75%
Winback improvement, compared to non-mailed cohorts
Mattressman
The Sleep Setback
Mattressman, a leading online mattress retailer, recognised the challenge of converting high-intent customers who had shown purchase behaviour but hadn’t completed their transaction. With cart abandonment being a significant issue in the furniture sector, they needed a strategic approach to re-engage customers through multiple touchpoints and bring them back to complete their purchases.
A Comfort Upgrade
We implemented a sophisticated multi-tiered direct mail strategy targeting customers at different stages of their purchase journey. Our approach included immediate abandoned basket recovery, follow-up communications for persistent abandoners, targeted messaging for customers who removed items from their baskets, and strategic winback campaigns for past purchasers. Each campaign was carefully timed and personalised to maximise relevance and drive action.
Rest, Reimagined
The results exceeded expectations across all campaign types. Mailed customers proved 233% more likely to convert than non-mailed cohorts, demonstrating the power of physical touchpoints in a digital-first category. The abandoned basket campaigns showed consistent month-on-month improvement, with conversions increasing 8.7% and average basket values rising. Most impressively, the winback campaigns for 6-month lapsed customers achieved a 75% increase in conversion rates, proving that strategic re-engagement can successfully reactivate dormant customers in the mattress category.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
“The uplift in conversions has transformed our customer recovery strategy, proving that direct mail is essential for high-value purchases like mattresses.”
82%
increase in website return rates
Otty
The Comfort Conundrum
Otty, a premium mattress and sleep accessories brand, recognised the opportunity to enhance their customer journey through strategic direct mail touchpoints. With high-value products requiring careful consideration, they needed a comprehensive approach covering abandoned basket recovery, follow-up communications, next purchase encouragement, and referral activation to maximise customer lifetime value.
Restful Re-Engagement
We implemented a sophisticated multi-stage campaign strategy targeting customers at different points in their purchase journey. Our approach included immediate abandoned basket recovery, strategic follow-up communications for persistent abandoners after 19 days, next purchase campaigns for customers 60 days post-purchase, and referral campaigns targeting customers after 365 days. Each campaign was carefully timed and personalised to match Otty’s premium brand positioning whilst driving measurable action.
Dream Results
The campaign delivered substantial improvements across all key metrics. Average basket values increased by 19.4% period-on-period, reaching £683, demonstrating the power of direct mail in driving premium purchases. Abandoned basket campaigns showed particularly strong performance with a 20.7% increase in basket values, whilst follow-up campaigns generated an impressive 82% increase in website return rates. The refer-a-friend strategy proved especially effective, with basket values increasing by 82.9%. Overall, 16.36% of converted customers made repeat purchases, proving the campaign’s effectiveness in building long-term customer relationships.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
25%
Engagement Boost
Nectar
Sleepless Nights
Nectar sleep offers high quality mattress products for those wishing to get the best night’s sleep. Their mission is to support sleep through offering customers a high quality product and impeccable customer service. The company teamed up with Paperplanes and PSE as they were struggling to convert a greater proportion of customers through an already successful email retargeting strategy.
Dream Strategy
Opportunities were scoped to identify customers who abandoned their basket before completing the purchase, to encourage those that have made a purchase to buy more and reactivate those who have not returned in a long period. Targeted customers were presented with relevant, personalized, physical media with specifically targeted products, and extra incentives to visit the site, which were carefully split tested.
Sleep Tight Success
Customers were 25% more likely to return to Nectar after mailing and the average basket value for mailed group is 10% stronger than non-mail counterparts.
Across the pilot period we had a strong incremental ROAS of £11 for every £1 spent.
Customers who were mailed regarding abandoned baskets stayed 40% longer than their non–mail counterparts and there was already some early evidence of increased engagement with mailed customers viewing 20% more pages.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
“Paperplanes innovative approach to direct mail stands out. They have turned direct mail into a digital channel, with all the digital metrics that make attribution possible. Combining this with proactive account management and a keen eye for detail has them fast becoming one of my go-to partners”
Patrick Ross: Growth Director, Nectar Sleep
23%
Repeat purchase rate from mailed customers
Wayfair
Room To Improve
Wayfair is one of the world’s largest online home goods retailers, offering an extensive range of furniture, décor, and homeware products to customers making significant purchase decisions for their living spaces. Despite their strong digital presence and vast product catalogue, they faced challenges with abandoned baskets and customers who had shown purchase intent but failed to complete transactions, particularly for higher-value furniture items requiring careful consideration. Their digital-only remarketing strategies weren’t effectively recovering these high-intent prospects or re-engaging customers who had previously purchased but hadn’t returned, representing substantial lost revenue across multiple customer lifecycle stages.
The Upgrade Underway
Paperplanes implemented a comprehensive multi-segment direct mail strategy launched at the end of October and November, targeting abandoned baskets, next purchase opportunities (customers due for repeat purchases), and winback campaigns for lapsed customers. Over 59,611 letters were sent during the analytical period, each carefully designed to reflect Wayfair’s position as a trusted home furnishing destination whilst addressing specific customer segment needs. The campaigns were optimised for timing and messaging, recognising that home furnishing purchases often require longer consideration periods, with performance closely monitored to understand optimal conversion windows and engagement patterns.
