Portland Leather Goods Bags 8 Figures with Full-Funnel Programmatic Direct Mail

TLDR:

• Portland Leather Goods uses PostPilot to send programmatic direct mail with a rapid feedback loop and to extend the efficacy of their other marketing programs.  
• The team has leveraged full-funnel direct mail with PostPilot, a program that has included high-ROI automations, including VIP birthday cards.
• Portland Leather Goods’ overall direct mail program has driven 8 figures in revenue, but with a single birthday flow, they’re driving hundreds of thousands of dollars every month at a 15x+ ROI.

The Direct Mail Challenge

Portland Leather Goods (PLG) is no stranger to direct mail, having previously tested it with another vendor. However, while the catalogs they launched performed well, the process and feedback loops were “super slow.” Post-launch, it took over six weeks for data to come in.

There had to be a better way to run direct mail. The team sought mail options beyond catalogs, faster performance tracking, and—ideally—a much less time-consuming process. 

PLG found all this and more in PostPilot. 

“PostPilot has unlocked another great channel for us and lets us meet customers where they are in their PLG journey. It’s reengaged more lapsed buyers than other digital channels have, and we’re able to see orders roll in as they happen.”

-Matt Fey, Director of Marketing @ Portland Leather Goods

The PostPilot Solution

A Full-Funnel Direct Mail Program (That You Can Hang Your Bag On)

“Direct mail has been a special way to bring back those one-time buyers into the PLG fold as well as keep the hype alive with some of our highest LTV customers.”

-Matt Fey

With PostPilot, PLG has leaned into the full-funnel power of direct mail: acquiring new customers, retargeting leads, and retaining customers to drive LTV. 

On the Acquisition Side…

PLG launched its first cold prospecting campaign in the spring, using this postcard:

While PLG designed the postcard in-house, PostPilot built the target customer list (using the largest customer dataset in the direct mail space), printed, and launched the campaign. 

And as with all PostPilot campaigns, PLG was able to track prospecting performance “from the moment the campaign was delivered.” 

No more six-week data delays, just real-time results.

On the Retargeting Side…

To drive first purchases, PLG has leveraged MailMatch^TM, a feature that enables brands to send mail to leads who have subscribed to their email list but have not purchased yet.

In other words, PLG sent direct mail campaigns to leads’ homes based on email addresses alone—an effective, low-cost ($0.53/card) tactic that means they’re giving fewer retargeting dollars to Google and Meta.

On the Retention Side…

The PLG team has launched two dozen retention campaigns with PostPilot, but doing so has required relatively little time and effort, as the team delegated setup and launch to PostPilot:

“Our account manager, Tori, is great—my own bandwidth is zero, and she builds all our campaigns. I give segments and ideas, and she takes it from there. The team is exceptional when it comes to communication: they build accurate segments and are always dialed into what I’m looking to accomplish.”

The campaigns have included:

• Automated campaigns to drive second purchases
• Automated winbacks for moderate spenders
• Automated winbacks for VIPs
• Holiday offers 
• Unique offers to “Unicorn Whisperers” (PLG’s ultra-ultra VIPs)

These retention efforts show one of the (many) reasons PLG is such a successful brand: they work to sell more to their existing customers, and they treat their extra special customers truly, well, specially.

To zoom in on one of their VIP retention tactics, let’s talk birthdays:

A Tactical Highlight

Brands using PostPilot may leverage out-of-the-box automated birthday flows or connect a separate source to pull specific birthdays in. PLG set up the latter and automated a flow in the PostPilot app.

PLG pipes birthdays in from its Yotpo loyalty program, and during loyalty customers’ birthday weeks, PostPilot automatically fires a postcard to them. 

This postcard:

The cards let recipients know that loyalty points have been added to their accounts, and they work really well.

Results

“The feedback loop with PostPilot is way faster. It’s a great way to add to our other marketing, and it works really well with all the other channels we use.”

Over the last year-and-a-half of using PostPilot, PLG has driven 8 figures in revenue. And their birthday flow alone has driven 7 figures, at a 15x+ ROI, in less than 6 months. 

Serious results. Low lift. That’s what direct mail can do.

And (much) more is coming. PLG is launching prospecting catalogs in the coming months. 

We’re excited to see how those work, too.

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