Make It Personal How Custom Postcards Drive Better Engagement?

There's no doubt that lately, the digital world has completely taken over our lives and digital communication through emails, instant messaging, and many others and has become omnipresent. But does it mean that conventional tools for communication are no longer in use?

Far from that! In fact, a lot of companies nowadays, are still heavily relying on a variety of different traditional strategies to reach and interact with their customers. One of them is postcards.

Particularly customized postcards are commonly leveraged for various purposes, such as marketing, communication, and personal expression. If you’re still not aware of their significance, then maybe the facts below will remind you of it.

Their Appeal Is Out Of This World 

It appears as if practically everybody these days, is communicating through emails and texts, which may be practical, but it often feels very generic and emotionless. In contrast, postcards are palpable, and give you the chance to make a meaningful connection with others.

That’s probably one of the biggest reasons why so many businesses perceive them as an appealing way to attract and retain their consumers. They remind them of the good old days when people were sending postcards when they wanted to express all kinds of positive emotions, especially thoughtfulness and gratitude.

That's something that you can hardly do with digital forms of communication.  With them, there's always something that's missing when it comes to this. Postcards, on the other hand, carry that certain warmth, and when you're going through their content, everyone stops for a brief moment because you are so invested in everything that's written in them.

Another positive thing about them is their physicality and the overall appearance. They are so aesthetically pleasing, that they encourage people to keep them even if there's no message inside, which is rarely the case with other forms of direct mail.

It doesn't matter whether they contain greetings for a birthday, a simple "Hello" from vacation, or serve as reminders for great deals and offers, in most instances, people will keep them because they leave a phenomenal impression like no other.

That's why everyone who sends them will leave a lasting impact on the recipient because they'll suddenly be perceived as someone who is thoughtful and kind. They are a typical symbol of deep connection, which is hard to encounter today.

With Them, You Won’t Blow Your Budget

There's nothing better than sending out something that's super-effective and engaging, yet very cost-effective. It doesn't matter whether you opt for a professional direct mail design or not, you will still be able to create a phenomenal design that’s going to sweep your prospective clients off their feet, without breaking the bank. That’s because they enable you to quickly create a memorable direct mail campaign, and, concurrently, reach a large audience.

They are an amazing way to reach both local and international markets, regardless of the type of services and products you are offering. With a small amount of money, you'll be able to drive lots of traffic to your company.

Speaking of this, another great thing about postcards is the fact that they do not come with any hidden, additional expenses. Everything is quite transparent as far as they are concerned. With them, you do not ever need to worry about exceeding your budget.

All you need to do is set a certain amount of money aside for these purposes and notify your direct mailing company about it, and they'll immediately tell you how many personalized postcards you can send to your customers. As simple as that!

They Are Extremely Versatile!

Generally speaking, postcards are very versatile, especially when they are personalized. They let your imagination run wild in terms of design, which means that there's no such thing as right or wrong.

You can do with them whatever your heart desires, depending on the preferences and tastes of your consumers. For instance, if you run a pet store, you can always put some adorable animals on them, and then add the most basic information about your business, like address and contact information, and voila, you’ll end up with cute, eye-catching informational postcards.

To further spice them up, you should embed a coupon on them, because it is widely known that a vast majority of people love it when they can skimp on costs. As previously concluded, there's no general rule of thumb when it comes to design.

What may work for your brand, and company, in general, may not work with others. It’s up to you to do your research and experiment with various designs to figure that out. Since they are generally very diverse, they work well with practically any business model.

They Are Very Memorable

When you send something that’s generic, people may remember it as soon as they lay their eyes on it, however, in a couple of minutes, they’ll completely forget about it because they’ve seen it a bunch of times in the past.

On the other hand, when you send personalized postcards, they will more likely be remembered, which will probably be the case if you put all your time and effort into the design and the message you want to convey.

There's a certain phenomenon regarding this, that's called the "self-reference effect" and it states that people have a superior recall for a piece of information that's associated with themselves. And then when you make personalized postcards that contain relevant information that's important to the recipient it's going to undeniably increase the memorability of your message, which means that the recipient will probably remember everything that's related to your brand and everything it has to offer.

You’ll Build Rapport With Your Consumers

Although no one expects you to be best friends with your prospective clients, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't work on your relationship with them, and that's exactly what you'll be able to do with personalized postcards.

With them, you'll add some sort of personal flair that cannot ever be seen in regular postcards, or any other type of direct mail or digital forms of communication and interaction. It doesn't matter whether you add a custom picture, a special message, or anything else that's efficient, these things will most definitely help you build rapport with the recipient, and, at the same time, encourage them to stay loyal to you and your brand.

You can announce a sale, offer some spectacular deals and discounts, or simply say a nice “Thank you”, whatever you want to, and with this type of content, you’ll effectively foster customer loyalty, which is something that digital forms of communications aren’t capable of doing.

They Are Very Easy To Make

At first glance, you may think that creating personalized postcards is daunting and challenging, however, that doesn’t necessarily need to be the case. Of course, you need to think of several factors in order to create something that’s lasting and effective, however, if you are even remotely creative, it won’t be difficult for you to do so.

After all, if you've never done it before, then you can always make use of different tools to make custom designs that you're going to send to your prospective clients. They allow you to pick a particular template that may be most suitable for the message that you want to send.

When you utilize these types of tools, then things are a lot more simplified, making the entire creating experience far more enjoyable.

What Are The Most Popular Types Of Personalized Postcards?

Generally speaking, postcards (personalized or not) normally have different functions and purposes, and what you choose depends on the goal you want to achieve in terms of sales, promotions, and time of year. There are a couple of examples when it comes to this and below a couple of them will be enumerated:

1. Postcards that will build brand community – Every person wants to feel like they belong somewhere, and the same goes for your customers. If you want to make them part of your community and like they are actually contributing to the success of your firm, then you should send them personalized postcards with special incentives that will encourage them to try out your services and products. And if they invite their friends and family members to do that as well, then it’s going to be even better! If you invite them to join you on your social media platforms, then they will feel more like they are part of your community.

2. MVP Postcards – These are usually employed when you want to show your consumers just how much you appreciate them. They normally contain reminders of various interesting and special events. If you wish to, you can point out the fact that they are solely intended for the most loyal customers, or that they offer some awesome rewards. Since people, in general, love being MVPs, when they receive these types of postcards, they’ll instantly feel extremely special, like a real MVP.

Everybody who considers themselves as real business connoisseurs knows how impactful and effective personalized postcards are, hence you should resort to them whenever you want to boost customer engagement and loyalty.