How We Generate $1M in Sales Pipeline with Direct Mail

July 1, 2020

Here we explain step-by-step how at SaaSMQL we are able to consistently generate over $1M in new sales pipeline every month by using a targeted direct mail approach. We also discuss mistakes to avoid during the process and how to track the campaign performance.

The goal of Account-Based Marketing is to focus your budget and efforts on companies that are most likely to become your customer. This means formulating a comprehensive strategy to engage decision makers across multiple channels, both digital and offline. Integrating a direct mail approach to your current marketing strategy, when executed properly, can skyrocket your lead-to-opportunity conversion rate and create engagement with target accounts.

Here we explain step-by-step how at SaaSMQL we are able to consistently generate over $1M in new sales pipeline every month by using a targeted direct mail approach. We also discuss mistakes to avoid during the process and how to track the campaign performance.

 

Direct Mail for B2B

Direct mail is making a comeback in B2B marketing. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) analyzed Bizo and Epsilon data and found that: “direct mail has a better response rate than email marketing, with 4.4% of campaigns receiving a response when delivered through the mail, compared to just 0.12% online.” That is a 37x higher response rate for direct mail than email! The DMA noted that consumers are often overwhelmed by inboxes cluttered with unsolicited marketing emails, and are more receptive to direct mail partly because it arrives on a much less-cluttered channel.

According to Canada Post Corporation, another reason for this is that direct mail requires 21% less of a cognitive process than reading and responding to emails, and elicits a much higher brand recall. The best part is that direct mail has a long lasting effect -- when executed well, you will remember that brand for weeks or months. Meanwhile, emails tend to be remembered for minutes or maybe hours, at most.

 

In B2B, direct mail has an open rate of 57%, vs paid search/social media’s 1% open rate:

 

The Importance of a Multi-Channel Strategy

 

According to the Omnichannel marketing automation statistics for 2019, B2B marketers using 3 or more channels manage to achieve a 250% higher purchase and engagement rate than in the case of single-channel marketing. In looking at omnichannel marketing statistics, they also found that customers who engaged across multiple weren’t just more loyal, they also typically spent more than customers who only engaged with one channel. In fact, customers that engaged across three or more channels had an average order value of $66.31, 13% higher than for customers who did not ($58.70). 

 

Even direct mail cannot be used in a “silo”-- sending out a few boxes without a well-crafted strategy will not get you the great results you are hoping for. The best way to use the direct mail channel is to tie it in with the efforts you are making on other channels. This article explains how connecting direct mail with channels like email and paid media can exponentially increase your response rate.

 

Direct Mail Use Cases

 

When direct mail campaigns are integrated into a broader account-based marketing strategy, they become a powerful channel to break through the noise and reach your ideal contacts. There are several different use cases for sending a direct mail piece. The first is to convert existing leads into SQLs: these mailers have a clear call-to-action (CTA) to book a demo, and can include an incentive such as a gift card. You can also use direct mail to open the door with cold accounts, or nurture lost opportunities. 

 

When you are hosting an event or sponsoring a conference, you can use direct mail to send a nice, memorable invitation. If you are able to obtain this year’s or last year’s list of companies attending the event, you can run a direct mail campaign to invite key prospects to your booth in exchange for a nice swag gift. Here is an example of an invitation for recipients to visit our booth at SaaStr Annual with a poker chip they can redeem for a VIP gift. If your company hosts their own annual conference or regional events, you could send a custom invite with a small gift to potential attendees, including a discount code for them to register. See this article for the top 4 direct mail use cases for B2B startups.

 

Getting Started in 7 Steps

 

There are 7 steps to launching your first B2B direct mail campaign:

  1. Define your goals and budget. What is your campaign trying to accomplish? 
  2. Identify your target and build the list. Who is your target audience?
  3. Create the offer, incentive, and message. Make sure it is relevant to your target audience. 
  4. Develop a custom landing page for your recipients to book a meeting/convert. 
  5. Build a coordinated email sequence to follow up with your prospects. 
  6. Track shipments, responses, and have your Sales reps follow up with prospects who do not visit your landing page. 
  7. Track ROI! Arguably the most important, you want to show how successful your campaign is.

