Multi-channel marketing stack - Mtech Summit 2018 presentation
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A presentation that reviews why direct mail is a key marketing channel for today's marketer, how traditional direct mail software isn't connected to the marketing tech stack, and how direct mail automation plugs into the dominant CRM and Marketing Automation tools that dominate marketing today.
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Multi-channel marketing stack - Mtech Summit 2018 presentation
- 1. The Multi-channel Marketing Stack New Tech That Turns Direct Mail Into A Digital Marketing Channel
- 3. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Agenda Direct Mail – It Actually Works! DM & The Modern Marketing Stack The Game Changer - Disruptive New Tech
- 7. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Paper Forms? Bill Pay? Gone Digital
- 10. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Key Takeaway – Mail Volume has Declined. For Good Reasons! Personal Correspondence – Gone Digital Paper Forms & Bill Pay – Gone Digital Spray & Pray Messaging – Gone Digital
- 11. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog What’s Left? $50 Billion Annual Business And An Opportunity To Stand Out!
- 12. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Since The DM Peak, MailTech Has Evolved • Highly Targeted Postcards, Letters, Catalogs • Using Powerful Imagery • Data Driven Personalization
- 13. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Trust In Institutions – In Crisis Trust In Direct Mail – Very High
- 14. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog DM Response Rates are up – over 50%! Less Mail + Better MailTech + High Trust = ?
- 15. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Why Trust DM? Science Says So! 21% Less Cognitive Effort To Process Canada Post 2015 Tactile things require less to remember 70% Higher Recall Than Digital Ads
- 16. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog MailTech Trust Response Rates Neuroscience Direct Mail….Really? The Takeaways Low Competition
- 17. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog DM & The Marketing Tech Stack A collection of software used to execute a brand’s marketing strategy. A way of thinking about the full array of technologies that impact the customer journey and form the brand experience.
- 18. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog DM & The Marketing Tech Stack Connected tools that own different pieces of the puzzle. Data flows from one tool, or layer, to the next. It all lives in the cloud
- 19. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog DM & The Marketing Tech Stack Offline Channels? Direct Mail?
- 20. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog DM & The Marketing Tech Stack
- 21. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Direct Mail Uses Lots of Software
- 23. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Delivery Data Return Data Response Data DM Data Isn’t Connected
- 24. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Disconnected Means DM’s Not In The Stack • A messaging channel that doesn’t use automation workflows • No knowledge in the CRM • Manual processes are slow & painful • Not in the cloud with the cool kids
- 28. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Direct Mail Automation • Streamlines DM production from 4-6 weeks to 1-2 weeks • Pulls lists directly from CRM or Marketing Automation • “Drips” mail 1 by 1 via automated workflows • Syncs delivery & response stats for every mailpiece into the CRM Works Like Email
- 30. Key Takeaways Direct Mail Is A Great Channel Marketing Tech Stack Doesn’t Include Traditional Direct Mail Direct Mail Automation Plugs Into The Stack Solves Key DM Problems
- 31. Interested? Combine Channels to get a 40% Lift Get 6 Free Workflows at: postalytics.com/direct-mail-email-workflows/ Connect Free Account To Automation Test a DM/Email Workflow
- 32. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Quick Word On Postalytics • Fast Growing Direct Mail Automation Startup • Realtime Delivery & Response Stats • Dozen’s of CRM & MA Integrations
- 33. www.postalytics.com @postalytics www.postalytics.com/blog Thank You! Let’s Talk: Dennis Kelly dennis@postalytics.com (781) 285-7132 @djkelly1
Editor's Notes
- Thanks for joining us today, we’ve seen some great presentations, super interesting stuff. I’m here to talk about direct mail. Some of you might think it’s a bit odd to come to a marketing tech summit to discuss direct mail. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been accused of being odd. My wife & kids could give you plenty of examples. I hope to convince you today why a direct mail talk does belong at a marketing tech summit.
- Who am I? I am Dennis. I’m the CEO of Postalytics. I’ve also been called DK, Dino, Deekster, and worse. By people I know and love. Here’s how to get in touch with me. Postalytics is a new product in the new field of direct mail automation. Our company, previously known as Boingnet, has been selling software and services to direct mailers for years. Our experiences at Boingnet enabled us to see what we think is a massive opportunity to improve the processes used to create, print, mail and measure direct mail. So we built a new product and have rebranded as Postalytics.
