The power of an Awesome 3D Card isn’t in the boutique, physical product itself. Rather, it’s the opportunity for engagement that the card creates. That’s because when you mail an Awesome 3D Card, you're actually sending a conversation starter. Once someone receives their card, there is a 1-5 day “honeymoon” period during which they will be more receptive to a phone call from you or your sales team. The card gives you or your sales team a very good reason for a personal follow-up, which in turn creates new opportunities, builds the relationship or even opens the door to you pitching or selling a product or idea.
It’s a good idea to point out that Awesome 3D Cards have many potential uses. Some of them, such as event invitations or marking company milestones require sending in bulk. Other uses, such as recognizing a birthday or service anniversary need to be done as the individual events occur. Perhaps one of the most powerful uses of an Awesome 3D Card is as a tool to “warm up” an audience as part of a new or ongoing campaign.
If you’re ready to try something different to better engage your customers and grow your business, read on! We will explore the benefits of Awesome 3D Cards and offer some helpful tips for getting the most value from your cards. In other words, maximizing your Return on Investment (ROI) from Awesome 3D Cards.
Why send an Awesome 3D Card?
You may have read that customers make purchases 80% based on emotion and only 20% based on logic. The question becomes: what’s the best way to effectively build an emotional connection with your target customer demographic? One way is by starting a conversation with an Awesome 3D Card that includes a personal note to each recipient.
Due to the moment of surprise and delight they create, and especially when personalized, Awesome 3D Cards cater to the emotion/relationship-driven side of sales and work as an “emotional cement” between you and your customer. If you’re looking to gain competitive advantage, establishing a personal connection that creates an emotional reaction is the way to go.
High-value, effective uses of Awesome 3D Cards include:
- Delighting, Impressing, and Surprising your customers – Customized cards offer the unique opportunity to communicate your message directly in a way that will delight, impress, and surprise. The card itself creates a great reason for you to follow up with the customer directly and functions as a conversation starter. Because many businesses receive a high volume of impersonal cold calls, a personalized Awesome 3D Card and telephone follow-up reinforces to the client that they are truly valued.
- Creating positive emotional connections – Aside from opening a conversation, Awesome 3D Cards also offer your customer a “micro-experience” that they can engage with emotionally. Creating an emotional connection via a personal experience will help you cement your business relationship, which in turn creates more opportunities to pitch or sell your product or service.
- Furthering your company brand & customer confidence – Awesome 3D Cards can also help strengthen your company’s image and positive brand association. Sending a tangible symbol/keepsake is a great way to bring an idea to life and spur excitement. Additionally, a handwritten note on each card shows your clients that they can expect your personal time & attention.
Because ongoing outreach/engagement is one of the most powerful – but often overlooked -- uses of Awesome 3D Cards, we’re going to offer some tips to help make your campaign successful and maximize your ROI.
5 Tips for Success with Awesome 3D Cards
In addition to leveraging emotional bonds and relationships with your clients, Awesome 3D Cards also create opportunities for direct follow-up. To get the greatest ROI possible with your Awesome 3D Cards, it’s crucial to have a detailed strategy for mailing out and following up on your cards.
- Create a concrete plan – Set achievable goals and deadlines for mailing your cards and following up with customers. Without concrete goals and timetables, it’s easy to let your cards sit in the corner of your office, gathering dust. Establish daily, weekly, and monthly goals to ensure you follow through. Be sure to plan a telephone follow-up for 3 - 5 days after each card is sent for a “multi-touch” multiplier on your efforts.
- Budget time to prepare your cards – When your cards arrive, they’ll still need to go into the mailing envelopes, which need to be addressed. We highly recommend addressing your cards by hand and adding a personal note in order to establish a personal, emotional connection. Handwritten notes show your client that you are invested in furthering your relationship and that you truly value their business. We also highly recommend taking the small but important step to use actual postage stamps on your envelopes, not metered postage. Why? In today’s world receiving an envelope that is not only addressed by hand but also has “old fashioned” postage stamps almost guarantees your Awesome 3D card will be noted quickly and opened immediately.
- Prioritize key clients or prospects first – With campaigns that play out over weeks or months, you can jump start your ROI by focusing on prospects or clients that can have the most positive impact on your business first. By prioritizing these people first your early efforts not only bring early rewards, but that success will help keep you focused on achieving your goals for the campaign.
- Remember, it’s not a sprint – Send cards out in manageable batches so that follow-up calls are manageable. If you’re making follow-up calls yourself, you likely won’t want to make 200 phone calls in one week. Capping your weekly mailout will determine the pace of follow-ups ensuring you have time for each client and can still do your other work. For example, sending 25 or 30 cards per week means you will only need to make 5 or 6 follow-up calls per day, and that is manageable. If you are comfortable with 10 per day, do 10 and send 50 cards per week. The key is to set a realistic goal and pace yourself to the finish line. To maximize ROI, make sure plan time for those very important follow-up calls!
- Don’t miss the honeymoon window! – Once your customer receives their Awesome 3D card, there’s a 1 to 5-day “honeymoon” window when the “emotional glue” is still fresh. Following up during this window is critically important to maximizing the effectiveness – and therefore the ROI - of your Awesome 3D Cards.
Mailing Campaign Example:
Here is one example for an ongoing campaign to engage new customers, in which each customer would receive 1 card. To make your card campaign successful, remember to create actionable, realistic goals that will help you reach customers at the ideal time.
Total Cards: 500, 1 Card/Customer
Total Timeframe: 5 Months
Mailing & Follow-up Targets:
- 5 Customer Follow-Ups/Day is comfortable
- 25 Cards Mailed/Week
- 25 Total Follow-Ups/Week
- 100 Customer Follow-ups/Month
Remember, the most important thing to do is to pace yourself and follow through! It’s not realistic to make 500 phone calls in one week or even a month. Develop a strategy with clear targets, and stick to it.
While card mailing campaigns take planning and follow-up, they offer an opportunity to engage your customers in a personal way. If you can land even one new high-end customer or retain a key client because they loved their Awesome 3D Card, doesn’t that make it worth it?
To learn more about how a customized card could help your business, contact us today.