We wrote last month about how companies can create an effective post card mailing to get the word out about new promotions, services or other news to customers. But in a world where so much communication is done digitally, does this format work? As one company recently discovered, sending out postcards, or other forms of physical mailing, can help information stand out when most businesses turn to email instead.
An article for Inc.com described how Saartje Cromheecke, a Belgian management professor, worked with a technology company to experiment with these two forms of communication – email and postcard – when recruiting for new positions. Cromheecke sent out information about a real open job position to 1,997 people, half by email, and half by postcard. Both had the same message and same information about the position. The results were surprising.
"Applicants who received a postcard (current cost of postage: $0.33) were five times more likely to apply than those who got an email," the article said. "The explanation offered by the researchers was simple: the postcards, by deviating from the usual recruiting script top talent long ago learned to tune out, actually managed to grab people's attention."
While this experiment had a specific purpose – to find qualified employees for an open position – it does show that postcards and other mailings continue to hold value as a way of attracting attention from potential or current customers. For companies looking for new ways to reach out, mailing services can help create these marketing tools, and help businesses bring in new clients or applicants effectively.
Tab Service Company is a Chicago based company with over 53 years of experience as a data processing service provider. We provide business with outsourcing solutions for document scanning services, data entry services and mailing/lettershop services. As a SOC2-approved service organization, we apply industry-best practices to our approach with clients.