For businesses today, it’s high priority to understand how a customer wants to receive transactional communications. While a variety of digital alternatives have emerged, none of them cater to the basic preference of most customers: they want to receive these documents in the mail.
Transactional pieces like bills, invoices and statements are still the most read and opened pieces of mail: 96% of people open and read bills while 92% open and read statements.[1] Physical documents have value for both the recipient and the sender.
With this understanding, you could make your transactional mail work twice as hard—using only one stamp. When you send your invoice alongside promotional marketing elements, you can generate additional revenue or exposure for your business.
Get more out of your transactional mail
Mail has an impact on consumers: 60% of consumers surveyed feel that direct mail helps solidify a brand name in their mind, and people almost always open transactional mailpieces.[2]
Sending bills and statements has more impact in the mail than in email:
- People surveyed spend an average of 2 to 3 minutes reading transactional mail and only 15 to 20 seconds reading transactional email.[2]
- Once opened, bills and statements stay in a home for an average of 17 days, while emails live only for about 2 seconds.[3]
- 63% of people surveyed see direct mail campaigns as more serious while only 17% of people surveyed think of email that way.[2]
Imagine the marketing potential of your company’s routine bills, statements and invoices if you incorporate brand messaging and direct mail tactics into them. Try restructuring your transactional direct mailpieces to do more work for your brand. Make sure that your branding is present on the envelope and the documents inside. Then, find creative ways to seamlessly fit in marketing messages and calls to action.
Here are a few ways to get more out of your transactional mail:
Introduce new products and services with digital enhancements.
A bill can be more than just paper. With QR Codes®[4] and augmented reality (AR) technology, transactional mailpieces can engage customers and lead them to related content.
Use QR Codes or AR to:
- Connect customers to promotions or discounts
- Share supplemental content like a rich blog post
- Develop an app that lets customers experience a new product or service virtually
Incorporate Informed Delivery® ride-along content into your pieces.
Informed Delivery® lets businesses connect with customers multiple times with one mailpiece. The free feature from the United States Postal Service® sends people a daily email with images of what is coming in the mail that day. Businesses can also include a full-color image and a unique link that lives next to that image for free, driving consumers to connect digitally.
Create ride-along content to:
- Connect customers to a video, blog post or social profile
- Link users to your site to take an action, like buying another item
- Drive people to digitally schedule an appointment or finish completing a profile
Cross-promote relevant products and services, and offer savings.
When you’re sending transactional mail, you’re talking with existing customers. These people know and trust your business already – now you have a great opportunity to further your conversation with them.
Introduce relevant upsells to:
- Highlight the benefits of adding another service or product to their account
- Introduce savings offers, like bundled services or time-sensitive discounts
- Educate customers on your suite of offerings
Use personalized messaging and offers to encourage sales.
Because transactional mail reaches your current customers, you already know a little bit about them: from basic information like names to what services or products of yours that they use and how long they’ve been customers. Using the information that you have about them can help you create personalized messaging and offers.
Try personalizing your mail to:
- Reach customers who haven’t visited your location or site in a while
- Offer custom incentives to encourage repeat visits
- Celebrate milestones, like client anniversaries
Market your referral program to gain new customers.
Word of mouth is one of the strongest ways to gain new customers: people are 90% more likely to trust and buy from a brand recommended by a friend.[5] Use your transactional mail to encourage current customers to bring their friends, offering incentives to each.
Share your referral program to:
- Introduce it to an engaged audience
- Offer current customers an incentive to share your business with friends
- Build up your network of customers organically
Share how-to content to help customers take advantage of your offerings.
Help your customers get more out of their product or service by incorporating helpful and instructional content into your invoices, bills or statements. This can live on the piece itself or as a separate piece within the same mailing.
Offer supplemental content to:
- Build up trust with your customers
- Establish yourself as a go-to informational source
- Provide customers with helpful information
Key Takeaway
Transactional mail can serve a dual purpose. Not only does it send important documentation and information to your customers by nature, it can also drive home your marketing messages, introduce other products and services in your lineup, and deliver educational content to your engaged consumers. With one piece of mail that does two jobs, you could potentially enhance your brand image and build up your business.
Elevate your transactional mail. We'll show you how.
If you're looking to learn more about transactional mail, talk to a USPS representative.
Connect with USPSFootnotes
keyboard_arrow_down- [1]Elke Reuning-Elliott, “Mailing Bills and Statements? How to Get the Most for Your Money,” NPF Presentation, May 2017. arrow_right_alt
- [2]Myles Robinson, “Transactional Direct Mail,” The Direct Mail Company, Sep. 14, 2017. arrow_right_alt arrow_right_alt arrow_right_alt
- [3]Niblock, Rosie, “Infographic: Direct Mail vs Email,” Digital Doughnut, Feb. 2017. arrow_right_alt
- [4]QR Code® is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED. arrow_right_alt
- [5]Khalid Saleh, “The Importance of Word of Mouth Marketing – Statistics and Trends,” Invespcro, 2017. arrow_right_alt
