The media mail is used rarely as the only tool of a client relationship : to be effective, it must be linked up with the digital channel, targeted way.

paper Mail or digital communication, why choose ? In the marketing and customer relationship, these two channels have their advantages, and can be complementary. If the digital dominates, the paper, to which the French remain attached to it, can be a good ally to stand out, strengthen relationships, capture attention – a challenge increasingly hard for brands. Here are some ways to combine paper and digital in a single strategy.

Target customers online, and then send them an email

This is the idea of retargeting or “retargeting” advertising, which is that we see a display of promotional banners on the Internet (for a hotel room, a piece of clothing…) according to the pages e-commerce that we have consulted. Except that here, the banners are replaced by… a true mail received in the mailbox. A method that, for the client, they may be perceived as less invasive and more “qualitative”. Of course, the advertiser will not send mail to all the people who have visited his site : he will concentrate its shipments to selected customers based on criteria defined in advance, for example their attitude navigation, the interest they have shown for certain products, their history as a customer… It will also be able to choose the design of the letters is particularly striking, as, for example, the office of tourism of the Meeting, who has sent in 2018 to 2000 visitors choose to its website a parcel in the colors of the island, containing promotional offers and a real pineapple ! The same targeting can be carried out thanks to the data collected by other means, such as in cash transactions (for example, send a customer coupons according to the products that he used to buy). The aim remains the same : to focus its mailings on clients that are a priori more susceptible. This kind of operation mailing (sending mail) targeted can also be accompanied by the following, follow up e-mail, phone, etc

Use the mail to attract customers on a site

Use the paper to attract customers on its web site ? The idea may seem paradoxical… but not that much, if you consider paper catalogs published by retailers such as La Redoute, the e-retailer of furniture Made.com or even Amazon, whose sales are yet essentially, perhaps exclusively online ! The effect of the drive-to-web (generating tours online) of the paper has been highlighted by the latest study BALmétrie of Médiapost : for example, 23.8% of the readers of a letter sent by a brand of sale at a distance travelled or have had the intention of visiting its website. This effect can be done naturally : the reading of the paper mail arouses the curiosity and makes you want the customer to go looking for him-even more information online, on the brand’s website or a search engine. It can also go through tools, incentives, such as a coupon to use online, a webkey (USB key, which launches the connection to online content) or an e-mail “connected” refers to a site or a content via the smartphone (through image recognition, an NFC chip…).

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Reserve the paper for very special occasions… or to the right customers

Receive an e-mail paper is not trivial : it can accentuate the feeling of consideration, the attention paid to the message… In contrast with the daily flood of emails and notifications. “Paper supports everything that is important, solemn, etc, We can’t imagine a day give a Nobel prize by e-mail !” note Anthony Mahé, of the firm of Eranos, which has carried out a study on the subject. So, why not to reserve this medium for special occasions, for important communications, designed to maintain a privileged relationship with the customers ? Invitations to events, magazines on paper that embody the expertise of the company… “We can segment it according to the type of communication, but also according to the nature of the customer : for example, to send an invitation card physical for VIP clients that have baskets means higher, and an e-mail to others,” adds Eric Trousset, director of development of the BU Media at The Post. The general idea here is to use the paper mail selectively, to emphasize a side rare and exceptional, in relation to a digital communication more commonplace.