 

Campaign Example - SaaSMQL

 

Our company, SaaSMQL, was looking to generate 15 new opportunities per month, which equates to a little over $1M in sales pipeline. To calculate how many accounts and prospects would be needed to achieve this goal, we worked backwards on our lead-to-revenue funnel. Knowing our average conversion rates, we were able to see how many people we would need to target to generate 15 new opportunities per month.

Next, we defined our ideal customer profile (ICP) based on company attributes and intent. Our ideal customer is: based in the U.S. or Canada, seed funded to Series D ($3M+ raised), has 20 to 250 employees, and an average deal size of $15K+ ARR. Some helpful signals that can make an account right for us are: an open position for demand generation or ABM, raised last round of funding less than 24 months ago, and a Bombora intent score of 70+.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we had a target account list, we narrowed in on our target persona. We want to talk to decision makers, so the roles we want to target are CEO, CRO, VP of Sales, and VP of Marketing. We always start with warm leads (those that come in from paid social, inbound, etc), then build the rest of our contact list from these roles at our target accounts. 

 

Our Latest Mailer

 

Our latest direct mail campaign had a goal of generating SQLs from our list of target accounts. We created this branded box with our value proposition and headline. Inside the box we inserted handmade Italian biscotti from a local Redwood City bakery, and a small Nutella jar. We also included a one pager with a CTA to schedule a 30-minute meeting, and an incentive for a $50 Amazon gift card to thank them for their time after the demo. The cost was ~$32 per box, including shipping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As part of the campaign, we built a custom landing page and integrated it with Calendly so that prospects can schedule a meeting directly on the page. On the page we remind them of the offer, add a picture of the box, and the calendar. We add the landing page link to the mailer itself, and then in the follow up emails as well. Our automated email sequence begins before boxes ship, and ends a few weeks after boxes arrive. We first send an email to notify that a package is coming their way, and then follow up with reminders of the offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most importantly, we monitor campaign ROI across every channel (as well as conversion rate). We factor in every part of our multi-channel approach, and can then identify which programs are successful.

 

 Below are two examples of our clients who have used this same multi-channel strategy to generate sales pipeline with direct mail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Costly Mistakes to Avoid

 

Now that you are ready to launch your first direct mail campaign, here are some mistakes we have learned from so you don’t have to:

 

  1. Targeting people that are too senior. The CEO of Bank of America is very unlikely to receive your direct mail box or read a cold email. Focus on the roles that normally initiate the conversation.
  2. Sending just postcards/paper. Paper offers are often considered “junk”, but a nice, custom box is sure to “wow” the recipient.
  3. Shipping without verifying the addresses. Many companies have several offices across the country. If you ship a box to HQ in New York but your prospect works in their Denver office, they will likely never see your gift.
  4. Overthinking the creative or box offer. Studies show that spending too much time and energy on the creative portion of your mailer will not yield greater returns -- keep it simple and engaging.
  5. Missing follow-ups. Your prospects are likely busy and may think they will get to your offer later, following up via phone or email is a good way to keep the prospect engaged.
  6. Over-personalize. Personalization on a large scale is difficult and time consuming, and will yield about the same results as without.
  7. Shipping chocolate during the Summer. Chocolate will melt while shipping in the summer! Don’t do it!
  8. Running direct mail in silo. Direct mail is best used in tandem with paid social, email, and other channels. Your prospect will want to see/hear about your brand several times before making any decisions.
  9. Missing proper attribution. Always track responses/meetings and pipeline! If a prospect attends a meeting, but isn’t tagged correctly in your CRM, they will not be counted towards your campaign. Align with Sales to make sure all leads are being tagged correctly throughout the entire process.

 

 


Looking to scale demand generation?

CONTACT US

Join our Demand Generation community

DEMAND GENERATION CLUB

Check these other blog posts:

November 30, 2023
The Best SaaS Conferences You Can't Miss In 2024

Explore must-attend conferences in 2024, including the renowned SaaStr Annual. Follow SaaSMQL for insights into SaaS events 2024.

November 9, 2023
Getting Started with ABM Campaigns: A Comprehensive Guide

In this comprehensive guide, we'll equip you with the tools and knowledge to get started with ABM, delving into how ABM works, key components of successful campaigns, and best practices for marketing to high-value accounts.

