Postcards – a Great Customer Communication Tool for Small Business Owners

Postcard mail campaigns are a great way to stay in touch with your best customers about new products, upcoming  appointments or other important information about your small business.  Since there are no envelopes involved in a postcard mailing, production costs are low and turnaround times can be extremely short.  Best of all, the first class postage for a postcard is significantly cheaper than a letter.  Postcards cost only 28 cents to send via USPS first class postage, whereas a letter costs 44 cents – that is a 36 percent savings for each piece of mail! 

If your small business is planning a postcard mailing in the coming months, check out these great tips to help get your campaign started: 

Tip #1  Messaging – Have a new service or special sale?
Your postcard should have a primary message that alerts the customer to a special sale or new service your business is offering.   Another great option is for basic communication such as an address change or even to remind your customer their appointment is getting near. 

Tip #2  Postcard Design – Simple and clear!
Since a postcard gives you less room to work with, you have to make every word and image count. The larger text and images should engage your potential customer from the first moment he sees it. Keep in mind that less is more when it comes to advertising, so keep the message simple and the postcard uncluttered with relevant images and text. If you’re planning to use postcards to remind customers of appointments, try putting a joke and funny image related to your business as the main image to grab attention.

Tip #3  Call-to-Action – What do you want your customer to do? 
Your business’s postcard should make it easy for a customer to know what to do next. If you’re offering a new service, you need to tell your customer in the postcard how to get that service. Let them learn more about it on their own time by giving them a simple URL or a toll-free number to call for more information. If your customer has an upcoming appointment, be clear as to whether they need to call to confirm. Make sure you’re offering more than just web-based communications so you don’t alienate those without Internet access.

Tip #4  Printing
Putting together a postcard campaign doesn’t necessarily require a graphic designer and a lot of time. Some companies, such as VistaPrint or ModernPostcard.com, offer great deals on postcard printing.  VistaPrint often has great deals and the service includes the ability to either build your own postcard or choose between 3,000 postcard designs that you can easily customize.

Stamps.com Makes it Easy to Print Postcards
If you’re a Stamps.com customer, launching your new postcard campaign is simple. If you already have printed postcards, Stamps.com allows you to print 28 cents NetStamps that will easily affix to your postcards. 

Stamps.com’s store also offers blank PC Postage postcards (SDC-1400) that allow small businesses to completely customize the messaging onto 4 postcards at a time using Stamps.com’s templates for MS Word or using your favorite design software.  The MS Word templates allow you to completely customize your main message and then place the postage, return address and delivery address on the opposite side of the postcard.  These are great for short turnaround projects as they can be produced within minutes.   And by using your own printer, your business has the flexibility to print in small or large quantities as time permits.