It seems like an obvious answer to a silly question, right? When putting together a white poly mailer to ship to a customer, what more do you need than your product and maybe a receipt? Believe it or not, simple order fulfillment is the prime opportunity to amp up your marketing and keep your customers coming back for more. Let’s check out some of the ways that you can engage with your customers without making your job more complicated!
The Essentials of Mailers
When you’re assembling poly mailers to send to a customer, there are two things that you absolutely, positively cannot leave out: the product itself and the receipt. Adding anything fun or special to your white poly mailer isn’t going to make a difference if you don’t include the original item that you’re supposed to be sending in the first place.
First, add your product to the white poly mailer. Next, add a copy of the receipt or packing list. Make sure that you check off — at least on a separate copy — the items that you are placing in the poly mailers. This will ensure that nothing is missed, nothing is placed in the wrong box for the wrong customer, or an item in the incorrect size or color is added on accident. Also, do a thorough inspection to make sure that the items are in excellent condition. Few things are more frustrating to a customer than opening a package they’ve been waiting for only to find that the items they ordered aren’t included. Or worse, that they’re not the quality that they should be. The go-to standard should be that if you wouldn’t gift it to your loved one, your customer probably won’t want it either.
Another item to place in poly mailers that could be considered essential is a quality control sticker. Whether it’s someone signing off on the white poly mailer being complete or a tag indicating which employee assembled their poly mailers, this lets customers know that their items were personally taken care of by a valued member of your team. When something arrives perfectly, it’s a great way to acknowledge an employee’s dedication. When something doesn’t quite go according to plan, it’s also a way to find out what went wrong without most of the guesswork associated with trying to track the route of the poly mailers each step of the way.
Before compiling the items to place in your poly mailers, we suggest creating a list that will enable you to check off each item as you go along. Include everything from the item itself to any additional gifts, coupons, or stickers that you may be adding to your white poly mailer for fun. This will help ensure that all the poly mailers you create are perfect and represent your company in the positive light that you are working towards.
Marketing Products
Opening a white poly mailer that you ordered to find something extra hidden inside can be amazing — unless it’s something no one wants, in which case, refer back to our line about the go-to standard. For companies that have larger marketing budgets, including a branded item in your white poly mailer with your customer’s purchase can be an easy way to promote your brand outside of your typical consumers. Here are some great, inexpensive items we’ve seen put in poly mailers in the past that really stuck out to us:
- Sticky notes with your logo, mission statement, or slogan printed on them
- Pens or pencils printed or engraved with your company name
- Key chains featuring your logo
- Branded ice scrapers — depending on your location or the item that your customer purchases, this can be a fun and handy item to have
- Foam putty or some other type of manipulative featuring your logo to use to avoid fidgeting during meetings
- Miniature branded hand sanitizer to keep in a desk, car, or purse
- A small package of Band-Aids in a case branded with your logo or slogan
When choosing a promotional item, it’s important to not only think about how often a person will use it but also how it will make them think about your brand. For example, putting an ice scraper inside a white poly mailer to send to someone who lives in Florida may not be the best use of funding or resources. But making a bit more of an investment and instead of sending that same person a sunshade for their car or a pair of branded sunglasses is more likely to be useful to them.
The amount of money you want to spend on products to include in your poly mailers will likely depend on a few factors:
- Your overall marketing budget
- The amount of money your customer has spent on their order — or over the course of their time buying from your brand, if you’re able to track that metric
A quick note about adding promotional products: don’t make it out to be a major gift when it’s also doing your business a favor. For example, if you’re celebrating your customer’s birthday by including something special, don’t put a koozie with your logo on it in their white poly mailer. Do something for them and only them — not for your brand.
Coupons
We’re fairly certain that everyone loves coupons. I mean, who doesn’t like to save money? Placing coupons in your poly mailers is a great way to encourage customers to make another purchase while also showing them appreciation for the purchase that they already made. One example of this is Old Navy’s Super Cash promotion. During certain times of the year, customers that shop at Old Navy can earn Super Cash that they can then apply to a future purchase. The amount of Super Cash that a customer earns is based on the amount of money they spend.
Want an insider tip? If you’re able to track the type of products that your customers are purchasing, particularly online or through the use of a loyalty program, giving customers specific discounts towards products that they purchase is a good way to encourage them to use the discount. However, know that this can also easily go wrong. One cautionary tale would be sending coupons for maternity clothes to a woman who had purchased diapers or a stroller. Could she be pregnant? Possibly. Could she be shopping for a baby shower gift? Also possible. When in doubt, it’s better to be safe than sorry and put a generic coupon in your poly mailers rather than something customized if there’s any chance that it could turn into a public relations snafu.
