Response rates clearly in double figures? No problem – direct-to-addressee print mailshots attract more attention than e-mails – that offline look and feel appeal is a particular mobilizer. One online print company – Briefodruck – has really excelled as a mailshot system provider.
Many people are aware of the strengths of print mailshots and consciously utilize them for marketing purposes. Yet at the same time the potential of physical, personally addressed ad mail is unjustly underestimated by advertisers. According to Druckmarkt figures, 66 % of all direct mailshots are opened, of which more than 80 % are given a considerable amount of attention (> 1 minute). These are numbers that purely digital marketing can’t possibly generate. Print mailshots – personalized ones in particular – are therefore highly appreciated by consumers and can play an important role within the marketing mix as well.
Many online and offline providers have often told me that they increasingly use print mailshots solely to communicate with their existing customers. Actually that is a pity, because look-and-feel mailshots have a lot more potential than just what is required to manage existing contacts. Indeed a print mailshot – provided it doesn’t feature very ordinary, boring design or functionality – can generate particular appeal. That famous first impression is therefore critical. And if the advertiser finds creating a campaign as easy as a walk in the park, then there is nothing to stop them utilizing this valuable direct marketing tool. For this reason I would like to profile an online print mailshot provider offering a proven all-in-one solution that even won the “Most Innovative Online Print Provider” category of the ‘Druck & Medien’ Awards in 2017.
As a B2B provider, Briefodruck (Fülle KG) – unlike optilyz, the mailshot software specialist, about which I penned a blog post a short while back – offers a solution that takes care of online design, printing and dispatch of mailshots. The long-established mailshot printer already has more than 100 years of production experience in the offline business and since 2017 has operated a new online store, which as just mentioned promptly won an award. The company based in Wünschendorf/Thuringia is well-known in the trade and has already persuaded a number of clients of the merits of its self-styled “Systemmailings” (mailshot systems) solutions. By “system” the mailshot print provider with a close attachment to its home region means an all-in-one offering consisting of store and online configuration, postal service-compatible formats, printing, addressing and finishing. The success that this very recently established online store is enjoying is due not least to the service that Briefodruck provides alongside the required degree of ordering process automation. To achieve this, the team had to invest a fair amount of time, effort and resources in development work.
“Printed communication pays dividends – not just for the major players! What matters is really getting through to your target audience. And that’s exactly what most digital-only campaigns don’t achieve.” – Bernd Zipper
What does the store offer?
The Fülle KG website definitely has visual and functional appeal. Click paths can be kept short just by the fact that clients can always keep track of the choice of categories and the accompanying pricing information. If you select one of the more than 50 variants that are just listed in the Mailshot Finder alone, you are provided with technical and pricing details as well as visual examples of what each variant looks like in reality. Actual product configuration then starts on the in-detail page when you select – let’s say – the complexity of the mailshot content. An example of this is the “Autoplay-Schuber” (slider-format one-piece mailer), which can be configured with or without pop-ups with a varying number of pages. Thereafter the quantity of different versions can be configured, in order, for example, to incorporate different designs. This is followed by color scheme, personalization and finishing options as well as postage and print run specification.
And since postage costs constitute a sizeable portion of total mailshot costs, the direct production and postage costs calculation function is a useful feature for business clients as it enables material-related overall costs for campaigns to be accurately computed. So once the client has created their layout (for which Briefodruck supplies detailed InDesign templates), online configuration, scheduling, payment and handling can be completed via the store.
To go with the to some extent way-out mailshot variant styles, another interesting feature of Briefodruck’s offering is the geopersonalization option that you can select during the configuration process, which has another positive effect on the way you can reach out to your customers. This involves the provision of information relating to the household being addressed in each case, which, for example, can help them to reach local bricks-&-mortar stores quickly. Personalized street information and directions are produced based on the address data provided, incorporated into the client’s own design and added to the mailshot by imprinting.
As I said before, the neatly laid out store has a great reputation not least because of the range of services provided and this is rounded off by a catalog featuring other implementation options and mailshot details that will presumably be published on a regular basis. This is an effective way of linking the offering both online and offline and a great CRM tool.
My take: Mailshots are and will remain a very important component of the cross-media marketing mix for reaching out to potential and existing customers. So businesses that consciously want to utilize print mailshots can also avail themselves of all-in-one online solutions. If the range of mailshot options is as well thought out and positioned as that provided by Briefodruck, these mailshots enable you to adopt a high-end print approach to reaching out to customers as part of a look-&-feel marketing campaign that also includes a regional hue.
