Quick tip - using postcards

[busybee]

I operate an online business but I still use postcards so this will work in any business that has repeat customers.  The big benefits to using postcards for a direct mail piece is the cost is cheap and postcards almost always get read.  I send them out to announce new products and sometimes to offer good customers a special price or option.  I always get a big boost in sales right after a postcard mailing.

[admin]

Good points.

Another big advantage a Postcard has over a conventional Leaflet [ A5 or A4 for .eg. ] is that the Postcard will have greater 'durability' and 'longevity'.

The average lifespan of a Leaflet is approx the same as a Newspaper, which is 9 hours.
Your Postcard, being on heavier card, is far more likely to survive longer, and also perhaps saved by your prospect.

All of which equates to an increased response rate.

[deannatroupe]

All excellent points. Another benefit of using postcards is that there's less information so the prospect just about HAS to come and visit your website to find out more information about what it is you're offering. Less information also means that your prospect is less likely to become confused.

[andrew25]

I think this is an effective technique, this is the first time I came across postcards being used as a promotional one for an online business. When I was working as a merchant I used to paste the website address of my sales site behind my car while traveling and it does produced me a significant amount of traffic. I think all this innovative thinking are really efficient when it comes to business.

[deannatroupe]

I think you're right. In this day and age you need to be creative and advertise your business in multiple ways.  You can't just do one thing anymore and expect to get customers.

[deannatroupe]

Just be sure to put some sort of ad tracker on the post card so you can know which one is getting results. Maybe you can have people enter a code on your website or something like that.

[busybee]

I do track that but it's very simple to do.  I create a landing page specifically for the postcard campaign so the card is the only place that the link appears.  This is much easier than other methods as I just copy my regular landing page but rename it (using robots.txt file so the SEs don't see duplicate pages).

[Rusty]

I have noticed, too, that while promotional materials send in a sealed envelope, no matter now nice, will usually get thrown out without being read, a postcard will get some attention - enough to see what it is about. So I agree, postcards are much better to use. Cheaper, too.