10 Ways to Use Intent Data to Send Better Direct Mail

Intent data can and should influence all the ways you market to prospects, even your direct mail. Intent data is defined as “the set of behavioral signals that helps you to understand the intention of your prospects to purchase a product or service.” Basically, your prospects’ web browsing habits are your business intelligence.

You can use tactile marketing automation to apply that intelligence to direct mail and increase your brand’s impact and audience engagement. Integrated, branded, and personalized direct mail is more effective than general direct mail, as well as being the #1 most effective channel for engaging members of the C-Suite. Intent data offers a wealth of opportunities for automating personalized brand moments, especially if you can use your integrations to determine that the visitor fits your ideal customer profile (ICP).

Following are ten ways you can use intent data to influence the timing, content, and messaging of your direct mail so you can deliver brand moments that are truly remarkable:

1. If an ICP prospect visits a key asset on your site, send a print copy.

Say your prospect Ian Curtis Peterson (ICP) follows a link in an email to a summary of your latest research report. Ian spends a whole three minutes on the page, meeting the minimum time to automatically trigger sending a printed copy of the full report. The booklet gets paired with a notecard from a sales rep encouraging Ian to kick his feet up on the couch to read in comfort.

Thoughtful, on-target, and timely. That’s good marketing.

2. Send content that’s closely related to what your prospect viewed.

Similar to the example above, you can send materials that target a need or interest your prospect is seeking on your site. For instance, if Izzy Catherine Potts (coincidentally, also ICP) visits your ROI calculator, send a list of tips for increasing ROI, along with a branded swag item that will linger on her desk. This tactic can help guide prospects through your sales funnel faster.

3. Use a chatbot to reveal your site visitor’s interests and send a relevant direct mail piece.

Chatbots are a great interactive way to engage people. They’re low effort on the part of your prospect, and the leading software solutions integrate with your tech stack, enabling automation. Use your chatbot to reveal your prospect’s interests and automatically send a kit that answers their burning questions.

4. Invite your prospect to opt into receiving a brand experience.

Sometimes the best way to share a fantastic brand experience is to give people choices. By sharing a Preferred Address Capture landing page that displays multiple kits, you give your contacts the chance to opt for it and pick the package they prefer. This strategy shifts their decision process from “do I want to opt-in?” to “which kit do I want more?”

You can share this invitation in various ways — via email, in a chatbot, during a webinar, using targeted ads, in a live conversation with a sales rep, and so on.

5. Keep engagement going after an event with direct mail.

If prospect Ian registers for a webinar, that’s a clear signal of his intent and interest. You can send direct mail after the event to help guide him to achieve his goals with your solution. Also, with tactile marketing automation, you can automatically customize the message and contents depending on whether he attended or failed to show. (If he failed to show, include a URL or QR code to your on-demand recording so he doesn’t miss out.)

6. If your ICP prospect visits your Contact Us page but fails to convert, don’t give up; send a meeting maker!

Prospect Izzy is busy. She visited your Contact Us page but got distracted. You can re-engage her with direct mail! A meeting maker direct mail play might be a do-this-get-this opportunity, or you might use direct mail to stir up a buzz among multiple key contacts at the account.

You can also look into ways to increase your web form conversion rate.

7. Send a video mailer to a hot prospect who’s been consuming your video content.

When your key contact has been playing product demo videos or binging on-demand recordings, they not only have a clear intent but even a clear preference for media type. Send a video mailer with a competitive breakdown and even a personalized message. This play is ideal for the mid-to-late funnel and makes for a strong ABM strategy.

8. Set engagement scoring thresholds that automatically trigger multichannel campaigns.

When prospect Ian reaches a high threshold of engagement, he’s clearly ready for a big push to the next stage of the funnel. Start him on a multichannel journey that includes emails, retargeting ads, and a direct mail piece designed to make a meeting happen.

9. Add prospects engaging you on social media to a direct mail campaign.

This is a great way to use intent data to connect at a larger scale. Engage your social media promoters with a small kit rewarding them for their interactions. Offer them a promotional deal and encourage them to take a meeting.

10. Reverse the strategy — use direct mail to drive intent data.

Send low-cost, interactive mailers that grab attention and guide prospects to your website. Try using a QR code generator for adding branded QR codes or even personalized URLs to the mailers. Then use their activities to learn more about them and determine your next best play!

The combination of sales intelligence and tactile marketing automation opens up a wealth of opportunities that accelerate the sales funnel. Creating personalized journeys that nurture leads and spark relationships clearly shows your brand is sophisticated and world-class. For ideas of what to send and more strategy tips, check out PFL’s TMA Idea Book.