Use case: QR Codes for Direct Mail

Combining digital and physical is a game-changer!

These days, QR codes are everywhere—in place of menus in restaurants, in TV ads, and on all sorts of collateral, including and especially direct mail. Why are savvy marketers relying once again on physical “snail mail?” For good reason!

Direct mail marketing is personable, cost-effective, and persuasive. The USPS survey shows that 98% of Americans check their mailbox every day. Physical mail is very “sticky” and leaves a longer-lasting impression compared to email.

While QR codes (quick response codes) have been around since 1994, they have only recently become an integral part of advertising and marketing for businesses. QR codes are absolutely an effective marketing tool for anyone sending postal mail!

Here are some ways you should be using to effectively integrate QR codes into your direct mail marketing.

Never send mail without it

t’s a different world today thanks to the adoption of the smartphone, which is now in the driving seat of ecommerce. Also, nearly all camera apps now read a QR code, so there’s no need to download a separate app.

You can use a QR code on your mailer to instantly help your customer bridge the gap from the physical world to the digital world. 

Make sure your readers have a good experience. Let people know how to access the information in the QR code. Depending on your audience, you may have to tell folks how to scan the code. These days, though, it’s awfully easy. Just say: “Hey Siri, scan code” or “Hey Google, scan code”.

Super-charge ecommerce

Don’t use a bland caption for your QR code (e.g., “Scan here to shop”). Help your customers make that jump from the mailpiece to the website easier. 

Use your QR code with urgency, in a call to action, like 

  • “Save big”
  • “Take 15% off your order”
  • “Order now while supplies last!”

 

Build your network

Consider what you want the customer to do. If you want to increase your social engagement, your QR code can direct them to your Facebook or Instagram pages.

 Adding QR codes to your direct mail campaigns can do more than improve traffic to your website or social media. They can be a part of a strategy to meet your customers wherever they are, in whatever channel.

 

Brand and retarget

Including a QR code in your direct mail says that your brand is omnichannel, especially when you present a unified experience. 

Make sure you can customize your code with your brand colors and logo. And make sure your code is trackable so you can track user data – location, time and date of scan as well as compute the efficiency of the marketing campaign by looking at engagement, scan rates, and sales.

And finally, make sure you can add retargeting pixels to your code. It takes more than one “touch” to make a sale — so the ability to retarget to your potential customers is critical.