Union was built with the mission of helping health and wellness brands grow and retain. But in an ever changing world how do you even begin to grow your Org? You go with the old fashion tactics because they work. Our favorite being the physical mailer.

By purchasing a mailing list and some branded postcards with a promotional offer on it, you can get new students in your area to test you out and fall in love with you. Once they sign up it begins your journey to retain them by offering amazing classes, special perks, and a community they can’t live without. But let’s dive deeper into the process of building a mailer and converting students.

Ohana Yoga + Barre, a studio in Denver, Colorado, launched a mailer marketing campaign this past spring and is still seeing results from the memberships they brought in. It all starts with the promotion. They offered the first month of Ohana for $48 (usually $158/mo). This is a BIG promo because their usual intro offer is $99. But they wanted their neighbors to try them out, feel supported, and get a deal that wasn't available anywhere else!

With the promo offer decided they headed over to Canva to create a postcard. You want it to be simple with your logo visible on top but not the main focus of the card. Instead, the promo offer should be the largest thing on the postcard. On the back they added a simple QR code that leads to a landing page on Union so they could track conversions and make the checkout experience seamless for their students. They also included some branded photos that showcase the look and feel of the studio with a short paragraph about what makes them different.

To make this offer even more enticing, Ohana did something brilliant. They reached out to other local businesses asking if they wanted their brands featured on the postcard. All they had to do was give some sort of discount on their products to students who signed up. Four businesses near them signed up for this and offered discounts or BOGO deals so that after a student signed up for the $48 first month subscription (auto-renews into the usual $158) they would get an email with all the deals from the local restaurants + shops. The Brands got their logos featured on the postcard and were able to get a few new customers while Ohana had even more value to add students on top of the amazing discounted membership. Plus Ohana was able to build community and support the people around them, making it possible to do more partnerships in the future. 

From here, all they needed to do was to purchase a mailing list from a company like Accuzip that offers addresses for $0.03 a piece or Leadsplease that offers addresses for $0.10 a piece. Here they can choose the area on the map they wanted to target–We suggest starting with your immediate neighborhood up to a one mile radius– and choose the demographics of your ideal customer. Once the list is under 1000 addresses you know you’re in a really targeted space. Then they simply added the list and the postcard design to vistaprint and they took care of the rest.

This whole process cost just over $1000 from list to mailer with postage. If you need to work with a graphic designer to enhance your piece that will add a little extra to your cost but is worth it in the end. You want your postcard to catch the attention of potential students when they’re going through their mail!

But enough about how it was done, what you want to know is how it worked! 

Out of the 1000 sign ups they had 10 students sign up for a discounted membership. Which is roughly a 1% conversion rate. That’s lower than what they wanted. Usually you’re looking for a 3-5% conversion rate which would have put them at 30-50 sign ups. This could be due to a few different things: 

2. The $48 sale was a limited time offer. They only had so long to scan the QR code and get the deal. But that doesn’t mean that those students didn’t come to the studio and try a drop-in class or later sign up for their regular intro offer of $99 for your first month. However, there is no way to track these outcomes.

But when we look at the cost of this campaign–$1000– and we see how much they made, it becomes clear that this was worth the effort and something that should be repeated in the end. Of the 10 students that signed up only three of them canceled and didn’t buy anything at the end of the first month. One student canceled after a month and then purchased a 10-pack. Two students only stayed on for two months. And Four students are still All-Access Members after three months. So at this point their marketing campaign brought in $2,298. But as those four members stay on, Ohana's earnings from this campaign only continue to grow. 

Ohana is talking about repeating this campaign at least once a year if not two times a year to continue to see what growth they can achieve. By having their logo show up more often at the homes around the studio, their neighbors won’t forget them when they finally decide it’s time to join a studio. Which is one more reason why a physical mailer is such a great marketing tool.

Here's what you need to do to create your own mailer:

Whether its your regular intro offer or something special you'll need to create a QR code and Union Landing page so that you can easily direct students and track conversions. 

Use something like Canva with pre-created templates or work with a graphic designer to make a postcard that stands out in the mail, looks beautiful and clearly gets your message across.

Use a company like Accuzip or Leadsplease to purchase a mailing list that you can send your cards too. Aim for less than a mile radius with specific demographics that apply to your ideal student (Think income, marital status, gender, age).

Make this campaign even more powerful by partnering with neighbored businesses who don't compete with you. You can split the cost of the mailer or purchase it yourself and know that you're giving potential students even more of a reason to come and try you out!

Vistaprint makes it easy to upload your graphics and your mailing list and send it. You don't have to worry about addressing cards and mailing them yourself. They do it all for you!

After 30-days from when your neighbors should have gotten the cards (Usually 2-3 weeks after sending it off to print) check in to your results. Remember that initial signs ups tell you one thing, but how long those students stay on will really help you decide on whether or not this campaign was successful. It's about growth AND retention. 

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Katie Leigh is a Marketing Strategist for small businesses. She helps Orgs simplify their marketing, connect with their audience, and create work-life balance. Download her free guide to work-life balance here.