June 2, 2023
The Top 10 SaaS Marketing Tools for Small Businesses

If you’re a small business in the SaaS space, the marketing landscape can seem overwhelming. There are countless platforms and apps out there that claim to help your business grow, but not all of them will be right for you.

June 1, 2023
5 Growth Hacks for SaaS Companies

As a SaaS company, you know that the success of your business depends on the number of new customers you get. You also know that it's getting harder and harder to get those leads because your competition is fierce.

April 26, 2023
Top 15 SaaS Events You Can't Miss in 2023

If you’re a SaaS professional, you already know that events are an invaluable resource for small-business networking, SaaS lead generation, and even getting out of your comfort zone.

September 28, 2022
SaaStr Success: Landing Your Biggest Whales

No matter what stage your SaaS startup is in, landing a whale–a big client that will account for a majority of your revenue–will help you generate the ARR required to keep growing. At this year’s SaaStr, the team at SaaSMQL showed hundreds of SaaS leaders an effective way to do just that. 🐳

September 28, 2022
What We Learned from Sending 27,000 Direct Mail Boxes

Last year we shipped over 27,000 boxes on behalf of our clients. and learned a few lessons along the way. In this article, we’ll lay it all out for you.

August 8, 2022
The 7 Best Practices of SaaS Demand Generation

SaaS demand generation is an essential part of getting new customers and growing your business, but it's not easy to do well. Read these 7 precious tips on how to build a powerful SaaS demand generation machine.

July 19, 2022
A Few Ways to Get Your Prospects Attention with a SaaS Direct Mail Campaign

Let's take a look at the components of a great SaaS direct mail campaign that you can implement today to spur new growth.

June 22, 2022
Most Common Beginner Mistakes with SaaS Marketing

In this piece, we will explore 15 of the most common mistakes beginners make with SaaS Marketing, and how to avoid them, so you can save time and energy lost by following ineffective methods.

June 21, 2022
The SaaS Customer Acquisition Cost Guide

What does it actually cost to get a new customer? This is a vital metric to master if you are looking to scale up your business in the near future. If you are a SaaS startup looking to build a predictable customer acquisition engine, or a SaaS Company that is ready to scale, this article is for yo

June 20, 2022
The Demand Generation Checklist for SaaS Startups

Demand generation is the most crucial role for every SaaS company. Startups need to get on board with key strategies that promote SaaS lead generation, and generate a consistent pipeline to feed the growing sales team. Do you have all the necessary elements in place to run a successful demand gene

June 9, 2022
Customer Lifetime Value: Why It's So Important in ABM

In the following guide, we walk you through the basics of ABM and customer lifetime value — and why CLV is so critical for an effective account-based marketing strategy in the world of SaaS ABM.

May 24, 2022
Five Ways to Drive Demand for SaaS

SaaS demand generation can be complicated, but there are many ways to get your product to the front of your potential customers’ minds. Here we’ll go over some SaaS lead generation techniques that you can use to increase sales and beat the competition.

May 16, 2022
Why Direct Mail Campaigns Are Critical For Account-Based Marketing Success

This article will discuss why direct mail marketing is so important for ABM's success and how to create an effective campaign. We'll also share some tips on measuring the success of your direct mail marketing campaigns.

May 10, 2022
Why SaaS Companies Should Use Direct Mail to Generate Leads

SaaS direct mail is also a powerful way to reach decision makers and influencers at companies that aren’t currently using your product or service. When used as part of an account-based strategy, your integrated direct mail has the ability to amplify your results exponentially.

April 27, 2022
How to Effectively Grow your SaaS with Outbound Marketing

In this article we explain why it's so important for SaaS companies to use outbound strategies and the six steps you need to follow in order to execute effective outbound campaigns.

April 25, 2022
Top 12 SaaS Conferences You Can’t Miss in 2022

If you are serious about growth in 2022, and who wouldn’t be with what the global economy just endured, then plan to attend at least one of 2022’s Top 12 SaaS Conferences.

April 13, 2022
How To Choose An Account Based Marketing Agency

When it comes to SaaS growth, you want to make sure that you are putting your best foot forward. This means working with the best account based marketing agency possible. How do you choose?

