Not long ago, marketers used to argue constantly over the strengths and weaknesses of email and traditional direct mail. Now, a truce has been declared: both media are powerful when couple with each other in a single campaign. The ability to apply these tools is now wide-spread, but not as frequently employed as they should. You should keep in mind these five elements that form the backbone of your campaign: Brand, timing, lists, Calls-To-Action and assessment.

1. Branding

This is the heart of the campaign: the branding message. Your e-mail should contain the same slogans, logos and other identifying marks used in the print piece,and both channels must reference the other. For example, the email subject line should repeat the envelope headline or a prominent head in the postal piece. Keep the subject line REAL short-30 to 40 characters-and make it extremely benefit-driven. The „from“ line should exactly match the name used on the printed piece. The channels have different strengths but the message should be the same in both. Create custom landing pages that are identical to your print offer. Feature the url in every piece and link to it from your e-mails.

2. Timing and Frequency

Entire books have been written about when to send email — what day of week and time of day. While the answers are not clear, the statistics are compelling for the timing of a coordinated email/DM campaign: direct mail should come first, the email about a week later. The snail-mail goes first because it tends to hang around longer than email, which is usually either read, trashed or pushed out of sight in two or three days.

3. The List

The job of compiling a mail list for these kinds of coordinated campaigns is obviously twice as hard as other DM campaigns because you need a list with both kinds of addresses. Remember: always add the recipients name to the „Dear“ line. This signals some kind of pre-existing relationship with the recipient. Avoid using too many graphics and pictures. And keep the size of your entire email under 60kb.

4. CTA

Your calls-to-action should be very visible; in email, use text in addition to image-based links to guarantee they can be viewed even if images can’t be displayed. Your CTA should be in the top half of your email so it can be viewed in most preview panes.

5. „After Action“ Reports

Some marketers insist on quantifying success by judging results from each channel, but that’s wrong-headed. The results should be viewed together as either successful or not. For example, the prospect may respond to an e-mail for convenience sake, but it is entirely possible the postal piece closed the sale. Or the customer may phone in an order after reading both a direct mail piece and/or an e-mail.

Both media must work in coordination for an effective campaign and results should be assessed that way too.

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