I was happy to catch up with Dennis Kelly, CEO of Postalytics, a fast-growing, Massachusetts-based company whose software automates many of the tasks associated with postal mail, as well as provides analytics and connections to popular CRMs such as Hubspot and Salesforce.
We discuss Postalytics’ origin story, which began with a realization that the way direct mail campaigns were being conducted was outmoded and needed updating. As Dennis observes, “it became very obvious that there was actually a need for a much more robust solution that solved the bigger problems with direct mail, which are the complexity and speed of the production process to create a campaign: you’re using spreadsheets and files from multiple vendors. And if you compare that to a digital marketing campaign, or an email marketing campaign it’s so much more complex, it’s insanity. ”
We chat about the fact that technology investment in postal mail has lagged over the years, despite the fact that postal mail marketing remains a $40 billion business in the U.S. We dive into how Postalytics’ software systematizes direct mail campaign creation and delivery, how it integrates with other platforms, how the pandemic changed consumer behavior with respect to direct mail, and how new technology is improving the channel.
As Dennis notes, “There’s better technology that is being used in the printing and mailing process, the data on the back end is more accurate. It is being tied together with your purchase histories and interests that you’ve indicated across a variety of different spectrums. So you’re getting more relevant stuff, you’re not getting spray and pray kind of junk mail that you used to get it. So that has caused an increase in response rate. And then finally, very connected to the pandemic, the advent of QR codes has made the ramp from offline to online so much easier.”
We discuss industry categories for which direct mail remains a strong channel, including the non-profit sector, as well as the importance of adapting an “ABT” (Always Be Testing) mindset when conducting postal mail campaigns. We conclude with a brief discussion about how the USPS is deploying advanced technology to remove friction from direct mail campaigns and what Dennis is excited about for 2023 and beyond.