April 10, 2022
The 10 Top Account-Based Marketing Platforms

We have compiled a list of the top platforms for every SaaS companies interested in launching and scaling their Account-Based Marketing strategy.

June 3, 2021
How to Nurture Enterprise Accounts with a Multi-Channel Strategy

Nurturing enterprise accounts requires continuous education through multiple channels before they might see a need for your solution. Here we discuss the most effective ways to use multiple channels to nurture your target accounts.

January 14, 2021
How to Build a Demand Generation Budget for FY2022

The shift to virtual events in 2020 and 2021, along with uncertainty about when live events will resume, makes this year’s budget planning a bit tougher than others. However, you can use the same methodology to set your team up for success in 2022.

October 22, 2020
Running Integrated Marketing Campaigns in 2022

If you’re targeting mid-market or enterprise companies, you can't rely on a single channel to drive engagement and qualified leads. Here we share examples of campaigns with solid ROI and show how to integrate different channels into a unique workflow.

October 15, 2020
Marketo vs HubSpot vs ActiveCampaign

HubSpot and Marketo are considered the #1 and #2 marketing automation softwares in the world. ActiveCampaign, on the other hand, is a powerful and easy-to-use marketing automation & sales CRM platform designed for small businesses on a budget. How do you decide which is right for you?

September 21, 2020
How to Run an ABM Initiative Without Buying an ABM Solution

You might have a golden list of accounts that the sales team wants to focus on, but you don’t have the budget for a shiny new ABM platform. Jasmine Chung, Demand Generation Manager at Openprise, showed us how they are doing it at their company and the results they are seeing.

September 3, 2020
How Intellimize Leveraged B2B Direct Mail to Generate $4.6M in Sales Pipeline

Intellimize used SaaSMQL’s expertise to launch targeted ABM campaigns, integrating Direct Mail with automated emails and LinkedIn ads to engage with 800 accounts within their ideal customer profile. Their investment generated $4.6M in ARR pipeline.

August 12, 2020
SEO Strategy: 5 Tips to Scale Your Organic Traffic

Looking for some no-nonsense SEO tips to boost your site’s search engine rankings? We sat down with Aaron Moskowitz, Director of SEO at Golden Hippo, and covered 5 easy-to-implement tactics that help increase your website's ranking and boost inbound traffic.

August 5, 2020
The 9 Most Important Metrics for B2B Startups

By tracking and taking action in improving essential metrics you can position your team for better performance and productivity. Here we provide some insights into what we believe are the most important KPIs every young B2B SaaS company should track as soon as revenue streams arise.

June 23, 2020
7 Steps to launching your first B2B Direct Mail campaign

Direct mail is the best-performing direct response channel, bringing in results “10 to 30 times better than email”. Most companies don’t leverage direct mail because it's hard to execute, and requires plenty of time and resources. Here we will go over the 7 steps to launching a direct mail campaign.

June 16, 2020
A Common Sense Approach to Account Based Analytics

In a recent webinar for DemandGen Club, Arun Sivashankaran (Founder & CEO of FunnelEnvy) shared the good, bad, and ugly from his years of experience with B2B demand generation teams tackling account based analytics & personalization.

June 2, 2020
The Basics of B2B Marketing Attribution

How do you know which programs are generating qualified leads and pipeline, and which aren’t? How can you make sure a lead is tagged correctly throughout the entirety of their buying journey? Here we discuss the basics of B2B marketing attribution.

May 27, 2020
The Top 4 Direct Mail Use Cases for B2B Startups

Modern ABM marketers are seeing direct mail emerge as an effective channel for B2B companies to engage and convert target accounts. When direct mail campaigns are integrated into a broader account-based marketing strategy, they become a powerful channel to break through noise and reach prospects.

May 21, 2020
A cost effective Sales & Marketing tech stack for early stage SaaS companies

Your marketing “tech stack” is the set of technologies your organization uses to execute and analyze marketing across the customer lifecycle, and scale your business. The key goal of your marketing tech stack is to measure the impact of your marketing activities - making difficult processes easier.

May 19, 2020
12 B2B Direct Mail Examples to Boost your Pipeline

Given the special nature of a direct mail package, it’s no wonder the average response rates are higher than email. Receiving a nice gift right at your desk in the middle of the work week is memorable, and shows that the sender made the effort to do something different.

