Have you been thinking about adding some extra value to your direct mail campaigns by reaching your contacts online? Wondering whether it’s worth the investment to add a digital leg to your marketing efforts?
SynergyMail might be the perfect option for you. Rather than launching your own digital marketing with paid search and display ads — which can rack up the fees and exhaust your marketing budget — you could leverage a direct mail and online marketing hybrid. This program would take your existing mail lists, match online touchpoints to up to 40 to 50 percent of the recipients on that list, then send a digital version of your offer on the platforms of your choice.
SynergyMail isn’t the best option for everyone, but it’s a solution that meets the needs of many companies trying to cast a wider net for potential customers, boosting impressions by as much as 46% for pennies on every dollar already spent on mailing.
But is it a good fit for you? In this article, we’ll talk about:
- What SynergyMail is
- Benefits of implementing this digital marketing solution
- Who makes a good fit for a SynergyMail campaign
- Drawbacks of the program
- Who makes a bad fit for SynergyMail
Bear in mind that SynergyMail is an Integra-specific solution that you can’t find by name anywhere else. Some print businesses offer similar services, but they would fall under a different name related to direct mail. All that to say, of course, that we believe in the product and will gladly set you up with our expert on direct mail with intelligence for a comprehensive demo of the product. But that’s not all we’re here to say.
Just as important to us as the prospects who might want to request a demo are the customers who wouldn’t see high returns or benefit from SynergyMail significantly enough to justify the expenditure, even at its low price. We want to help you decide which camp you belong to by providing an objective look at both the pros and the cons of SynergyMail. That way, you can either get started with our solution, or no longer question whether it’s the right solution for you.
But first things first… what the heck is it?
What Is SynergyMail?
SynergyMail is Integra Graphics Synergy’s approach to cross-media marketing. It uses a proprietary omnichannel process that can both track the effectiveness of your direct mail campaign and enhance its results. Both are done with the strategic integration of a combination of digital platforms.
The list of available options that you can pair with your campaign include:
- SocialMatch
- Mail Tracking
- QR Codes
- Informed Delivery®
- Call and Text Tracking
- Online Follow-Up
- Social Media Follow-Up
- LEADMatch
- YouTube Ads
- Discovery Advertising
- Social Media Geotargeting
- Google Geotargeting
- Addressable Geo
Each of these solutions works in concert to keep you informed about your direct mail strategy and show you when and where impressions are made on your mail list recipients.
Benefits of SynergyMail Direct Mail With Intelligence
First, let’s cover what SynergyMail does well and how it can offer a net positive to the appropriate users. Perks include:
- Optimized timing: A single SynergyMail campaign runs for roughly 30 days, which is perfect for many types of sales, events and awareness goals. Rather than hitting every customer all at once, you can let them know about your company or offer before you send anything in the mail, during the time your copies are hitting mailboxes, and as a follow-up to your mail efforts.
- Omnichannel cohesion: SynergyMail materials work together to deliver a cohesive, recognizable brand experience. Rather than random ads that show a variety of products and services and designs, you’ll establish a distinguished, sophisticated message and set of visual assets that will have the same look and feel from device to device and impression to impression.
- Brand recall: Omnichannel marketing in the way SynergyMail does it will help people remember your brand. They’ll begin to see the colors of your logo, perhaps your slogan and maybe a product they felt on the fence about when they saw it the first time. As long as you use designs and messaging you feel truly reflects your brand, you’ll see that brand resonating with more and more customers. Bonus points if you make your storefront or website visually cohesive with your SynergyMail content.
- Your choice of technology bundle: SynergyMail is a flexible strategy that offers one or more of four bundles of the above 13 technologies. Look through the different bundles to find the right fit for your situation.
- Dashboard visibility: You’ll gain access to your dashboard shortly after your direct mail pieces go out to your customers. Any information we get through the SynergyMail application will show up on your dashboard in real time, including impressions made and on what platforms. For instance, if you sign up for mail tracking, you’ll find out when each piece of mail has been delivered at each individual address.
- High ROI potential: Marketing data shows that a large percentage of sales happen between the eighth and twelfth impression. Our data has shown that SynergyMail can lift response rates by 23 to 46 percent by increasing the number of impressions your efforts make on each consumer. Doing so is proven to increase leads and sales, giving prospects a chance to view an offer both in their mailbox and in their favorite digital spaces.
- Safe social media handling: When you fill out your SynergyMail paperwork, you’ll give permission for third-party ad placement on your business’s social media pages. Some clients worry about the security of those pages, but you’ll only need to provide administrative access to the part of your page that displays ads.