Discounts vs. Coupons
The downside about coupons is that they are only applied to a future purchase. Especially if the coupon has a ton of stipulations and regulations surrounding its use, it can seem as though you’re almost trying to prevent the customer from using it rather than rewarding them for their loyalty. This can be a slippery slope. Poll employees, and if the consensus is that it doesn’t seem like genuine appreciation, choose something else to include in your poly mailers.
Another way to increase your customer’s loyalty while showing appreciation is to include a note in the white poly mailer that tells your customer that you applied an additional discount to their bill as a way to say thank you. This is a great way to combine a hand-written thank you note with your customer’s purchase. It goes above and beyond to show your customer that you care and that you not only financially show your appreciation, but you show your appreciation through the donation of your time as well.
Thank You Notes
Loyalty programs are a great way to keep up with your customer’s buying habits, frequency of purchases, and more. They’re also a great way to reward your customers with specialized promotions, gifts, and other items to show your appreciation for their dedication to your business. If you run a small company, consider including a small thank you note inside your poly mailer when shipping items to customers. Being thanked for making a purchase is an act that will make your customer feel special, appreciated, and hopefully create a relationship that will last for years to come.
If you can, write the note yourself. It doesn’t have to be long or thought out, but should include a simple, sincere “thank you.” If it’s not possible to write the entire note yourself, at least make sure that you sign it. Don’t use a stamp. Don’t ask someone to write your name for you.
You can also purchase poly mailers that have “thank you” and other unique phrases on them to add a bit of extra color or excitement to your packaging. Whether you’re using a regular white poly mailer or decorated poly mailers, remember to convey your appreciation authentically.
A Special Gift
This category falls a little bit outside of the realm of promotional products. With a promotional product, the goal is to reward the customer with something small while also promoting your own brand at the same time. This goes hand-in-hand with the hope that, by using the promotional product, your current customer will bring awareness to your brand.
Including a special gift takes it a step above by removing the logo or other brand-identifying attributes of the product and provides your customer with a product that they can enjoy without the expectation of providing free advertising. Although there is absolutely nothing wrong with promotional products — in fact, we encourage them and think they’re awesome! — there are times as well when we feel as though certain customers deserve a bit more.
Some of our favorite examples of special gifts include:
- A piece of jewelry
- A small candle
- A small bottle of perfume or make-up
Gift Cards
This is another instance when knowing your customer’s preferences is key, if possible. If you know the type of products that your customer enjoys — such as coffee, tea, etc. — include a small gift card in the white poly mailer to treat them to something they enjoy. This can be as small as a $5 gift card to a coffee shop or a $100 gift card to a fancy restaurant. It’s entirely up to you!
Local Products
Partnerships are important. A great way to share resources and gain some good karma with your fellow businesses is to create a partnership that puts products made by fellow businesses in your poly mailers. Reach out to other businesses in your area, or businesses whose products you purchase, and see if they would be interested in creating a partnership. Maybe you sell jewelry, and there’s a coffeehouse down the street, so you send a sample of local coffee to your customers. The opportunities are limitless.
Narrow it Down
When thinking about what type of tangible product to place in your poly mailers as a gift, there are a few tips to keep in mind to help you narrow down the best item to give your customers that will be the most appreciated:
- It should have a perceived value. Whether or not it has actual value or is inexpensive, whatever you gift to your customer must be valuable to your customer.
- It should be useful. If all your gift does is take up space, it will be easily forgotten or worse, thrown away. A useful gift will not only provide a service to your customer but will remind them of your company whenever they use it.
- It should be durable. Don’t gift your customers something that will easily break. Avoid items that can be damaged, or that may have a short shelf life.
- It should remind them of your brand. The best gift is something related to your business in one way or another. For the items we mentioned above, if you sell or make jewelry, your gift could be a small pair of earrings. If you sell home décor or gift items, a candle. If you sell make-up or other personal items, a bottle of perfume.
- It should be safe. Although this sounds like common sense, you should consider any issues your customer may have with the gift. For example, unless you own a bar or wine shop, sending something related to alcohol may not be the best bet. It’s also smart to think about allergies, choking hazards, or anything that could be considered dangerous when adding gifts to your white poly mailer.
Assembling your poly mailers can be about more than just shipping a product to your customer. By including coupons, promotional items, special gifts, thank you notes, or gift cards, you can not only create partnerships with other local businesses, but you can also increase the loyalty of your customers in the long run.
At Shop4Mailers, we have a variety of poly mailers to help meet all of your shipping needs. Whether you’re only packing a sweater or sending a selection of the items mentioned above, we can help make your shipping experience as easy as possible. Visit our website at www.shop4mailers.com to explore our entire collection of products! Want to upgrade the way you say thank you with your poly mailers? Check out this printed version!