May 14, 2020
The 5 Worst SaaS Demand Generation Sins

A strong Demand Generation program allows a company to predictably scale the number of Opps sourced by simply increasing marketing spend. Whether you’re just starting out or have been running Demand Gen programs for years, here are a few core “sins” that your team should avoid at all costs.

May 8, 2020
Right Person, Right Time: How to Leverage Buyer Intent Data

Intent data can tell you when your target accounts show strong buying signals, allowing you to target the right people at the right time. Yet, many sales and marketing teams still aren’t sure how to include this new type of data in their workflows, let alone incorporate it into actionable programs.

May 6, 2020
Building Your Target Account List Using Data

Scaling is hard. You can have the best sales team in the world, but if they’re not focusing on the right accounts, their work likely won’t amount to new clients for your business. When you focus your efforts on ideal target companies, you maximize the campaign’s efficacy and conversion.

May 4, 2020
Building a Successful Lead Handoff Between Sales & Marketing

The lead handoff process is one of the biggest bottlenecks for every company trying to grow their sales pipeline. Marketing has invested money and resources to generate qualified leads, but they are not always properly assigned to the Sales team and followed-up with.

May 1, 2020
Why SaaS Companies Underspend on Demand Generation

Low confidence in marketing attribution and ROI often causes SaaS companies to cut investments on demand generation. By tracking your CAC and the value of each stage of your marketing funnel, you can allocate your budget to drive real growth.

April 30, 2020
Driving Qualified Meetings with Direct Mail Campaigns

When direct mail campaigns are integrated into a broader account-based marketing strategy, they become a powerful channel to break through the noise and reach your ideal contacts.

April 29, 2020
How We Use LinkedIn Ads to Engage with Target Accounts

Learn how to build effective Account-Based Marketing campaigns using LinkedIn Ads. We'll present specific examples and step-by-step instructions on how to target your named accounts and drive qualified leads.

December 1, 2019
ABM Unlocked: How to Leverage Buyer Intent Data in Real Time

In this video you'll learn how you can leverage intent data to increase conversion on your ABM campaigns and engage with your target accounts. We'll provide an intro about buyer intent data, the difference between 1st party data and 3rd party data, and how to track customers' offsite behaviors.

August 15, 2019
Creating a Demand Generation Budget From Scratch

In this video you’ll learn how to draft a demand generation budget starting from your revenue goals. We’ll discuss about funnel metrics, Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), what line items should be considered when creating the budget, how to forecast your ROI, and what tools can help you.

June 6, 2019
ABM: How to Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

In this video you'll learn how to build the right target account list. By focusing all your efforts toward the ideal accounts, you'll maximize campaign's efficacy and conversion.

March 26, 2019
How to Generate ROI from Event Marketing

In this video we'll share lessons on how to generate pipeline sponsoring third-party conferences, how to best manage follow-ups and track results, and how to scale the strategy to 100+ events per year. We'll also discuss about best practices on how to run your first user conference successfully.

December 9, 2018
Video: Integrating Direct Mail Campaigns in Your ABM Strategy

Direct mail has been emerging as an effective channel for B2B companies to engage and convert their target accounts. When direct mail campaigns are integrated into a broader account-based marketing strategy, they become a powerful channel to break through the noise and reach your ideal contacts.

July 21, 2018
What are the biggest mistakes that B2B SaaS startups make in sales?

The 8 most common sales mistakes that I frequently notice in venture-funded SaaS startups. These include adding territories too early or hire a bunch of AEs when there is no pipeline. Avoiding these early mistakes will impact your ARR from the beginning.

June 9, 2018
The 6 Initial Steps to Transition to an Account-Based Strategy

Marketing is no longer incentivized to simply generate leads at the top-of-the-funnel and throwing them to sales. The metrics that matter now are account engagement, number of opportunities generated, pipeline ($) and revenue.

June 8, 2018
Why All SaaS Companies Need Demand Generation

Demand generation entails generating sales opportunities for your company's products or services. A good demand generation engine can help a company engage new prospects, generate interest online and offline, and attract prospects, which are then converted to leads and turned into sales pipeline.