This large response rate deserves a look with an old-school return to using postcards for marketing
With so many online marketing options — email campaigns, social media ads, keyword-optimized blogs — it’s easy to think that all your advertising efforts should be directed toward the internet. However, if you want to give your current marketing campaign a jolt, the data suggests that using postcards for marketing may do the trick.
Compelling postcard marketing statistics
Information collected by the business data platform Statista indicates that the average response rate for digital marketing avenues is around 1%. Yet, the response rate for direct mail is 9%. So, your online campaign has to reach nine times as many people to get the same effect as sending physical mail or using postcards for marketing.
Direct mail also has a return on investment (ROI) that is comparable to many other online marketing options. The ROI for direct mail is 29%, according to marketing expert Neil Patel, compared to a 30% ROI for social media and a 23% ROI for paid searches (though email marketing holds the best ROI at 124%).
Using postcards for marketing offers a few additional advantages. In a 2018 report, the Office of the Inspector General indicated that first-class mail “has declined significantly” since 2001. Meanwhile, a Gallup poll shows that 41% of U.S. adults look forward to going to the mailbox every day. If your postcard is one of the few pieces of mail they find, your practice will stand out.
Postcards also offer the ability to better reach your target market. Instead of putting something online and hoping your intended audience sees it, sending a postcard ensures that your message reaches your prospective patient’s hands.
Another benefit of postcard marketing is that it is more affordable than sending prospects a letter. The average postcard costs between $0.50 and $1 to create and send. Choose other direct mail options and the average increases to up to $3 per piece. This difference can add up quickly, especially if you plan to target a larger audience.
Using postcards for marketing: create a campaign
The first step to maximizing a postcard campaign is to capture your target patient’s attention. Mail Shark says that this involves choosing text and images that convey your postcard’s purpose within just a few seconds so it doesn’t extend past the average consumer’s attention span.
For example, if you’re using your postcard campaign to get more patients in the door, using larger text to promote your new-patient special may do the trick. If you want to increase product sales, placing one or two coupons on the card’s face enables the recipient to quickly recognize that the mailing is designed to offer savings on your health care products.
Your messaging can also be used to drive patients to your website for more information.
Consider who you want to target with your postcard campaign. One option is people who have recently moved to the area.
Maybe you want to target patients who haven’t been in for some time. Using postcards for marketing is also a great way to celebrate important events in current patients’ lives, like birthdays and anniversaries. In a world where most well-wishes are offered online, sending actual mail enables your practice to stand out as an office that cares enough about its patients to send a printed message of congratulations.
CHRISTINA DEBUSK is a freelance writer who specializes in content related to natural health and wellness, personal development and small-business marketing. She can be contacted through ChristinaMDeBusk.com.