Home, Elevated
The campaign delivered exceptional results, achieving returns as high as £6 to £1 incremental ROAS on abandoned baskets. Conversion rates were impressive across segments, with 16.8% for abandoned baskets, 7.7% for next purchase opportunities, and 1.9% for winback campaigns, whilst 25% of all mailed customers returned to Wayfair with optimal conversion occurring at 17 days, demonstrating the extended consideration period for home furnishing purchases. Most notably, 23% of targeted customers made more than one additional purchase since receiving their mailing, with mailed customers staying longer on-site and viewing more pages than non-mailed counterparts, proving direct mail’s effectiveness in driving both immediate conversions and long-term customer engagement.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
“Paperplanes has delivered outstanding results for our customer recovery strategy. With a 16.8% abandoned basket conversion rate and 25% of mailed customers returning to Wayfair, direct mail has proven to be an exceptionally powerful channel for driving both immediate sales and long-term customer value.”
Marketing Director, Wayfair
20X
ROAS
Pets Love Fresh
Food For Thought
Pets Love Fresh, a leading provider of fresh, tailored dog food, sought additional strategies to re-engage their audience. The brand worked with Paperplanes to re-incentivise previous customers through automations such as abandon and a targeted win-back campaign, focusing on those who had lapsed subscriptions or paused orders, while exploring additional opportunities in marketing automation to boost retention.
A Walk In The Park
Paperplanes designed a personalised, campaign targeting individual customers with tailored follow-up content. The campaign included discounted incentives to encourage reactivation and featured QR codes for seamless navigation back to the subscription process. Messaging and creative elements were optimised through A/B testing to maximise engagement.
Best In Show
The combination of multiple campaigns carefully selected by the specialists at Paperplanes resulted in impressive returns with a 27% conversion rate on next best purchase campaigns. On average, we were able to drive £20 for every £1 invested across our campaigns. Our Subscription Upsell campaign was particularly successful, achieving a standout 49% conversion rate.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
“Direct mail allowed us to deliver tailored messages that resonated with our audience and drove conversions”
Josh Jenkinson, COO
59%
Conversion Rate Increase
Omni
The Hurdle
Omni is a pet wellness brand specialising in allergy-friendly food, supplements and treats for dogs. Looking to enhance their subscription and one-time purchase flows, they partnered with Paperplanes to implement programmatic direct mail campaigns focused on customer acquisition and retention across multiple touchpoints.
Taking The Lead
We developed targeted campaigns for specific customer segments, from abandoned basket recovery at 24 hours to cross-sell opportunities at 23-26 days post-purchase. Our approach integrated with both subscription and one-time purchase flows, using personalised messaging to educate customers about vegan pet nutrition while driving conversions through timely communications.
A Smoother Walk Ahead
The results demonstrated significant improvements across all metrics. Mailed customers were 58.8% more likely to convert than non-mailed cohorts, with an 8.23% higher average basket value. Website engagement improved substantially, with mailed customers 52.1% more likely to return to the site. The impact extended to repeat purchases, with 11.27% of mailed converted customers making two or more purchases.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
‘’Achieving a high conversion rate and stronger basket values proves the power of Paperplanes approach to well-timed physical communications”
Olly Johnson, Strategic Growth Advisor
10.37%
Conversion rate across all campaigns
Yorkshire Handmade Pies
An Appetite for Growth
Yorkshire Handmade Pies is a family-run producer of traditional pies made by hand, and sold directly to consumers through its Shopify store. Whilst the business had built a loyal customer base, it looked to reinforce dedicated purchasing behaviour and drive commitment to subscriptions. For this, the brand looked for a a noteable and impactful channel capable of winning the attention of occasional buyers.
The Method to It
Paperplanes and Webmart partnered to execute four trigger-based postal campaigns. With Paperplanes integrating directly with the Yorkshire Handmade Pies Shopify checkout, they were able to trigger abandoned basket mailers for new and existing customers, post second order subscription nudges, plus winback campaigns targeting customers absent for 60 or more days. Each campaign sent out personalised A4 mailers in C5 envelopes featuring personalised content, product imagery, loyalty rewards messaging, and tailored discount codes. A frequency cap was also put in place, ensuring no customer received more than one mailing every 30 days.
A Slice of Success
Across the measured period, the campaigns achieved a 10.37% conversion rate and a ROAS of £6.44 for every £1 spent, with basket values averaging at £56. The mailed cohort outperformed the control group across all four campaigns, with conversion rate uplifts ranging from 16.0% for existing basket abandoners to 136.8% for the post second order cohort. The overall response rate surpassed the JICMail industry benchmark by 220%, demonstrating the impact of personalised postal marketing within Yorkshire Handmade Pies’ customer retention strategy.
11%
Customer reactivation through personalised automated direct mail
“Paperplanes and Webmart’s execution and results gave us real confidence in direct mail as a growth channel.”
Yorkshire Handmade Pies