Have you ever filled your online shopping cart with a few items, saw the price, and decided you’d wait for a coupon? Or maybe you got distracted and walked away to take care of something more urgent? A few days later you may find an email in your inbox reminding you these items are still in your cart. Several days after that, you may receive a brochure affixed with a coupon from that same company.
If so, you’ve been the target of a trigger-based campaign.
Although target may have a negative connotation to some, in the marketing industry, it simply represents the ideal recipients for specific direct mail pieces. To understand trigger-based direct mail campaigns, it’s critical to explain this terminology, too.
Trigger marketing is a strategy based on the occurrence of particular events. When a certain user action is taken (e.g., deserted online shopping cart), a specific date approaches (insurance policy expiration date or holiday), or a life or global event occurs (expanding family, buying a home, changing interest rates), it prompts a follow-up. These can be emails, phone notifications, or direct mail pieces serving as reminders to purchase the items in the cart or renew a contract.
This strategy is generally automated to ensure every customer is reached in a timely manner, maximizing impact and minimizing time investment. Because the message is sent after an action is taken or before an event, customers are more likely to open and read them, increasing return on investment (ROI) and response rates.
Trigger-based direct mail campaigns utilize this strategy though brochures, postcards, letters, self-mailers, and more. They call them trigger programs because once set up, they are triggered when the data is posted.
Design Distributors works with their clients to carry out trigger-based direct mail campaigns for businesses in multiple industries for years.
We ensure all trigger campaigns run smoothly from start to finish, with specialized programs for customers who are looking to take rapid action once the data and art are available. Clients are able to have ongoing trigger campaigns, meaning all art and text is ready at the Design Distributors plant—the customer just needs to send over the mailing list and data when it’s time to deploy mail pieces.
For example, if a telecommunications company has service provider contracts expiring each month, it can send Design Distributors the data for a letter asking customers to renew. Each month, that telecom company will share the list of clients whose service is expiring. This information will be input into each customized letter to customers.
This streamlines the entire process, cuts down on paperwork, and is simple to manage. Once a trigger is posted and Design Distributors is given data, our team takes care of the rest. Changes and updates are easily accomplished and confirmed through the system.
Design Distributors also has the ability to immediately begin processing the trigger-based campaign upon receiving the design and data. This means a company can send over the design and list during the day, and we will set printing to run overnight.
Because this strategy is specific to customer needs, life changes, or event dates, these campaigns are extremely targeted and customized. When companies send over their house or prospect lists, they’re also transmitting data, which we utilize for variable data printing (VDP).
Our HP PageWide Web Press T240 HD enables personalized printing at scale, so each mail piece sent out during a trigger-based marketing campaign is modified based on the target client. Everything from the graphics to the text can be modified to reference the event or action uniquely to the customer’s profile, and further persuade them to commit to a purchase.