The inbox vs. the mailbox - who wins this boxing match?

When getting your message of hope and solutions out to distressed homeowners, there is no “silver bullet”, no lone marketing vehicle, that is superior. In our view, you should be “in the face” of those struggling homeowners through as many touch points, and in as many channels as possible. I'm a firm believer in the omnipresence of marketing. 

Both e-mail and direct mail can work together to create synergy. In other words, one plus one isn’t two. It’s four.

According to an informative white paper by the USPS,

“Mail vs. inbox… the ultimate boxing match, right? Well seasoned marketers know it’s not about choosing sides. By integrating both mail and the internet into your media mix, you can command the attention of your audience where they live, work, and play.”

It goes on to say,

“e-mail complements rather than competes with mail as a means of reaching your audience and compelling them to respond. Blending the distinct flavors of both into one powerful marketing stragedy will help you achieve high-impact results… even shake things up.”

At least one person has pointed out the bias in this report. Sure, the Postal Service is trying to grow their postage revenue as more and more business is transacted on the Internet. But focus on the message, not the messenger, and the message makes perfect sense. It seems that the pdf file no longer exists on the USPS server, but a graphics company has a verbatim copy of the formerly published report on this page. 

While our pre foreclosure data does not contain e-mail addresses because of legal and privacy concerns, you can use direct mail to send the recipient to a landing page where you can capture the e-mail address of the homeowner.

Using this opt in e-mail list, you can then put the distressed homeowner into a “drip” e-mail campaign where they receive regular, pre orchestrated e-mails over a sustained period. The idea is to “warm” the lead until they take the desired course of action – list their home with you.

If you take this principle of synergy further, you tease the homeowner by e-mailing a report with the four things that the homeowner should never do if they fall behind on a mortgage payment, and what’s the fifth, most important thing, they shouldn’t do if foreclosure is nearing? They can check their mailbox for that jewel, because you are mailing it to them.

If you have another, second report, say, “how to stop harassing collection calls”, or “what to do if you get a certified letter from your lender”, you can mail out the report summary with a link to more details, and on the eve of mailing the report, send an e-mail to the homeowner telling them to expect the mail piece to arrive in the next day or two. The possibilities when combining direct mail and e-mail are left only to your imagination. 

The point is, you can harness the power of both direct mail and e-mail to produce greater results than when used together. Till next time, A-B-C … Always Be Closing!