Dear Salesforce: Customer 360 Should Include Direct Mail

Salesforce’s Customer 360 is a revolutionary concept. And it’s also one that makes sense: If we want to build better relationships with our customers, then we should treat them like the people we have the best relationships with.

What might be missing from the ecosystem, however, is a tangible form of communication like direct mail.

Is it old school? Perhaps … in the past. But now it’s so out of fashion that re-introducing it not only subverts the status quo, but helps you rise above digital noise. And the addition of modern technology has created the ability to personalize direct mail at scale.

If you’re still not sold, we’re ready to take a deeper dive. Keep reading for more reasons why direct mail should be incorporated into the Customer 360 ecosystem.

4 Reasons Customer 360 Needs Direct Mail

1. Science Shows Direct Mail Can Enhance the Effectiveness of Customer 360

Without a tangible element to their outreach, companies are missing the opportunity to combine online and offline engagements into a consistent, omnichannel buyer’s journey. Why? Because direct mail feels more human. Research shows that being able to hold something (instead of merely viewing it on a digital screen) makes it more valuable, memorable, and persuasive.

And marketers already seem to intuitively know this: 60% of them say that combining digital and direct mail increases ROI. Getting on someone’s desk—and not just their inbox—makes your 27% more likely to deliver top-ranking sales performance and a whopping 40% more likely to deliver top-ranking acquisition levels.

Direct mail can enhance and augment the other engagement channels in Customer 360, as well as produce results on its own. This makes it a powerful form of engagement that can’t be ignored.

2. Direct Mail 2.0 Has the Ability to be Integrated and Automated in Customer 360

Believe it or not, modern technology has made sending direct mail as easy as sending an email. Solutions like a Sending Platform allow you to store your items with a real-time view of inventory, bundle them with accents like custom boxes or tissue paper (to create an extra special “unboxing” experience), and ship them with a simple click of the button.

That same type of solution can integrate across your marketing, sales, and customer success tech stack. So you bring direct mail into the systems you already use. Even better? Sending Platforms can add a direct mail send to any automated campaigns or set it to trigger based on contact criteria.

Now that direct mail can be automated like any other marketing channel, it almost seems counterintuitive to not include it.

3. New Technology Allows You to Measure Direct Mail ROI in Customer 360

Anyone who’s met a modern marketer knows they live and breath ROI. And that’s exactly why direct mail hasn’t been embraced like its easily trackable digital counterparts. But that same new wave of technology that automates the process has also enabled the quantification of its results.

Instead of shipping something off into a void, Sending Platforms integrate into your current campaign tracking workflows to provide delivery updates and help you understand the effects of what you send. Yes, a direct mail campaign is more expensive than an email. But it’s also more effective. So when you’re thinking about a 360-degree approach to customer experience, ask yourself: What’s your customer worth to you?

4. Modern Direct Mail Acts as a Sustainable Channel in Customer 360

Forward-thinking teams have traded spray and pray direct mail strategies for a much more targeted and profitable approach. They aren’t sending thousands (or millions) of cheap mailers to an audience that’s simply going to throw them out, but rather selecting sending personalized items to a selective group of people who they want to connect with on a more human level.

Sometimes it’s part of an account-based marketing strategy. Other times it’s for your group of most dedicated customer advocates. For some teams, this even means sending meaningful packages to their employees and recruits. But the important point is that it’s intentional, not wasteful. Systems like a Sending Platform can even offer the ability to send eGift cards and eliminate the potential environmental footprint altogether.

At Sendoso, we take sustainability very seriously. That’s why we work with Conscious Impact by supporting their Himalayan Tree Plating Project. The organization works with local farms to plant more than 10,000 trees (mostly coffee trees, in fact!) each year to improve local air quality and mitigate climate change by sequestering carbon. Read more about our sustainability efforts here.

We’re passionate about supporting the Customer 360 ecosystem, as well as creating most human connections in a digital world. And we think direct mail does both. So what do you think Salesforce? Mail us maybe?