International Address Validation: Letterbox Advertising

Letterbox Advertising: How to Conduct a Successful Campaign to Increase Brand Awareness

74% of Australians give direct mail their complete attention! Moreover, customers tend to read all the promotional materials they receive in their mailboxes. Hence, we can say that direct mail marketing is still performing great, and people look forward to getting mail.

Direct mail can influence all stages of your prospects’ buying journeys. It enables you to develop new connections and drive more responses. To help you optimise your direct mailing activities, Australia Post offers an excellent option—letterbox advertising!

It is an offline mailing service that allows companies to reach out to their target audience at affordable rates. You can choose any locality or neighbourhood to cover under letterbox drop advertising. Australia Post helps you send your advertising mail to every address in these areas—without you having to compile a mailing list.

Therefore, it is also known as Unaddressed Mail. Unlike personalised targeting, letterbox advertising is a generic type of promoting your products and services.

You may also call it blanketing or mass mailing, wherein you cover the entire locality at once. It is an apt choice for location-based businesses, like retail stores, restaurants, dental clinics, etc. However, letterbox delivery can be employed by other companies as well for specific purposes, like:

Increasing brand awareness
Generate new leads
Promoting seasonal and discount offers, etc.

In this blog, we will cover more features of letterbox advertising and how to get the best out of it. Let’s get started!

Do Letterbox Drops Work?

In short- yes, letterbox drops work very well and help businesses achieve their marketing objectives! Here’s why:

Broaden Your Reach

Australia Post lets companies connect with 11.6 million letterboxes across the country. Thus, you can select several areas to target under your mail marketing campaign and expand your reach.

Depending on your goals and budget, letterbox advertising gives you the freedom to reach out to any number of prospects you want.

Enjoy Higher Deliverability Rates

In the case of personalised mailing, you may face issues of delivery failures. But, mailbox advertising ensures that your mail pieces are delivered effectively.

Hence, there are fewer wastages leading to an improved return on investment. Moreover, as the number of prospects receiving your mail increases, there are higher chances of you getting more engagement.

Increase Brand Visibility

You may have seen people sharing posts on social media all the time. Luckily, direct mail also has this feature because most letterbox drop recipients share these items with other household members. They might also pass on your mail to their relatives and friends, boosting brand visibility.

These factors make letterbox advertising one of the most effective marketing tools. It helps your brand create a buzz and connect with more people than you actually mailed.

Try creating and shipping handy items, like letters, postcards, flyers, etc. These items get saved by recipients for a longer time—hence, you get many chances to grab your audience’s attention and push them to complete the CTA.

Better Customer Relationships

Using Australia Post letterbox drop, you can strengthen your customer relationships. Direct mail is personal and emotional, enabling you to stay ahead of your competitors and convert valuable prospects.

Type of Mail Items to Send for Your Letterbox Advertising Campaign

You can use Unaddressed Mail to ship any of the following direct mail items:

Envelopes

Envelopes are the most standard form of mailbox advertising. They give you ample space to discuss your offerings in-depth. Thus, you can select this option if your message is too long for a postcard or flyer.

Plain, white-coloured envelopes might not attract many leads as recipients might consider them spam mail. But, you can add some customisations, use bright colours, and include teasers to make them exciting.

If you need assistance printing and mailing your letters, try PostGrid’s direct mail API. It can help you automate all the steps and accelerate your campaign.

Postcards

Postcards are small, intact, and affordable. But, people like them because postcards create a nostalgic effect. Also, almost all recipients save postcards consisting of a relevant offer. They might pin them on a wall or stick them on a refrigerator. Either way, their small size makes them an ideal choice as a mailbox drop.

Here are a few postcard marketing ideas and examples:

Promoting local events that you are participating in or hosting
Introducing new business offerings, like a new range of products or added features
Increasing sales levels by sending discount coupons.*

*Some businesses may attach a perforated coupon to their postcards, whereas others simply incorporate a coupon code into them.

Letterbox Flyers

Flyers are two-sided, coloured items, usually distributed as hand-outs. However, they are also popular direct mail materials for letterbox advertising.

There are various flyer sizes you can experiment with, depending on the length of your message and design. Flyers have the same use cases as postcards, but they are considered more informal.

Remember, postcards and flyers don’t need an envelope for mailing. Hence, you can save costs on additional printing. If you wish, you can also send flyers as self-mailers with a wide variety of folds.

Newsletters

These items are often overlooked as letterbox drops because many marketers think they can only send them via email. Yes, e-newsletters are more common, but their printed version can help increase the read rates significantly.

Your target audience may ignore your emails or move them to the spam folder. Also, you cannot continue to send newsletters or other marketing emails to recipients if they unsubscribe to them.