- So what are we doing today? First, we’ll talk about why direct mail still has an important role, despite some real challenges Next, we’ll take a look at the modern marketing tech stack. Spoiler alert – direct mail is nowhere to be seen Finally, we’ll dig in to learn how direct mail automation works, and how it fills a gaping hole in the marketing stack
- So you’re saying to yourself – OK Kelly (or DK, Deekster, Dino, or any of my other nicknames) – you’re going to try to convince us that direct mail is not dead. Or at least dying. The conventional wisdom is that the direct mail era has passed. What’s the data say? It peaked in 2007-2008. Maybe it had something to do with mail associated with all of the homes, condos and mortgages that were changing hands back then.
- Here’s another view of data. The DMA says total USPS mail volume has dropped from 213 million to 150 million. About 30%. Direct Mail has dropped 24% in the same era. Yes, I’m the guy investing in a channel that has declined by 24% in 8 years. As is often the case, data doesn’t tell the whole story. Let’s take a look at the mail of that era.
- As we all know, personal correspondence via the mail has plummeted. Email, text messaging and social media have supplanted letter writing. For obvious reasons. Since 2008, according to the USPS, there’s been a steep drop in this. Apparently kids are trying to send Santa Whatsapp messages. This doesn’t explain what’s happened to direct mail volumes though.
- Remember Business Reply Cards? I don’t think anyone under the age of 80 fills them out anymore. I remember really struggling to fill in those tiny spaces with my really bad handwriting. The online form on a website has disrupted the business reply card. Thankfully. Bill payment is another form of first class, direct mail that has plummeted. It’s faster, cheaper and easier. This guy seems very happy about it.
- What am I most interested in? The decline of junk mail. Spray and pray, non targeted, carbon footprint eating, junk. This is a classic from 2005, right at about the peak. The “Current Single Resident” address doesn’t give me much hope that the recipient was going to find their life partner from this service. Aside from the irony of the dating service that doesn’t know this persons name, much less love interests, Why would you spend $.50/piece to send this junk when you can…
- Send this, for roughly 1/100th of a penny per address from a bulk email list provider. Email wins the spray & pray game. It’s roughly 5,000 x cheaper. BTW, Sergey is your new SmartMatch. Check him out. Pretty strong call to action
- So what have we learned so far? Mail volumes have declined because mail is not the best channel… for many things!
- So mail as a channel is not utilized to do things that it did in the past. The mailbox (as opposed to the email inbox) is less cluttered. Which means there’s less competition for the attention of the recipient Smart marketers are taking note….
- What’s interesting is that while mail isn’t being used to do things it used to, digital printing technology has evolved. Now, mail can do different things than it used to. We have better data for targeting We can produce beautiful, powerful creative We can personalize content to make offers and CTA’s more relevant
- Meanwhile Trust – the basis for all of commerce, is plummeting. In their annual global trust survey, research firm Edelman declared “Trust Is In Crisis” for the first time. Direct mail trust ranks very high – 76% of consumers according to Marketing Sherpa, while digital media trust is low. After all of the scams that have happened - how many of you trust emails from banks or credit cards?
- So we’ve gotten rid of unnecessary clutter in the mailbox. We’ve improved the mail experience with better mailing technology. And mail is highly trusted by recipients. It has all added up to an explosion in effectiveness. The DMA reports that since 2010, response rates for all direct mail is way up. As in over 50%!
- What’s more, new neuroscience studies (by brain scientists that study marketing) tell us that physical, tactile ads are easier for our brains to process and lead to much higher recall than digital ads. On top of fast growing response rates, there’s a huge brand imprint created by direct mail.
- Here’s the key takeaway – while the conventional wisdom, and a high level look at the data, tell us direct mail isn’t a thriving marketing channel, a deeper looks says otherwise. So going back to the initial question – Direct Mail.. Really? I’ll let two of my favorites answer. Direct mail is a channel that most marketers should be using.
- A few years ago, there was no such thing as a marketing tech stack. As there was very little tech in marketing. As we know, thanks to the work of our friend Scott Brinker, no one in their right mind would say that today. So a marketing tech stack is a way of organizing, and hopefully rationalizing, all the tech the marketing team uses. It often is visualized in a chart like this.
- Here’s another of the hundreds that you can find online. As you can see, the diagrams are often built in a way to indicate a connection, or a flow of data from one tool to the next, or from one layer to another. It’s all very seamless, and logical. Which makes sense, as marketing is data driven today. You don’t see many LinkedIn profiles that claim “Non data-driven marketer, who relies on gut instinct to make decisions” Per John’s earlier talk – this software, and the data, all lives in the cloud.
