Direct Mail Retargeting Campaigns: 5 Ways to Plug Your Funnel

Marketing teams at DTC brands face a common challenge. Growing traffic and subscriber lists, but lagging conversions. 

Emails go unread, ads get ignored, and privacy changes limit tracking. 

That's where direct mail retargeting comes in—a dynamic, physical, data-driven way to recover nearly-lost sales while complementing your digital strategy.

Many brands now see 3x–5x+ ROAS on multiple direct mail retargeting strategies. 

Sound good? Let’s discuss.

5 of our favorites, incoming.

1. Turn Email/SMS Subscribers into First-Time Buyers (Evergreen)

Your lists are always growing, and of course, converting those new subs into buyers is fundamental for success. 

They were interested enough to share their basic contact info, but if they go through your welcome flow without purchasing, you’re left to send additional emails and hammer them with retargeting ads. 

So, add a physical touchpoint and retarget them with direct mail, too. Putting your offer (literally) in their hands is often the last little nudge needed before purchase. 

We have a whole feature built around this called MailMatch^TM where we can send mail to customers based on their emails alone.

And it works. 

Major brands like Cozy Earth have leaned hard into MailMatch as an evergreen retargeting strategy.

It drives a significant ROAS (Cozy Earth has seen up to a 6.53x incremental ROAS), and it pushes their prospecting dollars further by driving net-new revenue.

Our Recommendations:

• Strike quickly: Send the postcard within a week or two of signup, while your brand is fresh in mind.
• Make a compelling offer: A discount, free sample, or insider perk.
• Showcase your product: Best practice is to show your hero with your best asset(s) from your email welcome flow.

2. Driving First-Time Buyers, Part 2: Slashing Through BFCM Noise

In the weeks leading up to BFCM, every brand is pounding inboxes and feeds at the same time.

But direct mail cuts through the BFCM $hitshow and ensures your message gets seen. As you drive more list subscribers than at any other point during the year, you can drive that much more revenue with postcards or trifolds.

And they won’t get lost in "promo tab" purgatory.

There’s a reason why HexClad has kept MailMatch switched on for the last several years straight (over BFCM and all year long). 

As soon as someone has been subscribed to HexClad’s list(s) for a certain number of days without purchasing, they will automatically be sent a retargeting postcard or other mailer.

One of the retargeting postcards that HexClad sent over BFCM in 2024.

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HexClad leans even harder into MailMatch in the weeks up to BFCM, retargeting tens of thousands of subscribers with killer offers, which has driven millions in net-new revenue.

Our Recommendations:

• Set up more than one retargeting wave: One for ~7 days post signup and one for ~14 days post signup. HexClad sends 3 waves! When someone purchases, they won’t receive additional MailMatch postcards.
• Segment based on intent: Focus on shoppers who've engaged with your welcome or other emails (i.e., clicked through).
• Coordinate with digital: Keep your design the same as your emails and ads.

3. Recover Abandoned Carts with Postcards

Around 70% of shopping carts get abandoned—often due to distraction, comparison shopping, or second thoughts.

You probably have an abandoned cart flow, but what about those who ignore emails or never see them? 

Direct mail retargeting catches these missed opportunities… And they look incredible. 

Check out one of Mini Katana’s abandoned cart postcards:

The viral DTC brand uses direct mail throughout its funnel—including in automated abandoned cart campaigns. Whenever someone leaves a sword in their cart without buying, we automatically send them a postcard a few days later.

The results? Stellar. 

Their abandoned cart postcards drive an 8x+ ROAS. 

Our Recommendations:

• Ensure you have an address: Use shipping info entered before abandonment or PostPilot's matching tech.
• Timing matters: Send the postcard after your email sequence, around ~5-7 days after abandonment.
• If possible, highlight the abandoned item or item category.

4. Win Back Abandoned Checkouts

An abandoned checkout is even closer to conversion than an abandoned cart. 

(Thanks for that insight, PostPilot writer person.) 

Point is, these shoppers went as far as entering their contact and shipping info but bailed at the very last second, so it’s time for a direct mail nudge.

KURU, for example, sends this postcard to customers who abandoned their carts 6 days prior and who have already gone through an email abandoned cart sequence.

And it works. 

KURU sees a 5x+ ROAS on their direct mail retargeting.

Recommendations:

• Leverage the data you have: Use the customer's name and feature the abandoned item category.
• Create urgency: "Save your cart by XYZ Date" or "Your discount code expires at ABC Date."
• Keep it on-brand: The rule of “If you do it with email, do it with direct mail, too” applies to everything in direct mail.

5. Re-Engage Browse Abandoners (Anonymous Visitors)

Thousands of people browse your site and leave without a trace. 

No email signup. No items added to cart. Nada. 

You’ve got retargeting ads, but with tracking restrictions and rising ad costs, they’re getting less effective over time.

(Direct mail retargeting solution incoming.)

PostPilot's SiteMatch™ uses a proprietary pixel to identify and mail a portion (~30%) of those anonymous visitors to pull them back in.

An example of how it works:

• Someone searches for something you sell.
• They arrive on your site through Google.
• They bop around a bit and spend time checking out your hero product. 
• A week later, they get a mailer showing off a few of your main products. 
• You've just reached a customer that no email or ad could reach.

Beloved pizza oven maker Gozney kills it with SiteMatch.

Their high-end products have a long consideration period, and many visitors would do some research on the site and leave.

By placing the SiteMatch pixel on their site, Gozney could match 20–40% of anonymous traffic to physical addresses. They sent out Cardalogs™ featuring their star products with a tagline "Give the gift of fire."

The campaign drove $116,000 in revenue from 151 orders with a 16× ROAS. That’s highly profitable revenue that simply wouldn’t have come in without using direct mail for retargeting.

How to Do It:

• Use the right tools: Add PostPilot's SiteMatch™ pixel to capture a significant portion of visitors.
• Focus on intent signals: Target those who viewed multiple product pages or spent time on site (possible with PostPilot’s pixel).
• Design for discovery: Create a "cardalog" highlighting best-sellers or items in categories they browsed.
• Include an enticing offer: Give them a reason to take action with a special discount or bundle deal.

Direct Your Retargeting Questions to Us

Direct mail doesn't compete with your digital efforts; it complements them. 

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You should, of course, continue to run retargeting ads and keep sending emails, but there’s a reason why the most successful brands in the world are heavily investing in direct mail, too. 

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They’re…

• Plugging those leaky funnel holes. 
• Automating revenue. 
• Adding physical touchpoints when they’re needed most. 

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And when you use direct mail powered by PostPilot, we’ll strategize, design, print, and mail 100% of your campaigns for you. 

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We’d say you wouldn’t have to lift a finger, but you’ll have to type “Let’s launch it” when your campaigns are ready to go.

Check us out.

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