Direct mail marketing
How effective can postcards be?
Your next booking, shop visit or repeat purchase could start with a postcard. See what research on postal advertising shows, then turn the ideas into a campaign for your customers.
What the research shows
What postal advertising can achieve.
The CMC Print Mailing Study 2026 tracked 858,490 mailings from 35 online shops to existing customers whose last purchase was within the previous twelve months. [1]
The findings show the potential of postal advertising. The study covers print mailings overall and does not report separate results for postcards.
4.0%
Recipients placed an order
Around one in 25 recipients ordered. Across the study, 34,435 orders were attributed to the mailings.
9.61×
Sales per euro spent on mailing
Each euro spent on production and postage corresponded to €9.61 in sales before returns. This measures revenue, not profit.
8.5%
Recipients visited the online shop
A printed offer can lead customers straight to your website. The study measured shop visits using QR codes and voucher redemptions.
Use these study figures as context for your own test. Your audience, offer, mailing costs and margin determine whether a campaign pays off.
Put postcards to work
Give your next postcard a clear purpose.
Use the potential of postal advertising as a starting point for your own postcard campaign. Choose a customer moment, write a personal message and give people an easy way to respond.
Say thank you after a purchase
Make your follow-up personal with a thank-you card. Add a useful tip for their purchase or an invitation to discover something that complements it.
Send a timely reminder
Give customers a helpful reminder when a seasonal offer, a service appointment or a new collection becomes relevant to them.
Invite customers back
Give previous customers a reason to visit again: a new product, an event or an offer chosen for their interests. Make the next step clear with a QR code or a short web address.
Start with the right people
Reconnect with customers who already know you.
In the 2026 study, customers with five or more previous purchases reached a 9.8% purchase conversion rate. Customers with one previous purchase reached 2.4%. [1]
Choose a group you know well and make the message relevant to their last purchase or visit. A focused audience makes it easier to judge which offer earns a response.
Find the offer that pays off.
You may not need a bigger discount to get a better return. Among top customers in the study, a smaller voucher brought fewer orders but a higher return after voucher costs: 552.3% versus 505.3%. [1]
Compare revenue with mailing costs, discounts, returns and your margin.
Put the research to work
One audience. One offer. One clear next step.
Choose an audience and an occasion
Start with a defined customer group and a relevant reason to write. Keep your address data up to date.
Make it easy to respond
Tell customers what to do next: browse an offer, book a visit or contact you. Add a QR code or voucher code that also lets you measure the response to your mailing.
Find out what your mailing adds
Allow several months for orders to come in. Where possible, randomly leave some customers out of the mailing and compare the two groups. This helps you see how many extra orders you gained and whether they covered your costs.
Card4U
Reach out while the moment is right.
Have a seasonal offer, an event or a customer follow-up coming up? Start planning your postcard now so there is time to design, print and deliver it before the occasion passes.
Create your postcard online or upload your own design. Card4U handles printing and mailing, so you can focus on the people you want to reach.
Start with your audience and a design. Review the preview before approving production.
Sources and methodology
- CMC Print-Mailing-Studie 2026
Collaborative Marketing Club in cooperation with Deutsche Post. Campaign period: 26 September 2025 to 28 February 2026. See pages 4, 6–10, 15 and 19 of the report for methodology and results. Responses were attributed using test-group voucher codes; the report does not describe an unmailed control group for the overall results.
The study was produced with Deutsche Post, a provider of mailing services. It offers evidence from print-mailing campaigns, but does not establish that postcards achieve the same results or that print outperforms digital advertising.
Browse the Deutsche Post research overview →