Under these circumstances, it is better to use letterbox drop advertising to send newsletters offline and get more responses. You can choose from various topics to draft informative and engaging newsletters, like:

Add your latest achievements, new additions, plans, etc.
Share educational industry news
Include short guides that explain your products and services
Talk about your company history, vision, etc.

Such a mailbox drop is more likely to generate a valuable readership base and fetch you more leads.

Please note: All items prepared for letterbox drop advertising should not weigh more than 100 grams. Every batch must comprise mail pieces of the same size and weight.

How to Design a Letterbox Drop?

Your mail item may be the first thing a prospect gets from your brand, so ensure that it is of top-notch quality. Even if you are engaging old customers, it is crucial to follow your brand standards.

Paper

While planning a letterbox advertising campaign, don’t forget to select a thicker and heavier paper stock than your competitors. It helps your mail stand out from the crowd and makes an excellent impression. Some businesses also use various finishing touches, like embossing, glossy coating, etc.

Layout

Select a layout that best fits your messaging and mail format—for example, you can select a landscape layout with different sections for postcards. On the contrary, a portrait layout is a preferable choice for flyers.

Artwork

Use eye-catching and appealing visuals for your letterbox advertising strategy. Since a mailbox drop is not personalised, recipients might not think of replying to it. But, you can change that by creating a unique artwork that resonates with your message precisely.

One of the most crucial aspects of your artwork is the imagery. You must use relevant images based on the products or services you are trying to sell. For instance, an auto insurance company may use pictures of a person riding their car happily. Similarly, a fruit juice manufacturing business can add images of people drinking their juice at a party.

Your letterbox advertising audience should be able to relate to your mailpiece and push them to make a decision. Also, use the right combination of colours to make your artwork look balanced. Leave enough white space to help recipients see all the sections of your item.

Offer

Always add an offer to incentivise your audience and push them ahead of the sales funnel. It can be anything from a small discount to free shipping.

You can add value to your mail by adding an offer in your letterbox drops. Make a reasonable deal with your prospects that helps them trust your brand and take action.

Call to Action

Don’t forget to add an upfront CTA to guide recipients about what to do next. Sending a mailbox drop without a CTA may not help you fulfil your letterbox advertising goals because the recipients are left clueless. They might still contact you using your phone number or email, but your response rates are likely to be very low.

You can add your offer and CTA in the same sentence. Here are a few examples:

Get a 20% discount now by visiting the link below
Walk into our store with this item to avail of our buy one get one offer
Scan the QR code below and get 5% cashback on your first purchase

Headline

Another crucial element is your mail copy. Ensure to use grabby headlines that solve the reader’s problem, create excitement, or generate curiosity.

Along with the headline, also focus on the rest of your copy and try dividing it into small sections. Add bullet points, statistics, customer testimonials, etc., to make your letterbox drops more authentic and engaging.

Steps to Conduct a Letterbox Drop Advertising Campaign

targeted strategies. But, there are a few steps you need to take care of for its smooth execution, and they are:

Planning Your Campaign

First, complete the planning regarding the time frame of your campaign—the booking date, delivery date, etc. You need to book a mailing with Australia Post at least ten days in advance if you intend to conduct a mailbox advertising campaign. However, Australia Post also allows you to make bookings up to three months before to help you get everything done on time.

The time durations for lodging articles are:

Seven days for interstate delivery
Five days for intrastate delivery

If you need shorter lodging and booking time frames, you can pay extra and choose the premium service.

The next thing you must plan is the locality you want to cover. You can select your target area by postcode, suburb, or state. Also, you must decide if you need to send your letterbox drop to businesses, residences, or both.

Typically, you should list down the following things before making a booking:

Your item specifications (size, weight, and thickness)
Your choice of address types and target area
The postal office where you are going to lodge your articles
Delivery dates

Preparing Your Mailbox Drop

Once printed, you need to bundle and label your items. Take care to fix the labels on the front side of every tray and front bundle. Check the Australia Post’s Mail Preparation Advice to understand the requirements in-depth.

Then, sort the letterbox drops into bundles and trays, depending on the delivery office as mentioned by Australia Post. You can get the trays for free at your lodgement office after booking.

Lodging

Remember to lodge your articles at the postal office mentioned in your Booking Confirmation Advice on the specified lodgement date. It allows you to give a head start to your campaign before Australia Post takes over and initiates the delivery process.

You can make the payment for your letterbox advertising campaign using any of the following methods:

Debit card, credit card, or cash
Pre-approved cheque
Australia Post business credit account

If you are a regular mailer, try opening a business credit account by completing the necessary documentation. This account helps you make payments flexibly and have better records of all your campaigns.

