4 Ways To Make Your Mailers Interactive
Four Ways To Make Direct Mail Interactive
How can you make your direct mail marketing interactivemake and interesting? Whether it is postcard marketing or letter marketing, direct mail need not be boring or stagnant. Marketers are experimenting with different ways of creating direct mail materials that have a wow factor. Fun and interactive mail help your brand gain a competitive edge over others and cut through the advertising clutter.
The more engaging your direct mail is, the more you can get your target customers excited about interacting with your business.
Here are some ways to make your direct mail marketing interactive and engaging:
Incorporate AR Technology In Your Mailers
AR or Augmented Reality is already being used by marketers to provide an immersive shopping experience to their customers. For instance, Ikea's app allows customers to select furniture from a catalog and move them using their fingers to the desired places in their own homes. These digital versions of the furniture help customers judge if the piece of furniture will fit into the corner or how well it blends with the decor.
Paint company Dulux also offers an app that helps customers paint the walls in their home in any color and visualize the result. Another beauty company sends product samples and converts the smartphone into a make-up mirror.
AR provides a host of opportunities in direct mail marketing to boost engagement and motivate recipients to take immediate action such as tapping to book an appointment or make a purchase.
An example of an exciting direct mail marketing campaign that used AR is the one that Monarch Airline created. Customers could scan and experience the 3D Monarch Mountain from the direct mail resulting in 13,000 scans and a sales revenue of $ 3 million. The return on marketing investment for the company was as high as 18: 1. Greenpeace, an environmental organization, sends a magazine to its donors that are infused with AR technology. Using an app, readers can scan the pages to view the footage of environmental expeditions.
You can use dimensional mailers as well to offer virtual tours, 3D experiences, models, and virtual showrooms.
Add 3D Images to Your Mailers
Three-dimensional images, similar to AR, help you create an engaging marketing message. Send 3D glasses along with your catalog, postcard, or other direct mail marketing materials to spark their interest. 3D images will allow prospects to engage with your direct mail like never before.
Embed Secret Messages In Your Mailers
One of the ways you can make your direct mailers fun and interactive is to require the recipient to perform some action to access your message.
For instance, a Belgium based corporation wanted to highlight the importance of conserving water on 
World Water Day while also reaching out to their prospects.
They created a direct mail material with a secret message that would be revealed only when it was placed underwater.
Include QR Codes In Your Mailers
The automotive mail marketing industry has used QR codes and AR to bring their direct mail marketing messages alive. Scanning a QR code on specific car models on an automaker's brochure, for instance, enabled recipients to view a video of the car.
These interactive direct mail materials may be more expensive to create than the traditional ones, but, given their high ROI, are worth the investment.
