Create Direct Mail campaigns

Overview

Use Direct Mail in Marketing Pro to send postcards through the mail.

Things to know

• You can include up to four postcards in a direct mail campaign sequence. There are no limits on how many direct mail campaigns a customer can be included in.

• After you launch your campaign, your postcards are automatically printed, addressed, and provided to USPS usually within 48 hours (excluding holidays and weekends). USPS then takes between 5-7 business days on average to deliver the postcards.

• Campaign cost is calculated by the number of postcards sent. This helps you see how much you've spent so you can make informed decisions about your marketing.

• You aren't charged for failed postcards not processed by our printing provider. Our printing partner uses validation tools to ensure mailing lists are accurate. This supports efficient and cost-effective mail delivery while maximizing the success of your direct mail campaigns. If an address is on the Failed list, this typically means it didn't meet U.S. postal standards or didn't match the official mailing address databases used by our printing provider.

• According to USPS, a typical return amount for direct mail campaigns is about 10% of your total shipped volume. The most common reasons for returned cards include:        

  • A homeowner requested mail forwarding but didn't provide a forwarding address.

  • A homeowner's mail forwarding has expired.

  • An address is missing a unit or apartment number.

• You can view a full list of USPS return reason codes here.

• Campaigns can be archived, unarchived, and cloned. For more, see Manage Marketing Pro functions.

• Campaigns can only be edited in draft mode. For more, see Manage Marketing Campaigns.

• For a customer to receive direct mail content, they must:        

  • Have a valid address.

  • Not have either the Do not mail or Do not service checkboxes selected on the Edit Customer screen.

• For more, see Configure customer profiles for marketing campaigns.

Create a Direct Mail campaign

You can create campaigns from Marketing Overview, Email, Direct Mail, Dashboard, and Campaigns in Marketing.

1. Go to the navigation bar and click Marketing .

2. Click Create Campaign > Create a blank campaign.

3. Select Direct Mail as the campaign category then click Next. 

4. Select the campaign type you want to build then click Next. 

5. On the Create Campaign: Direct Mail pop-up that opens, enter a unique and descriptive Campaign Name for your direct mail campaign with a maximum of 60 characters. 

6. (Optional) Enter a description of the campaign.

7. Click Start Building.

This opens the direct mail draft campaign screen with all four steps:

• Step 1 - Overview: Choose the basic settings for your direct mail campaign, such as the direct mail type, campaign type, name, delivery logic, return address, and unique tracking number.

• Step 2 - Select Audience: Set which of your customers you want to receive marketing content from this direct mail campaign.

• Step 3 - Build Mail Sequence: Add and create the content sent to customers as part of this mail campaign.

• Step 4 - Review and Submit: Finalize the direct mail campaign.

Step 1: Overview

1. (Optional) To edit the campaign type, click Edit and make the changes. You can also update the Campaign Name or Description entered for the direct mail campaign if needed. 

2. In the Delivery section, enter details for each of the required fields:        

   • Delivery logic: Choose Automated to send postcards out on a regular schedule or One-Time to send postcards just this once.

   • Print Date: Click the Calendar to select your postcards print date, or manually enter a print date.

   • Send mails until: Add a delivery condition to stop sending mail to a specific customer once that customer has met the selected criteria. For example, if you want delivery to stop once a customer has called, select Call Created. Options include:                

     • Call Created: A customer calls a phone number associated with the direct mail campaign.

     • Job booked: A customer books a job as a result of this direct mail campaign

     • No trigger: The campaign will continue sending each mailpiece in the campaign sequence until the customer no longer qualifies for the audience or they unsubscribe. For more on audience inclusion criteria, see Create audiences.

   • Stop sending mail when a customer leaves the audience: Select this if the campaign should stop sending customers marketing content when they leave the audience chosen for this campaign. This option is enabled by default. 

3. In the Address section, choose where you want to send your postcards.        

   Note: This option only applies to acquisition campaigns.

   Options include:        

   • Owner Address: Select this option to send the postcards to the property owners' mailing addresses. This is helpful if the owner resides elsewhere and you want to reach the decision-maker. This option is selected by default.

   • Property Address: Select this option to send the postcard to the property address. 

4. In the Return Address section, enter the address you want undeliverable mail sent if it's different from the company address entered in Marketing Pro Settings. 

5. In the Tracking Phone Number section, add a unique tracking phone number for this campaign. To add a tracking number, you can generate a new number or enter a manual number.

   ServiceTitan uses this number to attribute revenue generated from this number to your direct mail campaign. It's important not to use the same tracking phone numbers across multiple campaigns. Doing this leads to inaccurate reporting metrics. For more, see Assign tracking phone numbers to Marketing Pro campaigns.

