Get both the e-mail and postal addresses of website visitors who request your newsletter

Postcards sent through the mail can play a major role in your permission based e-mail newsletter program. Their many benefits justify trying to obtain both your subscribers' e-mail and postal addresses.

Why postal mail?

Postal mail often gets through when email can't. This is especially important with today's stuffed in-boxes, Spam filters, and frequently-changed e-mail addresses. Postal addresses are likely to change less frequently, and postal mail is more likely to be forwarded after address changes.

When your only contact with a prospect or client is through e-mail, you lose any chance of re-contacting them if your e-mail doesn't get through, or, if they changed their e-mail address without telling you. You may have overlooked their change of address notice in your own stuffed in-box!

Finally, messages sent through the mail can make a more lasting impact than emails which are often deleted after a quick reading.

This is especially true if your postcards contain valuable, frequently referred to, information, like "how to" tips. This leads to the power of tip sheet postcards.

Tip sheet postcards

Tip sheets are appreciated and efficient. Prospects like them since they communicate helpful information. Marketers like them because they leverage existing knowledge and can be quickly prepared.

You prepare and send tip sheet postcards on your computer. You never touch the cards, which highly automated firms like AmazingMail print, address, and mail First Class, the next business day.

Your tips arrive printed in bright colors on stiff, shiny, laminated, card stock that looks and feels like a million dollars!

Advantages

Here are some additional ways you can benefit from tip sheet postcards:

- Fast response. You can add contacts to your online address book, and send cards, in seconds. Cards arrive 3-5 days later.
- Prepare once, mail forever. Once you create an incentive to sign-up for your email newsletter, you can use it for years.
- New fusion marketing opportunities. Offset the cost of your mailings by selling non-competing firms serving your market ads, sponsorships, or coupons on the back of your tip sheet postcard.
- Long life. Clients and prospects will keep your tip sheet postcard as long as it continues to help them achieve a desired goal.
- Back-up your relationship. You can re-contact clients and prospects via postal mail if your e-mail isn't producing results.

Disadvantages

Since website visitors are likely to hesitate before submitting their postal address without a good reason, you have to work harder to develop a strong enough incentive to overcome their initial reluctance.

You may want to set up a two-step registration process that will capture your website visitor's e-mail address before you ask them to provide their postal address.

Getting started

Start by identifying the overlap between your knowledge of your business, and the information needs of your clients and prospects. What do you know that your clients and prospects need to know? This simple list is the starting point for a Tip Sheet Postcards that will attract new business and drive website traffic.