11 Genius Examples of Direct Mail Postcard Campaigns That Drove Sky-High ROI

We’ve already explained how direct mail is effective.

But this is the internet. We can say anything! It’s okay if you’re a little skeptical. Today we’re here to provide more concrete proof, though, and give you campaign inspiration in the process.

Direct mail feels more personal to 70% of customers in comparison to digital interactions and is trusted by 82% of customers. In hindsight, we really should be sending you this blog in the mail for some increased trust points!

Direct mail is seeing a comeback in the advent of nonstop digital noise. While it was once the norm, now it can make you stand out—receiving a postcard can be a reprieve from the onslaught of digital marketing we all receive.

We can do you one better!

We come armed with data! Statistics! Results! All the good stuff! We’ve gathered 11 examples of postcard campaigns and their results so you can garner inspiration for your next (or very first!) direct mail campaign.

Sound good?

M&S Meats does more than meat expectations

Some things are just better together, like salt and pepper, peanut butter and jelly, and milk and cookies. However, after the results that M&S Meats saw from working with their partners at PostPilot we have another iconic pairing to propose: beef jerky and direct mail.

This may sound crazy, but hear us out:

BFCM gifting postcard campaign

Wanting to explore a gifting campaign (and show off their incredible new product photos) for BFCM, M&S Meats focused on reactivating previous gifters to spark up the giving spirit for the holidays.

With their new postcard ready to be savored, they split previous gifters into 4 segments based on frequency and recency to gather data and optimize further in the future.

Results

Across the one-off BFCM campaigns and active automations, M&S Meats has seen an average 15x+ ROI, and the postcard campaign played an important role in their 110% YoY increase in holiday revenue.

While they say to never meat your heroes, it’s safe to say M&S Meats was happy to meat direct mail.

KURU Footwear dove into direct mail feet-first

KURU Footwear focuses on making people comfortable with their heel-first footwear using KURUSOLE technology. Despite their focus on comfort, the team at KURU was brave enough to try something they were uncomfortable with at first: direct mail. 

While historically focusing on search, shopping, and social channels, KURU came to PostPilot to explore another way to engage customers at all funnel stages. Here’s one of the (very comfortable) steps they took to success:

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Post-purchase push postcard (say that 5 times fast) campaign

Not one to ever fall a few steps behind, KURU sent 2 postcards to customers who made a purchase but had not returned. The first (pictured above) was sent 35 days post-purchase, while the second was sent 120 days post-purchase to customers who still hadn’t converted via any email post-purchase campaigns.

Results

KURU has seen direct mail results so strong that you’d fall if it weren’t for their sturdy footwear. The retention campaign above achieved 11.5x ROAS and a 4.5% CVR.

With results like that, we’d say they deserve a victory lap!

Gozney cooks up big direct mail wins

The team at Gozney knows a thing or two about cooking pizzas. But they also have become experts at cooking up direct mail success with no pizza oven required.

Across the pond in the UK, Gozney used a direct mail strategy for Black Friday/Cyber Monday to affordably break through the digital noise that comes with peak season.

Partnering with their pals at PostPilot, Gozney strategically launched postcard campaigns during a season where brands are focused primarily on their digital efforts. Let’s take a look at just one of the delicious ingredients that went into their campaign:

Retargeting postcard campaign

In early October, we fired up the carrier pigeons in preparation for BFCM to target Gozney’s UK email subscribers who had entered purchase information for their Dome S1 product but hadn’t fully purchased it.

Results

All of Gozney’s UK BFCM direct mail campaigns, including the one above, drove over a 10x ROI. 

While it may not taste great, it turns out direct mail was the secret ingredient to stand out in a packed advertising season.

&Collar stitches together a handwritten card campaign

&Collar makes comfy dress shirts that can take whatever life throws at them, from heat to sweat to stains. 

Given that they’re all about the cozy vibes while still looking great, a beautiful handwritten card campaign with PostPilot just made sense.

Here’s what we did:

Handwritten card campaign for VIPs

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In keeping with their brand, the strategy used for &Collar’s VIP campaign was fun (including a bold image highlighting a key product feature — no stains!), personal and familiar. 

It didn’t have an offer, and it didn’t even have a sales pitch — just a simple heartfelt thank you from Ben, &Collar’s founder, written by our trusty handwriting robots for added authenticity.

Results

Honesty and integrity go a long way for consumers, and this postcard did a great job conveying that. Even when it pictures a man dumping a drink on himself. 

This postcard drove a 15x+ ROI, and since there was no offer or discount, this was at full margin! 

WINPRO Pet barks up the right tree with direct mail

WINPRO Pet is a supplement company. But not just any supplement company - their target audience is dogs.

Unfortunately dogs can’t read (yet), so WINPRO Pet uses direct mail to target their owners at all stages of the funnel. They worked with PostPilot to develop a holiday campaign worthy of all the treats and belly-rubs:

Holiday postcard campaign

For Memorial Day, WINPRO sent customers an email offer with a 20% discount. 

Those who didn’t open it received the above postcard as a direct mail follow-up that included the same discount, complete with an adorable (and patriotic) pup adorning the postcard.

Results

Despite being sent as a backup to customers who didn’t open the email, the postcard saw an 8x ROAS.

While dogs may hate the mailman, their owners sure love direct mail.

Plum Deluxe brews up a strong birthday campaign

Plum Deluxe provides a luxurious, elevated tea-drinking experience. It’s only fitting that their campaigns with PostPilot were equally elevated.