6. When you're finished, click Next

Generate new number

1. Click Add Tracking Number.

2. On the Add New Number screen that opens, select Local Number for a local campaign or Toll-Free Number for a regional or national campaign.

3. For Local Number only, enter the area code or ZIP Code you want the tracking number to correspond to.

4. (Optional) If you want your tracking number to include a particular set of digits, enter them in the Contains field. 

5. Click Search Numbers.

6. On the Search Results screen that opens, select a tracking number and click Choose Number.

7. On the Set Forwarding Number screen that opens, enter the phone number at which you want to receive incoming calls for this campaign or select to use a default number and then click Add Number.

Note: Adding new tracking number steps can differ depending on the phone integration you use. For more, see Add or edit tracking numbers.

Enter manual number

Manual phone numbers do not track revenue to the campaign but are available as a merge tag.

1. Click Enter Number Manually.

2. On the Warning pop-up that opens, review the message then click Confirm.

3. Enter the Manual Number. 

Step 2: Select an audience

Add audiences that will receive your campaign:

1. From your audience list, select the audience you want to use for this campaign.        

   Tip: Hover over the mail address of the audience to see how many customers are included in each audience.

2. If you want to create a new audience for this mail campaign, click Create new.

3. Choose to create an audience to retain customers or to acquire new customers, then click Direct Mail. 

4. Enter the Audience Name then click Begin to provide information about your campaign audiences. For more, see Create audiences. 

5. When finished, click Next and continue with Step 3: Build Mail sequence.

Step 3: Build Mail sequence

1. In Mail 1, click Add Content. 

2. Select the postcard size you want to use in your campaign. You can choose between two sizes: 4x6 inch or 6x9 inch postcards. 

3. Enter your message details for the postcard. The message details depend on whether you're creating a 4x6 or 6x9 inch postcard.        

   Tip: If you want to design your own postcard, click browse our template gallery or view marketing pro resources to see postcard templates you can use.

   

4. If you want to create follow-up postcards to be mailed in intervals of 7-60 days, click Add for each additional card you want to create.

   Note: You can include up to four postcards in a direct mail campaign sequence.

5. Enter how long after the previous mailing you want to wait before sending your next postcard between the words wait and days. 

6. When finished, click Next.

Enter message details for 4x6 inch postcards

Enter the following message details for 4x6 inch postcards:

1. Front: Upload an image for the front of your card. You can use a PNG, JPG, or JPEG file. The image size must be at exactly 1875 x 1275 pixels.        

   Note: You can upload an image larger than the specified dimensions, but you'll need to crop it to fit those dimensions.

2. Back: Enter the postcard message:        

   Note: Do not add emojis, special characters, or custom font formatting to the postcard Heading or Body. Our third-party printing provider currently only supports plain text in the 4x6 postcard text fields.

   • Heading: Large text that appears on the back of the postcard at the top. We recommend entering something attention-grabbing here as it's the first thing customers see on the back of your postcard.

   • Body: Normal-sized text that appears underneath the heading. Enter details to explain your current promotion.

   • Logo: If you already uploaded your company logo in Marketing Pro Settings, you see it here. If not, click Upload Image, and select your logo to upload from your computer.

3. When finished, click Save & Continue.

Enter message details for 6x9 inch postcards

Enter the following message details for 6x9 inch postcards:

1. Front: Upload an image for the front of your card. You can use a PNG, JPG, or JPEG file. The image size must be at exactly 2775 x 1875 pixels.

2. Back: Upload an image for the back of your card. You can use a PNG, JPG, or JPEG file. The image size must be exactly 1388 x 1875 pixels.        

   Note: You can upload an image larger than the specified dimensions, but you'll need to crop it to fit those dimensions.

3. When finished, click Save & Continue.

Step 4: Review and submit

Review your Direct Mail campaign details, including the cost of your campaign. Be sure to make any edits before you schedule the campaign, as you can't make changes after the campaign is scheduled.

1. To update a step in the mail campaign, go to the campaign section in the Review and Submit step.

2. Click Edit. The details of the campaign section open. 

3. When finished, click Schedule Campaign.        

   Note: If you're not ready to schedule the campaign, click Save as Draft to save it and schedule it at a later time.

   The Schedule Campaign confirmation pop-up opens. It provides details about when your postcards will be printed, and the total cost of the campaign.    

4. If all looks good, click Schedule.

5. Your campaign is scheduled. Click View All Campaigns to see a list of all your campaigns. 

Want to learn more?

• Download the ServiceTitan Marketing Pro Playbook to get the most out of Marketing Pro

• See Manage Marketing Pro functions

• See Create audiences

• See Create email campaigns