This feature is currently on general release for clients in the UK and Germany/Austria/Switzerland, for deliveries within the EU.
If you are located outside these regions but interested in this product, please speak to your Success Manager.
If you have not already done so, please read Before you start with Direct Mail.
If you have any unanswered questions, you may want to check the documentation of our technology partner:
Checking existing Direct Mail campaigns
Go to Channels > Direct Mail to view existing mailings or to create a Direct Mail campaign.
Select Mailings from the left-side menu and check the list of existing Direct Mail campaigns.
Creating a new Direct Mail campaign
In the Start menu click New automation. You can also start a new automation from the Automations side menu.
This will start the campaign creation wizard with the following steps:
- Automation details
-
Recipients
- Mapping
- Validation
- Materials
- Visuals
- Control addresses
- Summary
In every step the price calculator is displayed on the top-right, giving you an ongoing total cost of your campaign as you create it.
1. Automation details
Set the Automation details:
- Automation name: Give a unique name to your mailing.
- Delivery country: Once you set the delivery country or region, it cannot be modified later on.
Minimum number of recipients
Define the minimum volume of your recipient's list. You can also set the mailing to only be launched when the minimum number of recipients have reached the node. You can choose from preset levels (500 and 5,000) or define your own.
Mailing frequency
You can schedule a mailing to be sent every business day to the contacts who are queued at the node, or once a week on the day you choose, or every two weeks or on specific days of the month.
2. Recipients
Field mapping
Enter the fields of the minimum requirement for sending the mail material, so you must ensure that they are correctly filled in your contact database.
- Last name
- Street name
- House number
- ZIP/Post code
- City
You can set the Emarsys source, where the field data is taken from.
Personalization fields
You can define other fields you like for personalizing the content. You will just need to make sure that the field names match the placeholders for the personalized content. You can also save it as a default mapping.
Recipients validation
3. Materials
Now select the product materials you want to include in your campaign.
If you select a product that requires an envelope, this product will automatically be enabled, but you must still check that the envelope is large enough to fit the largest product.
Click the product to select it, and increase the number if you so wish.
You can have up to 5 products per campaign, for example if you want to post a letter, catalogue and postcard in the same envelope.
Tooltips are provided to help guide your choice.
When you are done, click Next to Save And Configure.
Configure your materials
Your selected materials are now displayed, and you can select whether you want offset or digital printing.
- Offset is the cheaper option for large print runs (from min. 20.000 units) and gives better picture quality, but you cannot personalize every item for individual contacts. Production time typically takes 4-5 days.
- Digital is the cheaper option for small print runs (more than 500 units) and gives better text quality. This is also more effective if you are using colored or image personalization, and the production time is shorter (1-2 days).
Click Edit Configuration for each product and choose the format, grammage (thickness/weight of paper), material, folding options and other settings.
When you have confirmed the configuration of all your products, you can click Next to Visuals.
Remember to check the price calculator regularly as this will update the cost of the campaign automatically with each option you select.
4. Visuals
Now you must Upload the PDF that contains the design for your product.
Add variations: A/B testing campaigns
If you want to A/B test the product, click Add variation and upload the second variant of your campaign product. You can add as many variants as you like, but bear in mind that each additional file will add to the printing costs.
When you launch the campaign, each print file will be sent to an equal number of recipients. The recipients are chosen at random. It is then up to you to analyze the responses of the different variations and decide which one to use in subsequent campaigns.
Vouchers
Vouchers are a critical part of your content because they are the only way you can reliably track responses.
Click Add Vouchers to open the drop-down list of the existing Voucher codes.
Select the source of the voucher code.
When you have uploaded your visuals and vouchers, continue to add a controll address then to Summary.
5. Control addresses
You can add your control addresses to receive copies of your mailings.
6. Summary
On the Summary page you will see all the settings you have just configured and can edit each of them if you wish. You will also see the final cost of the campaign.
Click Activate automation to launch it, when you are sure that your campaign has been properly prepared.
By clicking Activate automation you are entering a binding agreement with our technology provider and will be charged by them for the printing and postage of the materials.
Adding Direct Mail to an automated program
When you have launched your Offline Mail campaign, open your program and place the Offline Mail node where you want it, and select your campaign. Learn more.
A/B splitter node
If you have defined A/B testing variations, you have two options:
- Manage the testing yourself by using the A/B Splitter node and create two Direct Mail nodes, each with a different variation selected. Learn more.
- Select the random variation option and let us take care of the testing for you.
As with the other Automation Center nodes, you can also Disable this node, if you are not yet ready to use it. This will allow contacts to pass through it without triggering the Direct Mail campaign or joining the queue for it.