Letterbox Advertising Cost and Delivery Period

Australia Post offers two service options under letterbox advertising: standard and premium. As discussed above, the premium service helps you avail of a shorter lodging and booking time frame. Also, the deliveries are completed in just seven days. Therefore, if you need to conduct a campaign urgently, this option is the way to go.

However, the premium service is only available for deliveries within the same state. For interstate deliveries, you need to stick with Australia Post’s standard service- wherein your letterbox drops are delivered within 15 days.

Please note that your articles are delivered only between Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. Also, larger lodgements may take longer delivery times.

The Australia Post letterbox drop cost varies according to the destination, service type, volume of articles, size, and weight. Here are the rates:

Standard Service:

Size	Weight	Same State (Regular and Select)	Other State (Regular and Select)
Small letter	Up to 50 grams	$0.215	$0.255
Small letter	Over 50 – 100 grams	$0.325	$0.370
Large letter	Up to 50 grams	$0.340	$0.385
Large letter	Over 50 – 100 grams	$0.435	$0.480

Premium Service:

Size	Weight	Same State Regular	Same State Select
Small letter	Up to 50 grams	$0.275	$0.275
Small letter	Over 50 – 100 grams	$0.415	$0.415
Large letter	Up to 50 grams	$0.435	$0.435
Large letter	Over 50- 100 grams	$0.555	$0.555

Premium Short Week Service:

Size	Weight	Same State Regular	Same State Select
Small letter	Up to 50 grams	$0.325	$0.325
Small letter	Over 50 – 100 grams	$0.490	$0.490
Large letter	Up to 50 grams	$0.512	$0.512
Large letter	Over 50- 100 grams	$0.653	$0.653

If your articles measure over 100 grams, you need to dial 1300 223 571 and connect with Australia Post’s letterbox advertising booking team. You can also contact them for bulk mailing rates if you need to conduct a large-scale campaign.

No Show Fees

If you need to cancel your letterbox drop advertising campaign, you must do so in advance to avoid paying the no-show fees. Australia Post has specified the cancellation instructions as follows:

Booking Type	Lodgment Date and Time	Cancellation Window
Standard- for same-state deliveries	Day: Five working days in advance before the delivery week starts. Time: By noon.	At least one business date prior to your lodgment date.
Standard- for interstate deliveries	Day: Seven working days in advance before the delivery week starts. Time: By noon.
Premium	Day: One working day in advance before the delivery week starts. Time: By noon.

Also, the no-show fee for your mailbox advertising campaigns varies based on the number of items mentioned in your Booking Confirmation Advice.

Number of articles	No show fee
Up to 5,000	$100
More than 5,000 up to 50,000	$600
More than 50,000 up to 100,000	$1,600
More than 100,000	$3,600

Thus, it is better to cancel your booking via call, email, or the online booking tool and skip paying the no-show fees.

How to Ensure the Success of Your Letterbox Advertising Campaign?

There are several ways to boost the efficiency of your campaign to guarantee better positive results. From planning to lodgement, here are a few tips to help you conduct more successful campaigns:

Target the Right Audience

You cannot segment your letterbox drop mailing list according to advanced demographics, like age, gender, preferences, etc. But, it doesn’t restrict you from targeting a relevant audience. For example, if you are a luxury goods seller, you should only target high-income localities. Similarly, imagine if you plan on launching a new store in an area. In that case, it is best to send your letterbox drops to all the people residing in the vicinity.

Hence, it is advisable to conduct enough market research before selecting your target area. You may also choose customer-dense neighbourhoods where you are likely to find more prospects.

Test Your Campaigns

Before launching a large-scale mailbox advertising campaign, you can conduct a few small ones to test your items. Try sending out a few sample articles and measuring their performance. There are always some areas to improve upon, like your copy, offer, etc.

You can ensure that your letterbox drop can appeal to more people and produce better results with a few minor tweaks.

Testing also enables you to understand which localities are more responsive to your campaign and which are not.

PostGrid’s direct mail API can help you launch measurable campaigns effortlessly. It allows you to access timely reports and analytics for your reference.

Integrate Your Letterbox Advertising Activities Into a Multi-Channel Strategy

In today’s time, a multi-channel marketing strategy works way better than a standalone program. Hence, consider combining your direct mail and online advertising plans to reach a broader audience.

Marketers can schedule their email, social media, PPC campaigns, etc., post your letterbox drop advertising efforts are completed. It helps reinstate the message, again and again, to garner more attention from the prospects.

Automate Your Campaigns

Automation is taking over every industry, from healthcare to real estate. Now, all companies are automating as many activities as possible to save costs, manual labour, and money.

