How to use variable maps in direct mail

We are thrilled to be unveiling our new variable maps offering to enhance your direct mail campaigns.

Perfect for retailers, the maps are accurate, bespoke and more accessible than ever, allowing you to add in a map that is personalised to your customer’s needs to your mailer!

But how does it work? And how does it add value to your campaigns? Let’s find out!

What are variable maps?

Variable maps can offer specific and personalised deliverables to target your customer base directly and clearly. For example, they can include calculated drive times to a retail business, or the nearest relevant stores that stock a specific product. They can also include personalised details on the mailing such as the recipient’s name and local branch details, which has been proven to increase response rates.

Our new solution lowers the cost and technical barriers that many can find when looking into utilising variable maps. Our in-house team writes the scripts bespoke to each campaign, creating a completely custom result for your marketing campaign.

What can I do with variable maps?

In addition to increasing personalisation, variable maps can also help you to save time and resources. Rather than creating multiple versions of a direct mail piece for different segments of your audience, you can use a single template and let the variable map do the work for you! This can be especially helpful if you have a large mailing list or are working within a limited budget.

Getting started!

To use a variable map, you will need a database of information about your recipients. This can be as simple as a list of names and addresses, or it can include more detailed information such as purchasing history or demographic data. Our team can then use this information to create a mapping of variables that you want to include in your direct mail campaign.

There are lots of exciting ways to use variable maps in your direct mail campaigns, and the specific tactics you use will depend on your goals and the information you have available.

Our personal favourite option is to add a map showing the recipient how to find you in their local area, which adds a great touch of locality and personality to the mailing, check out our case studies below!

Greenhouse People

Having worked with retailer Greenhouse People for over a decade, we were confident in being able to produce a high-volume full colour variable print campaign for them.

The objective was to drive footfall to their 50 display centres and concessions in garden centres throughout the UK, to support their Black Friday sales programme. Our extensive data and digital print capabilities with variable maps made this possible, and over 100,000 mail pieces were produced as part of the campaign, wow!

Each piece contained unique maps and pre-calculated drive time information to direct recipients to their nearest stores. The mail pieces were digitally printed in full colour and contained personalisation throughout, delivering a highly targeted and relevant experience to each and every recipient!

Stagecoach

Stagecoach wanted to encourage trials of their bus services in Irvine and Kilmarnock and enlisted our capable team for the task.

Our data team were able to identify postcodes and target locations using the GPS coordinates of the bus stops to generate a Partially Addressed data list containing circa 25,000 recipients.

Variable maps were generated using the same GPS coordinates – pinpointing the nearest bus stop to each recipients’ residence (circa 200 variable maps). The final stages of the asset generation included assigning Unique Registration Numbers (URNs) and producing QR codes.

Using the compiled suite of assets (artwork, addresses, maps and URNs) we constructed fully variable print files and printed the mail pieces digitally within our own production facility.

If you’re interested in using variable maps to enhance your print campaign, get in touch with us here to find out how!