Ready to increase your revenue?
Join thousands of ecommerce brands using PostPilot to acquire more customers & keep them coming back again (and again).
No contracts. No minimums.
Direct Mail Is a Perfect Fit for T.M. Lewin’s UK Retention Program
Background
Like other brands, T.M. Lewin faced significant challenges during COVID: the dramatic shift toward remote work meant that employees were buying fewer suits. However, post-COVID, the brand has roared back, focusing on growing DTC.
As part of the digital focus, the team has worked to “get that last bit of ROAS out of Meta, Google, and email” and turned to PostPilot to launch a blue ocean channel (with a history as long as T.M. Lewin’s): direct mail.
“Growing revenue further via Meta/Google was resulting in diminishing returns for us, whereas direct mail has unlocked a new channel with incremental contribution margin.”
-Dan Ferris, Finance Director @ T.M. Lewin
The Retention Tactics
T.M. Lewin has leveraged postcards in a variety of retention campaigns, targeting (and winning back) customers based on a number of RFM parameters—ranging from more recent one-time buyers to seemingly lapsed VIP customers who last bought far outside the expected repurchase window.
Here are five specific segments the team has targeted (out of a couple dozen in total):
- (VIP) Last Order Date (LOD) of 365–545 days ago; Number of Orders (NO) > 3
- (VIP) LOD 180–365; NO > 3
- LOD 90–180; NO 2–3
- LOD 90; NO 2–3
- LOD 60–120; NO = 1
We often recommend this type of retention structure because it covers a few bases.
- It targets earlier in a standard winback window (the ~60 day mark) to attack the classic “one-time buyer problem.”
- It wins back customers who are often not opening emails/SMS or have unsubscribed (common among LOD = 365+ customers).
- It hits the more likely buyers (2–3 purchases) in between.
And although this sort of retention strategy and campaign setup might sound complicated and time-consuming, the PostPilot team handled 100% of strategy and postcard design:
“PostPilot has handled everything from design to RFM setup, making it simple to execute with minimal management time required.”
The Results
“It’s effective having extra touch points. Everything else is online, and we’re getting that presence and staying top-of-mind somewhere else. It’s been working well for us. You’re getting more into customers’ subconscious with physical mail.”
-Dan Ferris
(Hey, Dan, you took our lines!)
With those added touchpoints, direct mail has delivered strong results for T.M. Lewin. A few highlights:
- VIP Winbacks: Minimum 9x+ ROI (including 9.4x on customers who last purchased over a year ago)
- 2-3x Buyers: 4.9x–15x+ ROI
- 1x Buyers: 3.0x–11.5x ROI
Direct mail works—in the UK, too.
As Meta and Google costs continue to rise, and as inboxes continue to be bombarded, brands can use direct mail to get their messages (literally) into customers’ hands.
Like T.M. Lewin, direct mail was successful over a century ago, and it remains successful today.
Next Case Study
.webp)
.jpg)