Thus, you can also automate your letterbox advertising campaigns using a direct mail solution provider like PostGrid. Our services are crafted to help you design, print, prepare, and mail your items without you having to do anything!

Pros and Cons of Letterbox Advertising

Before making your final decision, you should know the advantages and disadvantages of sending our letterbox drops. Below, we have compiled a list to help you:

Pros

Tangible and Emotional

Direct mail is a tangible reminder of your products and services. If your prospects need something similar to your offerings, they can pick up your mail and learn more about them.

If your item has an offer, recipients are also more likely to complete the CTA and make a purchase. The tangible nature of a mailbox drop helps people value it more than an email or social media post.

Also, it feels more emotional because it reaches people directly in their homes. These characteristics are more than enough for your letterbox advertising campaign to succeed!

Less Competition

While more and more marketers promote their brands online, you have very few companies to compete with direct mail. This channel allows you to cut through the noise and make your message heard by your target audience.

Long-Lasting

It is easy to delete an email or scroll through a display ad. But, it is relatively difficult to get rid of a letterbox drop item. Most people keep your mail until they redeem the discount or other offers.

But, some of your recipients might forget to reply even if they wanted to. Hence, make sure to add a deadline to accelerate your response levels.

Appealing to All Age Groups

Direct mail is the best way to communicate with people of older age groups. Though teenagers and millennials might enjoy spending hours online, senior citizens pay more attention to offline correspondence.

However, letterbox drops are known to be appealing to all age groups for the past few years. Thus, you can connect with almost everyone via this channel.

Cons:

Not Targeted

Some marketers hesitate to employ letterbox advertising due to a lack of targeting. All the mail items are generic and do not consist of personalised details. Hence, they believe that this marketing method may not produce positive results.

Therefore, you must launch a letterbox drop campaign only when you are sure of its performance. It may not work in some cases but perform excellently in others.

Expensive

Another disadvantage of letterbox advertising is its costs. However, it is more of a myth because you can grab very affordable rates by contacting Australia Post. Also, you can get further discounts by sending larger volumes.

Companies can also use PostGrid’s automated direct mail services to reduce costs significantly. PostGrid allows them to launch both targeted and generic marketing campaigns at 75% cheaper rates.

Along with enabling you to conduct mailing campaigns affordably, PostGrid also has several other use cases, like:

Minimise human error using automation
Send invoices, cheques, statements, and other transactional mail
Get paid faster by sending payment due to letters to clients
Conduct print and mail campaigns with the highest levels of security and confidentiality
Mail event invitations, announcements, notices, coupons, samples, etc.
Strengthen employer-employee relationships by sending appreciation letters, thank-you cards, anniversary wishes, etc.

Thus, Postgrid’s automated services for letterbox advertising help you eliminate the cons and optimise the benefits.

How Can PostGrid’s Direct Mail API Help You Conduct an Effective Letterbox Advertising Campaign?

Here are some more ways in which PostGrid can back up your mail marketing efforts:

Mail Preparation

Our solutions are built-in to help you design and prepare your letterbox drops without any manual effort. PostGrid offers several professionally-built templates for you to select from and customise according to your needs.

As discussed earlier, there are several specifications you need to follow to send mailbox drop items. Luckily, our API can handle everything automatically and smoothly. Hence, you need not read any instructions and struggle with getting everything right.

Print and Mail Fulfilment

Along with preparation, PostGrid also provides print and mail fulfilment. Your items are printed through our extensive network of printers and lodged automatedly.

You can place your orders and track the progress of your campaigns by logging into your PostGrid account. Sign up here if you don’t already have one!

Bulk Mailing

PostGrid assists you in launching on-demand and bulk letterbox advertising campaigns. It doesn’t make a difference if you want to send a couple of items or millions of them. Our services are scalable and can accommodate all your requirements.

Our other features include:

Two-business day SLA
Per-piece tracking
Data privacy and security
Zapier integration
Flexible pricing
Helpful API docs
Address verification
Reports and insights
Wide range of collaterals, etc.

Conclusion

Australia Post’s letterbox advertising is the most affordable way of sending direct mail to your prospects. You can plan your campaigns in advance and ensure everything falls into place on time.

There are several things to take care of while conducting mailbox advertising, like the lodgement dates, size, costs, etc. But, using PostGrid, you can skip all the legwork and sit back as our API does everything on your behalf.

Ready to save your precious time and money while conducting an effective letterbox advertising campaign with PostGrid? Request a demo now!

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Start transforming and automating your offline communications with PostGrid

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source https://postgridaustralia.weebly.com/blog/letterbox-advertising3739254

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Letterbox Advertising

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