Plum Deluxe’s Facebook community has the (very wholesome) tradition of sending birthday cards to each other. They worked with us to scale this to and craft a personalized birthday campaign that perfectly suits their brand:

Handwritten birthday postcard campaign

By using PostPilot, Plum Deluxe can identify 90% of their customers’ birthdays, even if they’ve never collected that data. 

With birthday data in hand, they began sending customers handwritten birthday cards like the one pictured above, complete with a 15% discount. And no, they didn’t have to hire a full-time card writer—it was a completely hands-off experience thanks to our trusty handwriting robots.

Results

The generosity and personalization of the birthday campaign provided some well-earned karma for Plum Deluxe. The campaign sees an average ROAS of 9.6x and an average CVR of 28.5%. 

The simplicity of this campaign is the key to its success. Plum Deluxe was able to take what was an incredible tradition within their community and scale it into something just plum great.

Taylor Stitch gives its marketing efforts a style upgrade

Taylor Stitch is a men’s apparel company with a focus on both style and sustainability. 

Their clothing makes men look great, and working with PostPilot, they made their marketing efforts look great too. Here’s how:

Automated winback postcard campaign

Taylor Stitch leveraged programmatic direct mail for this campaign. They worked with us to set specific parameters. When those parameters are met, we send a postcard.

Simple.

The postcard above was sent for two distinct automations: Customers who have made two purchases but who haven’t purchased in 90 days (automation 1) and 180 days (automation 2). There was no discount on the postcard, just a handsome fella showing up in a customer’s mailbox.

Results

Despite the lack of a discount, the winback postcard saw an ROI of 15x+ per campaign.

This success results in happy customers, a happy Taylor Stitch, and a happy PostPilot. 

Kindred Bravely bravely explores retargeting

Kindred Bravely provides high-quality nursing and maternity wear. They’ve been a PostPilot customer since early 2022 and are consistently exploring how much of their marketing funnel they can layer direct mail into.

Partnering with PostPilot, they recently explored their first retargeting campaign for Labor Day. Let’s take a look:

Retargeting postcard campaign

Kindred Bravely used MailMatch for their retargeting campaign, which allows direct mail to be sent to users despite only having their email addresses.

They sent the postcard above to customers who had signed up to their email list but hadn’t made a purchase, hoping to convert warm leads into fully-fledged customers.

Results

Kindred Bravely’s retargeting postcard delivered results, proving that while being a mom may be hard, using direct mail isn’t. The campaign saw a 10.4x ROI and 5.37% CVR.

Labor Day campaigns don’t need to be labor-intensive, thanks to PostPilot and MailMatch.

T.M. Lewin’s retention program was dressed for success

T.M. Lewin crafts timeless clothing for men and recently turned to a timeless marketing strategy: direct mail.

Their team worked with PostPilot to develop multiple retention campaigns using a postcard design as simple and elegant as their clothing:

Retention postcard campaign

For this campaign, we handled 100% of the strategy and postcard design and made everything seamless for the T.M. Lewin team. We targeted a couple of dozen different segments with this postcard, including:

• (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

Results

This retention strategy offered results as astonishing as the number of years T.M. Lewin has been in business (over 120!). Some segments saw ROIs as high as 15x+.

Things are timeless for a reason - this is evident in both T.M. Lewin’s clothing designs and the continued success of direct mail.

Urbani Truffles entices lapsed customers with a delicious strategy

Urbani Truffles has over 170 years of experience with truffles, meaning they probably did some form of direct mail campaign before any of us were even alive (unless you’re immortal) to promote a product so luxurious that Nicolas Cage made a whole movie about a pig who finds them.

Working with PostPilot, Urbani sought to win back lapsed customers with a direct mail postcard campaign. Here’s how it went:

Lapsed customer postcard campaign

Using MailMatch, the team at Urbani decided to target customers who had placed 4+ orders in the past, hadn’t purchased in at least a year, and were unreachable via other channels.

They sent the postcard above complete with a discount, a QR code, an expiry date for a sense of urgenc,y and a delicious picture of some truffle-coated pasta.

Results

The results speak for themselves - $80,000 in sales with a 1,700% ROI. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. No, we didn’t fall asleep on our keyboards again.

This luxury brand got luxurious results by simply leveraging MailMatch and the strength of its product. No frills attached, just truffles.

Mini Katana slices through digital noise with direct mail

Mini Katana is really cool. Spend 5 minutes on their website, and you’ll feel 5x cooler after you close your laptop. It’s only fitting that they partnered with PostPilot to build a cool campaign to drive conversions from their 500,000-strong email list that wasn’t converting at the speed they’d like:

Postcard campaign for email subscribers

The strategy was as timeless as Mini Katana’s blade designs - when someone subscribed to their email list, PostPilot used MailMate to send them a postcard armed with a special offer. It’s essentially a tangible welcome gift with a unique design. 

Results

Katanas are deeply rooted in history and tradition. While direct mail doesn’t have as much of a storied history, it’s been around for over 100 years. It only makes sense that they work well together. The campaign generated a 5x plus ROAS.

Sometimes the strongest tactics (and blades) are rooted in the past.

Direct mail? More like a direct throughline to increased ROI and ROAS

We wrote this article with a singular: proving that not only does direct mail work, but there’s a ton of cool strategy and innovation you can use to drive up that ROI/ROAS. 

Hopefully, you walk away from this inspired to explore the amazing things we can conjure up for your business.

Learn more about what we do at PostPilot. Or, if you're ready to chat, give us a shout. Let’s make some magic.