- One thing you’ll find as you peruse marketing tech stacks, is a distinct lack of representation of offline channels. Including direct mail.
- In fact, Scott Brinker’s Landscape is the only one I was able to find. He has a print category. We’ll be handing out magnifying glasses to check it out. So why is DM left out of most stacks? Let‘s look at how traditional direct mail production uses software.
- There’s a lot of software used in direct mail production. Let’s just take a high level look: To get the underlying data file (names, addresses, personalization data), someone typically exports data from a CRM, POS or buys data from a vendor in .CSV file format. That file gets emailed or FTP’d around to many people. A graphic designer meets with the marketing team and uses an Adobe product to create PDF files that get emailed around and modified until the final creative is agreed to. The production team at the direct mail printer uses very sophisticated prepress software that merges the list and the creative to set up the print run.
- The problem is that these files are being manually sent around, often multiple times, by lots of different people. None of it lives in the cloud. It’s local software.
- The marketing stack software is all communicating via API’s, or Application Programming Interfaces. The data is flowing automatically from one database into another database, with little to no human intervention. The content management system, marketing automation and CRM systems are synced up to match the customer’s journey. All in the cloud. While the files that power direct mail are being manually sent around to many humans, the direct mail data that is of interest to marketers is completely separated from the core CMS, MA & CRM platforms that marketers are using to guide and understand customers through their journey’s.
- Direct Mail isn’t in the Marketing Tech Stack. The software, and the data that it generates, isn’t in the cloud. It can’t communicate with anything else without manual interfaces. It is being left behind. As John Landry said earlier, the platform has shifted. There’s no AI or Machine Learning opportunity
- In today’s environment, inefficiency means opportunity. A new wave of players is seeking to fill the direct mail gap in the marketing tech stack. And grab a chunk of that $50 billion dollar annual business. They’re building direct mail automation tools that are upending this disconnected process with software.
- Direct mail automation attacks this semi manual, slow and disconnected process. It replaces this.
- Direct mail automation turns direct mail into a digital marketing channel. That happens to output print. It seamlessly uses data from marketing automation and CRM systems to generate highly targeted, personalized and tracked direct mail. With minimal human intervention. It lives in the cloud With Microservices and APIs There’s a massive AI/Machine Learning Opportunity
- How does direct mail automation turns direct mail into a digital channel? By making it act like email. It gives the marketer a simple, point & click tool to generate personalized creative, pull in lists from the core platforms and launch a campaign in minutes. Without the need to export to .CSV and email/FTP files around. Just like email. It doesn’t need to batch. It can send one piece as a part of an automated workflow. It can send small batches in minutes. Just like email. It also syncs the delivery and response data back into the CRM or Automation tool, so that a delivery or an online response can trigger the next workflow step. Just like email.
- What does this new category look like? Of course, there’s Postalytics. We think you should check us out. It’s early. There are a few players out there, each taking a different strategy. Products are evolving quickly. Expect 2-3 to rise up & compete on a national/worldwide basis.
- To review: Direct mail is a strong, vibrant channel, despite what you’ve heard. Just not for spray & pray junk mail of the past. As mail volumes have dropped, mailing technology has improved, trust has remained high, response rates have risen. Science is backing all of this up. The marketing tech stack is software that marketers use to coordinate the their brand’s customer journeys. The software uses core platforms and specialty tools to provide best of breed capability. Traditional direct mail isn’t in the marketing tech stack. It can’t communicate with the core platforms well, and requires a lot of human interaction to create a campaign. Direct mail automation is a new category that seeks to disrupt traditional direct mail. It solves several of the most glaring workflow and data problems that traditional direct mail faces. It enables direct mail to act like a digital marketing channel.
- So if you’re interested in checking out direct mail automation, it’s really easy: Test out a direct mail/email workflow. If that sounds like a lot of work, it isn’t. And it can get you a 40% lift in response. First, sign up for a Postalytics Account. It’s free. You can pay us a subscription to get more goodies if you want to. Hook us up to your Marketing Automation tool. Set up a direct mail/email workflow in a few hours. How? Use one of the free workflows we’re giving away, developed with our friend Nancy Harhut. We worked with Nancy to develop 6 of these. We’re giving them away to make it easy for you.