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How Landscapers Can Thrive This Fall and Winter With Direct Mail Automation

The months are flying by and summer is transitioning into autumn. And for landscaping companies that could mean the phones stop ringing until the snow starts melting away. But that doesn’t have to be the case, especially if your landscaping company offers year-round services. One of the most effective resources for staying busy all year is direct mail automation. Some of the ways it can help you drive business for your landscaping company once the summer ends include:

Direct Mail Automation Allows You to Seamlessly Inform Current and Lapsed Customers About Your Fall and Winter Services

Your customers can’t take advantage of your fall and winter services unless you let them know they exist in the first place. If your audience isn’t properly informed about the services you offer during your slower months, they could be contacting competitors to get the same services you offer. Here are a few examples of campaigns you can leverage with trigger-based direct mail that can keep your audience in the loop about your services:

 

  • Thank You For Booking:


Suppose that you’ve just completed a landscaping project for a new customer. You could use trigger-based direct mail to thank the customer for booking with you with a postcard. On that postcard, after thanking the customer, you could include bullet points about additional services you offer. 

 

  • We Haven’t Heard From You In a While

    Think about that new customer you just landed. Imagine several weeks passing by, before realizing that you haven’t heard from them in a while. So you decide to send them a postcard saying, “we miss you! Book your next service date for 10% off.” You also include a few facts about what can go wrong when you neglect a lawn or garden. This serves as the exact motivation needed for the customer to book their next service date.

 

  • Prepare Your Lawn for Fall and Winter With Us

    Now pretend that you’ve maintained a positive relationship with this new customer all summer. Since fall is right around the corner, instead of just sending an ordinary “we haven’t heard from you lately” postcard, you can use this opportunity to educate them about what can go wrong if you neglect a lawn during the fall and winter. And triggered direct mail is the ideal resource for this type of mailer because it allows you to send the mailer whenever you please. Maybe you’d like for them to receive it on Labor Day Weekend, or a little later in the fall.

 

Direct mail automation programs that allow you to execute trigger based-direct mail campaigns are essential to avoiding a fall or winter slump. Regardless of when you’d choose to send your mailer, trigger-based campaigns allow you to get your message across to the right person at the right time. And accomplishing that goal could have a lasting impact on your bottom line.

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You Can Automate Direct Mail Campaigns That Encourage Recipients To Book Early

Another way direct mail campaigns can help your business remain strong during the traditionally slower months is by allowing your customers to book for the spring ahead of time. Not only will this allow customers to get a foot in the door early, this strategy also helps keep competition at bay. Let’s say for instance that you fail to let your customers book early, and they’re in the dark regarding services you offer during fall and winter. Those customers you’ve been serving all summer will then decide to go online to search for a company that provides leaf removal services.

 

That same company goes on to provide snow removal services during the winter, along with – you guessed it – lawn care services all summer long. Once their snow removal service has been completed, they go right back online to book a service appointment for a spring cleaning and that’s it. You’ve just lost a loyal customer to a competitor in the blink of an eye. Keeping your customers in the loop about your services, and allowing them to prepare for spring ahead of time with early booking is essential to reducing churn.

Educate Your Audience About the Benefits of Off-Season Lawn Care With Personalized Direct Mail

In some cases you may need to provide additional motivation in order to get customers to see the value in the fall and winter services you provide. This can come in a variety of ways, but educational content instills authority and trust, especially among new customers. And with the added touch of personalization, grabbing the attention of your audience is easier than you can imagine. Some tips for leveraging personalization when educating your audience regarding fall and winter lawn care insights include:

 

  • Fully Variable Printing

    Your personalization efforts shouldn’t be limited to just first name or last name. Take your efforts up a notch by using variable data printing to ask recipients to book their next visit for the service they last booked a service appointment for. This, paired with a warm personal address with the recipient’s first name can be instrumental for establishing your credibility.

 

  • Google Street View

    Giving people an image of something they care deeply about is a great way to connect with them instantly. That’s why leveraging our integration with Google Street View and providing recipients of your mailer with an image of their home could be an ideal addition to a postcard that educates audiences about the importance of fall and winter lawn care. 

    The combination of your informative message, combined with an image of their home may lead them to begin thinking about worst case scenarios regarding neglecting fall and winter lawn care. And that could lead them to scheduling a service appointment with your company in the near future.

 

  • Unique Discount Codes

    Providing your audiences with discount codes exclusive to them could be exactly what it takes to get certain recipients to book services with you. That’s especially true if you can think of a code that stands out and catches the attention of recipients, like “JustForJohnny20.” A unique discount code, combined with facts about the importance of off-season lawn care could be the one-two punch necessary for getting customers to take advantage of your off-season services. 

Prepare for a Busy Fall and Winter By Signing Up for Direct Mail Manager Today

You can put lackluster fall and winter seasons in the past by signing up for Direct Mail Manager today. To begin using Direct Mail Manager, simply sign up for a free account and upload your first list. If you need any help getting your account up and running, one of our dedicated team members would be glad to walk through a demo with you at no extra cost. Let us help you make this fall and winter your best yet – sign up for Direct Mail Manager today!