You’re a modern marketer. You’ve perfected your abandonment flows. When a customer leaves an item in their cart, your system immediately triggers a sequence of perfectly timed, beautifully written follow-ups via email and SMS.
It’s an effective system, driving conversions and recovering revenue. So, the question is logical: If I’m already sending digital abandonment flows, how can I possibly justify adding a physical piece of direct mail? How do I know it will deliver incremental value?
This concern is valid. In today’s landscape of tight budgets and intense focus on ROI, no channel can stand alone. The goal isn’t just to send more messages; it’s to strategically integrate channels to create a customer journey that maximises retention. The answer lies not just in the medium itself, but in the ability to measure the exact incremental uplift it provides alongside the digital tactics you already have.
No guessing, just measurement:
For years, the biggest barrier to adopting direct mail was the lack of reliable, measurable attribution. Marketing teams were stuck dealing with high printing minimums , large initial data transfers , and analysis based on unreliable code redemption. This made it nearly impossible to prove its performance against real-time data provided by platforms like Meta and Google.
Today, technology has changed completely. Paperplanes was built specifically to solve this measurement problem, allowing you to seamlessly integrate physical mail into your modern, multi-channel strategy and prove its financial value.
True Attribution: Linking Mail to the Checkout
Our modern dashboard Inflight provides precise attribution tracking for every campaign. We understand that simply looking at a QR scan or a coupon code redemption only tells part of the story. By using a direct integration onto your website, Paperplanes goes beyond basic QR and redemption code tracking.
We link each direct conversion—whether it’s an immediate sale or a subsequent return visit—back to the specific mailing.
This allows you to easily see how many sales or returns are a direct result of the printed piece—beyond what your existing email and SMS flows are already delivering.
Proving Incremental Value with Control Groups
The fear of overlap is common. You don’t want to spend money mailing something to a customer who would have converted anyway after receiving your final SMS. This is where industry best-practices in performance marketing become essential.
At Paperplanes we use techniques like control groups and A/B testing, letting you actually measure the incremental uplift from adding direct mail.
- The Test Group receives your standard email/SMS abandonment flow PLUS the direct mail piece.
- The Control Group receives only your standard email/SMS abandonment flow.
By comparing the conversion rates and revenue generated by the two groups, you see exactly how much extra value is generated by adding a physical follow-up, without guessing.
The Data shows DM is a Retention Powerhouse
If your brand is already sending effective abandonment flows via email and SMS, the data shows that Paperplanes’ approach typically drives 20–40% higher conversion rates when physical mail enters the journey. Furthermore, it’s not just about the immediate conversion; it’s about retention.
The medium itself is fundamentally different from email and SMS. While digital messages are fleeting and only capture attention for seconds, the physical piece of mail typically stays in home for 17 days. This longevity allows for a deeper connection. You can treat the mailer like a work of art, populate it with customer reviews, personalized products, and powerful interactive elements.
By using tools like Add to Cart QR codes and Abandoned Basket QR codes, the mailer becomes a seamless, physical extension of your digital store. You are not just reminding the customer; you are giving them a tangible, high-value asset that they can hold onto, boosting return visits and driving a significant increase in customer retention.
Conclusion: Smarter Budget Allocation
The question shouldn’t be “Should I use direct mail instead of email/SMS?” but rather, “How can I use direct mail with email and SMS to achieve maximum profitability?”
Paperplanes make it easy to prove the incremental value of direct mail. Our innovative dashboard provides transparent attribution, linking every touchpoint right back to the printed piece. With built-in control group testing and multi-channel analysis, you get clear, actionable reporting that proves ROI and empowers smart budget planning across all your customer journey touchpoints. Stop guessing where your money is best spent. Start knowing.
