much text on the card; leave white space
• Use colors that match the feel of your business — for example, avoid yellow if you’re a dentist and stick with blue or white
• Include elements of credibility, like photos of your staff, yourself, or your building, products, and services

PCM Integrations offers a number of templates to get you started that are easy to customize — or you can build your own design from scratch.

Most importantly:

Track your results so you know if a certain message is working or falling flat

5. Connect your CRM to a direct mail platform to automate mailers based on pre-programmed triggers

Connecting your CRM to a direct mail automation platform makes mailings easy and convenient. You set up the campaign once, and it runs itself!

Here are some examples of CRM-based triggered direct mail campaigns:

• A new lead or contact is created → send an introduction postcard
• A quote is sent → follow up with a personalized letter
• No response for 30 days → send a re-engagement offer

In fact:

Any action your lead or customer takes (or doesn’t take) can trigger a mailing.

Every behavior or milestone your CRM can track is an opportunity to trigger a mailer that will connect with your contact offline.

Here are a few more CRM-based triggered mailing prompts and ideas you can use:

• Welcome Mailer: Sent automatically when someone becomes a new customer, subscriber, or donor. Personal thank-you, brand story, and next-step incentive.
• Birthday or Anniversary Mailer: Celebrates a personal milestone (like a birthday or customer anniversary) with a card and exclusive offer.
• Abandoned Cart / Incomplete Signup Mailer: A reminder to finish what they started — whether it’s checking out online, booking an appointment, or completing a form.
• Win-Back Mailer: Triggered after a period of inactivity (e.g., 90 days without a purchase). Includes a “We miss you!” message plus a reactivation incentive.
• Renewal or Expiration Reminder: Sent when a subscription, membership, or warranty is about to end. Encourages renewal or upgrade.
• Post-Purchase Follow-Up: Arrives shortly after a purchase with a thank-you note, care/use tips, and a cross-sell or upsell offer.
• Milestone Mailer: Triggered by CRM data like spending thresholds, loyalty program tiers, or length of relationship. Recognizes and rewards the customer.
• Event-Based Mailer: Sent when someone registers for (or misses) an event, webinar, or appointment. Could be a confirmation, reminder, or recap.
• Replenishment Reminder: For consumable products or services — triggered when it’s time to reorder or restock.
• Survey or Feedback Mailer: Triggered after a key interaction (purchase, service call, event). Asks for feedback and reinforces the relationship.

Once your automated triggers are programmed, you can sit back and field responses and they come in. The hard work of generating leads and connecting with customers is done for you and all you need to focus on is following up and converting.

Tip: No CRM? No problem. Use our Direct Mail API to trigger mailers from any unique data. See how print-and-mail API workflows can automatically send mailpieces: https://www.pcmintegrations.com/crm-integrations/

6. Coordinate your digital ads with your mailers to appeal to 60% of consumers

Direct mail is even more effective when it is a part of a multi-channel marketing strategy. About 60% of consumers say they are very likely to respond to an advertising promotion when they see it across multiple channels.

Integrated marketing works because every ad, whether in print or online, reinforces your message and helps the target remember your brand.

These online + offline integrated campaigns often help businesses boost results. Here are a few examples:

• This Monroe, GA-based pressure washing company generated $60,000 in revenue with an integrated campaign
• A med spa in Pinehurst, NC brought in 40 new patients worth over $250,000 with coordinated digital mail and digital ads
• Remodeling contractors in Lake Elsinore, CA earned $604,000 with campaign that consisted of direct mail and ads on Instagram, Facebook and Google

One of the most effective ways to implement this is to mail a postcard and then show online ads to the same people who received a mailer. You can accomplish this by creating matching audiences using a targeted mailing list.

Additionally, follow-up emails and SMS messages increase your chances of hearing back from a prospect. These ads can either deliver the same message that was on the postcard or give alerts about offers that are ending soon.

Want to connect your postcards to your online messaging even more? Add QR codes to your mailer to bridge offline-to-online conversions.

7. Track and measure your results like your business depends on it!

The last best practice of a direct mail marketing campaign is tracking responses and analyzing and measuring performance. This is an important aspect of marketing because it helps improve and maximize your results.

Some ways to see if recipients are interested in your business are to place unique offer codes, personalized URLs or QR codes on your mailers. You’ll be able to see how many people took advantage of that specific offer, how many people scanned the QR code and how many people visited the link listed on the card.

Beyond simply tracking the responses to your campaign, you can also test different mail pieces and designs alongside each other to see which ones perform the best. A/B testing is effective because it gives you a bird’s-eye view of what is actually working and what is not.

Whichever mail piece generates the best response should be the one you continue to use in the future — until the next test at least!

Now that you are aware of the best practices of a direct mail marketing campaign, are you ready to launch one for your business?

Direct mail through PCM Integrations is simple, affordable, and effective. Want to see how direct mail can boost your CRM follow-ups? Schedule a quick call with PCM Integrations.