Postcards and flat mailers are an effective means of sharing information with an audience. For B2B marketers looking to optimize engagement with their prospects, gifting can be taken to the next level with creative workflows.
When you hear workflow you might think of how it relates to your work routine. For us, it is multifaceted and includes integrating a direct mail or gifting campaign workflow seamlessly into your strategy. We see the results for our clients who add Direct Mail solutions and gifting to their multi-channel strategy. Direct mail has an average response rate of 9%, but Outgage campaigns average 35% in engagement rates. Even if the channels you’re using are doing well on their own, adding gifting to the mix can take things to a whole new level.
What does ‘workflow’ mean for a gifting campaign?
A workflow in a Direct Mail campaign with Outgage refers to the touchpoints or interactions you created between you and your contact; interactions can include an email, the contact receiving the gift, or a follow-up. The workflows we help you put together are based on your brand’s unique message and the intention behind the campaign.
The end goal is to make the overall experience, for you and your contacts, easier and more engaging. A gifting workflow can start with a digital or physical touchpoint – you can entice your audience through an email or landing page by asking them to set up a meeting to get a gift, or send the gift first with CTA’s and landing page links on a postcard. It all depends on the type of experience you want to build.
What does a workflow for Direct Mail look like?
When creating a Direct Mail campaign workflow, you have to map out thoughtful touchpoints to build a meaningful experience with your audience. This process is unique to the goals you have in place for each campaign and should be optimized based on your user or buyer persona.
Build a cohesive experience through touchpoints
When creating a meaningful experience, ask yourself:
- What will be most enticing and interactive for your users or customers? Think about the buyer’s journey.
- How will you deliver the first touchpoint to your audience? (Through email, social media, or mail)
- What are you hoping to achieve through your campaign? (Set up a meeting with clients, schedule a demo with prospects, or host an event)
- What CTA’s do you want your audience to complete at the end of your campaign?
Based on your answers to the questions above, you now have an idea of the type of experience you want your audience to have and the end-goal of the campaign. Once that is solidified, it’s time to focus on the nitty-gritty details.
Think outside of the box
It’s important to find a partner or agency who might be able to better understand the needs of your audience and what gift might make sense with your message. We’re only human, and it’s easy to get stuck on an idea that you think would be wonderful to receive yourself, but as a marketer you have to consider what will inspire a larger audience.
Going back to your message, think about something clever that matches what you’re trying to say. For instance if you’re meeting for a virtual coffee, a mug seems like the easiest option. But take it one step further – send them the mug with a postcard that entices them to “stir things up” and set up a meeting. Once they accept the meeting, send them their choice of drink, be it a bag of coffee, a few packs of tea, or even hot chocolate. This type of workflow can be done in so many different ways for an extensive variety of gifts and messages.
Decide on touchpoints
Once you have everything figured out – gift, message, packaging, and the way you want your workflow to go – you’re ready to really start honing in on the touchpoints you want your audience to go through. Again, this goes back to understanding what you want to get out of this campaign.
If you’re not sure about the touchpoints or a workflow that makes sense for your vision, it’s important to find a partner who understands this process – and your brand! When we work with clients who want to have a multi-touch gifting campaign, we spend a lot of time brainstorming different ideas for them and mapping out a few different workflow options. While this could be done by your team, using an outside expert is a great way to save time and energy. Plus, it’s always great to have another take on ideas that could work for your campaign your team may not have thought of.
Here’s are some examples of touchpoints in a successful gifting campaign workflow:
The first touchpoint can be an email or another type of digital communication that entices your contact to complete the CTA for the gift; this could be part of a series where they learn what problems you can solve for them.
The second can be the gift. This is where your brand will really begin to impress your audience and stand out. So again – make it a good one! The package should include the gift and a postcard with additional CTA’s. This would be where you invite them to an event, to set up a meeting, or simply send a thank you note. Again, it’s mostly dependent on the experience and CTA you are going for.
The third touchpoint can be the final step (or not, depending on your campaign) where you get the contact to convert. Whether that’s getting on the meeting and agreeing to a trial or officially RSVPing to an event is up to you – the workflow will surround your idea of what a successful campaign will look like.
There are optional touchpoints that you can include in any workflow. You can do a two part gift to make the experience more interactive and fun. For example, we hosted a very successful virtual Happy Hour for our clients, where we sent an email inviting them to save the date and enter their shipping information for a surprise gift. They then received two wine tumblers with an official postcard-invite to the Outgage Happy Hour. Once they officially RSVP’d, they were sent another gift – a drink of their choice – to have during the event.
You could also build out a locked gift campaign, where the contact will receive a gift box with a lock. To get the code and get the gift (be it candy, drinks, or a drone!), you can choose the CTAs like setting up a meeting or a demo with a brand representative to receive the code to unlock the box.
The best part is your workflow is not set in stone. You can modify and optimize to make it better as you go. If you find a touchpoint isn’t performing as well as you’d hoped, change it to be more effective. You can even A/B test from the start and try a couple different workflows.
Takeaways
The process of building out a successful Direct Mail or gifting campaign can seem daunting, it doesn’t have to be – and it shouldn’t be! Gifts are fun whether you’re getting them or gifting them, creating a campaign surrounding that should spark joy on the contact end as well as with your team.
- Gifting workflows are a great way to optimize your campaigns. Not only are they more thought-out and targeted, they create a fun experience for your audience that’s unique to your brand.
- The more creative, the better. Style your package with your brand’s style. Match the gift, the message, event or CTA you’re building in your campaign. Personalize messages when you can.
- It’s all about your brand and your campaign. The best thing about building gifting workflows is that it’s completely unique to your brand’s style and the message you are trying to get out there.
Who is Outgage?
We’re the experts – Outgage is the Direct Mail and gifting solution built by marketers for marketers. We empower and guide B2B marketers on a creative journey to create meaningful customer engagement through memorable, actionable, and measurable gifting experiences. Learn more on our website or set up a demo here.