Let’s take a look at some of the specific qualities that often make businesses a good fit for SynergyMail marketing.
Who SynergyMail Works For
If you’ve been focused entirely on physical marketing and haven’t yet ventured into a digital space, intelligent mailing might be for you. Consider SynergyMail if you:
- Need to reach people more than just once
- Want to start building an online presence
- Don’t want to expand your marketing team
- Are seeking a low-cost way to boost your direct mail success
- Sell a product or service that people tend to think over for a while before committing
- Want a mix of marketing techniques without needing to work with a mix of vendors
- Hope to get an idea of what’s working and what isn’t with your direct mail efforts
Sound anything like your business? Click below to take a look at Integra’s timeline calculator and start planning your project’s timeline.
SynergyMail Limitations and Drawbacks to Consider
Direct mail with intelligence is a great tool in a lot of scenarios, but like anything else, it has its drawbacks and limitations. Some of those characteristics include:
- Intimidating initial onboarding process: Getting started with SynergyMail can seem a bit daunting. It takes some extra paperwork that may feel like a lot to manage. First, we’ll need a clean and up-to-date mailing list. Next, you’ll provide three to four creative assets visually similar to those on your mail pieces. Finally, you’ll have to give permission for Integra to place code on your company’s site as well as ads on your social media business pages as a third party. Fortunately, you won’t need to complete this process again once you’ve done it, so future campaigns will be simpler.
- Lack of direct information: While SynergyMail can give you insight into the number of impressions your digital and mail pieces are getting, it won’t tell you who clicks without that person taking further action. Depending on the technology bundle you select, you may get identifying information from forms customers fill out as directed by your mailout and ads, but they’ll have to fill out the form first. However, you’ll have to do a little digging of your own and have an established knowledge of your prior direct mail ROI to calculate exact improvement numbers.
- No ROI guarantees: If you work in or with a marketing department, you know that marketing is all about looking at numbers and trends to make informed decisions on ways to reach customers. By nature, a certain type of marketing can’t promise one outcome or another, nor can SynergyMail. We can tell you that the data shows increased engagement with more impressions, and that engagement leads to more sales overall, but we can’t know exactly how your particular consumer base will react. In turn, we would never erode trust with our customer base by making a promise about something we can’t be sure of.
- Unchangeable edits: SynergyMail is a slow trickle of ads and online impressions before, during and after a direct mail delivery, but it’s planned in advance. You’ll need to be extremely careful to make sure you get all the information you need on your paperwork and include the graphics and text you want. If you ask for a proof of your copies, review it carefully. Once it’s printed and the tracking begins, you’re locked in.
- Outbound overkill: We know that impressions are critical to the buyer’s journey. On the flip side, the last thing you want to do is annoy your customers, and there’s no denying that a small percentage of online users dislike repeated ads. Consider your industry and typical audience to decide which types of intelligent direct mail will grab their interest without attracting their ire.
- Prebuilt bundles: Under the current SynergyMail model, you can’t mix and match technologies on the list of 13. Instead, you can choose which of four pre-established bundles of technologies best meets your needs.
Knowing these drawbacks is critical in your decision-making process so that you can look into other solutions if you feel SynergyMail is not the appropriate fit. In the next section, we’ll cover some of the common business traits that may make you want to forgo this type of service.
Who SynergyMail Doesn’t Work For
SynergyMail might not be the best fit for your company if you:
- Already have a comparable digital marketing strategy in place
- Carefully monitor your social media presence
- Want a regular direct mail campaign without any add-ons
- Plan to send information in the mail that won’t be relevant
- Don’t have many or any customers who spend time online
- Haven’t set up any social media accounts and don’t plan to
- Work within a medical field and must maintain HIPAA compliance
Remember, if you choose not to implement intelligent mailing in one direct mail campaign, it doesn’t mean you can’t in others.
Select the Best-Fit Traditional or Intelligent Direct Mail Marketing Strategy
When you started thinking about intelligent mail generally and SynergyMail more specifically, you probably weren’t sure what you could expect from it or whether it would be worth the added cost. Hopefully now, you have a better idea of where your company’s mailing strategies stand and whether this would be a worthwhile boost for you.
Whether you choose to try SynergyMail now, wait until a later campaign or never jump in at all, you can make the decision feeling confident that you know both the pros and the cons of that choice.
Even if you opt to go without intelligent mailing, you can still make smart changes and improvements to make your direct mail campaign. For instance, consider learning more about how to make your direct mail postcards stand out to your customers.
Are you ready to dive into a new direct mail strategy? If so, congratulations on the choice — it’s an exciting one both with and without SynergyMail! Reach out to an Integra expert below to get started on your project.
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