What is programmatic mail?

What is programmatic mail?

If you’ve heard the term ‘programmatic mail’ bandied around but don’t really know what it is, you’ve come to the right place.

Put simply, programmatic mail is when a piece of direct mail is automatically generated, printed, and sent out to a potential customer based on their action on a website.

Typically these mail items are triggered when a customer abandons their shopping basket. The letter or postcard can be populated with highly targeted information, including images of the items they intended to buy, their details, and an offer to nudge them over the line.

Once programmatic mail journeys have been created it becomes as easy and automated as sending out emails. It’s a highly effective way of leaving a lasting impression with your customers and you never need to worry about ad blockers, GDPR (as the customer must give you contact permissions first), or irritating user experiences.

We know the typical response to an abandoned shopping basket is to email your customer with a ‘can we tempt you back’ offer. But we all get bombarded by hundreds of marketing emails every day and yours might get lost in all that noise. 51% are actually deleted within 2 seconds.

With programmatic mail, you put your message physically in the hands of your customer. Imagine, your customer browses your website and for whatever reason, they abandon checkout, within as little as 24 hours they could be holding a personal discount code with a picture of the items they so very nearly purchased.

We think you’ll agree, it’s not surprising this is a more enticing communication vs. the classic email. It‘s a fantastic way of making your customer feel valued and they are much more likely to respond.

“Programmatic Mail now builds on the love consumers have for mail, and makes them love it all the more. Because now it’s not just for them, it’s for them at the right time, which explains why we see Programmatic Mail response rates of 10% and more and uplifts in conversion of around 14%.” 

ROYAL MAIL MARKETREACH – PROGRAMMATIC MAIL GUIDE – DISCOVER THE NEW CONVERSION CHANNEL

The benefits of programmatic mail:

It’s fast
You can have a highly impactful direct mail piece in your customer’s hands within 24 – 48 hours

It drives returns
Campaigns with mail have a higher return on investment than those without mail.

It builds on existing relationships
Programmatic Mail builds on existing relationships, making recipients feel more valued – and more likely to respond.

It’s relevant
Programmatic Mail is always relevant to its recipients – because we know they’ve already shown interest in its content. It’s time-sensitive but automation makes it possible and as easy as triggering an email.

It’s data driven
You can easily build and test data models that help you identify which online behaviours are the most powerful programmatic triggers for your business. We’re not just talkin abandoned carts, it could be attention paid to particular content, dwell time on pages, frequency of visits, pattern of pages visited, and so on.

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“Programmatic mail is an exciting new development for marketers. It enables digital and direct mail to work seamlessly together and combines online and physical channels in a way that is likely to significantly improve ROI.”

MARK CRIPPS – EVP, Brand and Digital Marketing – The Economist Group

Here’s how programmatic mail works…

Step 1
A customer visits a company’s website and almost completes purchase.

Step 2
Their action triggers an immediate Programmatic Mail response.

Step 3
The Programmatic Mail partner (that’s us!) prints and mails out a pre-designed, bespoke, personal communication to that customer.

Step 4
Digital printing allows for this quick, personalised turnaround.

Step 5
The mail piece arrives often inside 24 hours, but within 48.

Step 6
The arrival of the mail piece prompts reconsideration by the customer, and the personalised offer is too good to miss.

Are you ready to try programmatic mail for yourself?

Ask yourself, are you losing customers at critical stages in the buyer journey? Are your response rates lower than you’d like? What could you offer your customers, at the vital stages of the purchase journey, that would make them more likely to see it through?

We can work with you to identify your key opportunities and build a test schedule to see what difference programmatic mail could make.

Get in touch if you’re interested.

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