Predicting 2025 Trends in Direct Mail

Personalized messaging plays a key role in what makes direct mail — and other kinds of print marketing, for that matter — such an effective method of customer communication and engagement. And digital print technology makes it possible to use variable data to create this kind of personalized content. 

But personalized direct mail can go beyond the traditional first name, last name greeting, and a more advanced level of personalized content is an emerging trend that looks to shake up how designers and marketers are using customer data to produce highly targeted mailers. 

What is advanced personalization? It’s contextualized content that speaks to the unique relationship a customer has with a brand. For example, it could be a direct mailer that uses previous purchase history to cross-sell or upsell products or services. Or, it could be a mailer with an offer code that encourages the customer to recover an abandoned online shopping cart. 

In the case of acquiring new customers, marketers can use geographic location to help tease the opening of a new store nearest the recipient — “Tabitha, did you know we’re opening a new location just 2.5 miles away?”

Advanced personalization encourages loyalty in customers by demonstrating that a brand understands and values their relationship, or by anticipating customer needs and offering a contextualized way to satisfy those needs. 

Automated workflows help marketers increase efficiency with a variety of tasks, from tracking where leads come from to maintaining a clean, accurate database of customer contacts. Automated direct mailers triggered by any number of customer actions or events can help brands create print communication touchpoints in real time using a range of detailed customer data to more effectively nurture and engage customers. 

This trend is all about capitalizing on pivotal moments in the customer journey, or rewarding existing customers for reaching certain milestones. Imagine a customer books an online meeting with a member of your sales team. If that customer provides the appropriate contact information, that meeting could trigger a personalized postcard designed to keep the conversation going after the meeting takes place. 

Unlocking this more strategic, purposeful approach to direct mail does mean some behind-the-scenes technology work, most notably integrating your customer relationship management (CRM) software with a printer’s digital press platform. But the benefit of doing so is that it can help you create a more efficient, effective line of communication with customers. 

Infusing digital technology with direct mail marketing can help brands better capture and hold a customer’s attention and interest. Quick response (QR) codes that launch videos or landing pages are a relatively standard method of bridging the digital and print space, but new and evolving digital integrations like augmented reality (AR) or voice-activated calls-to-action (VACTAs) can bring an additional layer of immersion and interactivity to direct mail campaigns.

These integrations can also help marketers better understand the effectiveness of their direct mail campaigns via additional digital performance metrics. For instance, analytics like AR launches or the amount of time spent in an AR experience can paint a clearer picture of the value and relevance consumers find in your messaging. 

What’s more, incorporating digital technology into direct mailers can help brands qualify for the USPS Tactile, Sensory, & Interactive postage discount program. 

The movement for sustainable print has been brewing for many years, but the push for more eco-friendly direct mail — particularly in terms of the raw materials printers use — is likely to tick up in 2025, especially as more sustainable inks and a wider range of recyclable substrates hit the market. 

For example, the introduction of solvent-free inks simplifies the process of recycling print materials once they’ve reached the end of their lifespan, and choosing water or soy-based inks reduces your reliance on chemical additives without sacrificing color vibrancy and depth. 

Additionally, sourcing papers that are certified by the the Sustainable Forestry Initiative^® (SFI^®) or the Forest Stewardship Council^® helps ensure that the substrates you print on are produced from responsibly harvested forests. 

Plus, digital inkjet’s ability to print short run or on-demand jobs in the exact quantities you need helps to reduce waste and optimizes your use of resources.