When I was still working, I was employed as Branch Sales Head at one of the leading direct selling company here in the Philippines. So every day, as I go to work, I always deal with customers, plan to have more and then retain them.
One time, we have a program that sends out postcards to inactive members who had good credit standings with us. When they receive their postcards, turn it in for validation and be active again, they will get an additional credit line.
The postcards were sent as ordinary mail. So it took time for the result to come out. Then after a month or so, I was already entertaining a lot of customers bringing their postcards with them. They surrendered their postcards to me and asked for further explanation about the program. After a few minutes of talk, they signed up again, got their additional credit line, went to the transaction room and made their purchases. Our sales went up and got a lot of inactive members active again! It was effective!
Though emails have become an active way of contacting customers nowadays, the old school of sending via snail mail still works wonders. And no wonder why postcard marketing has become a hit in most companies right now. Just a few weeks ago, I received a postcard from a cosmetic company in London thanking me as a customer. It was unique and very catchy move.
So, if you have a business or employed in a sales related field, why not try postcard marketing, it might do wonders for you just like it did me.