Why Digital Marketing Pioneers Love Authentic Handwritten Letters

Lead Generation| Tanja|14/03/2019

Tanja

I can already imagine what you are thinking right now. Why of all people would online marketing experts be interested in something as old-fashioned as handwritten letters? That’s not even possible. Total nonsense. Stop. Not so fast. This is anything but a joke, it’s reality.

Because these experts know the possibilities and also the limits of online marketing. And it’s precisely these glaring limitations that we’re talking about here. Digital marketing no longer offers a silver bullet. The hype is over, so it’s now a matter of choosing the right methods. This is where handwritten letters offer unique opportunities, of course in combination with online marketing tactics.

It is now easier, cheaper and more efficient to communicate than ever. But in the quest for efficiency, we may be losing something important. As fast digital communication has become the standard, the volume of communication has increased – A LOT. According to IBM, 90% of the world’s data has been created in the past two years alone.

With the sheer volume of data making people a little bit desensitised to digital communication, businesses who want to stand out, need to do something different. So how exactly do you stand out in a world of digital noise? The answer may be as simple as putting pen to page. It may come as a surprise, but something as simple as a handwritten note can have a powerful impact. In the quest for efficiency in all areas of a business, we have lost an element of the personal touch. By making things easier to do, we have also reduced their perceived value.

Adding a [first name] tag to an e-mail newsletter simply isn’t going to surprise or delight your customers. Handwritten notes are personal, tangible and unexpected. They engage emotions and stand out from the crowd.

After all, when’s the last time you received any handwritten letter in the mail?

Handwritten Letter A4 1000 including envelopes Pensaki

Taking the time to show your customers you care demonstrates you value the relationship enough to go the extra mile. Regardless of whether the note is self written, out-sourced to someone else or written by robots, the impact of a handwritten note is clear. The additional investment of time and energy may not be the most efficient, but it shows your customers you are willing to put in a little extra effort. And in an increasingly impersonal digital world, a little effort can go a long way.

Handwritten letters express a special appreciation for the recipient. It doesn’t matter whether you actually wrote them yourself, had someone else write the message, or whether our Pensaki handwriting robots do the work for you. With a handwritten message, you show individuality and signal that you are not afraid to invest time, money and thought for your customers. Especially in this very impersonal and fast digital world, such a small thing can have a very big impact.

Why do digital thought leaders love handwritten sales letters?

Handwritten Letter A4 650 including envelopes global mail deliveryIt’s hard to imagine our modern age without emails, text messages and WhatsApp. It has become so much easier, cheaper and faster to communicate than it used to be. But this fast-moving exchange also has many disadvantages. We no longer think carefully about what we write and quickly sending a quick message runs alongside. With hundreds of emails a day, we have to clearly sort out which ones we prioritize and which ones are not important in order to be efficient. But in the process, we also lose individuality and personality in our messages.

According to IBM, 90 percent of all digital data has been created in recent years. This overwhelming volume of data has desensitized us somewhat to the art of communication; it has become more impersonal and much faster. Messages are limited only to their content and thus lose any emotional component. In order not to get lost in this mass, we have to find new ways to reach our customers.

Warum Digitale Vordenker Briefe in Handschrift lieben – Infografik

A handwritten letter stands out from any pile of mail

This question is surprisingly easy to answer. Revert back to paper and pen to stand out from the mass of messages. In fact, something as simple as a handwritten message is the best way to penetrate customers’ memories and emotions today. It will make them pay attention and make a special impression.

Imagine receiving an authentic handwritten letter, with a hand addressed envelope. It immediately stands out from the many cheap junk mail and machine-generated messages. Your attention is drawn to the special envelope and you are pleased with this personal way of communicating. Studies have shown that a handwritten notification serves as “materialized” appreciation and signals more than mere information to the human subconscious.

Handwritten letters convey much more than just a message

British marketing expert Rory Sutherland refers in this context to the concept of “costly signaling”. It’s a way of showing the customer that you’re sincerely grateful to them and hold them in high esteem. But not only that, because handwritten letters even have a double effect: In addition to the special appreciation for the client, you also express your own individuality as a brand or company. In this way, you not only anchor yourself in the customer’s emotions, but also in their memory.

But most companies shy away from the effort and the supposedly higher marketing budget that comes with authentic handwritten letters. Yet email campaigns have become virtually useless today, as the messages often don’t even make it to the recipient’s inbox or are simply not read. 92 percent of corporate decision-makers never open cold emails. Even if you add a [first name] tag to personalize email newsletters, this will neither surprise nor convince your customers.

The response rates of handwritten letters in the lead generation context, on the other hand, are between 10 and 40 percent when the success factors are taken into account. Even a handwritten addressed envelope can achieve outstanding results, as impressively demonstrated by the BRFKredit case study, for example.

Handwritten letters are an expression of appreciation

With a handwritten letter you always stand out from the crowd, you demonstrate creativity and an understanding of the importance of appreciation.  It doesn’t get any better than that. Of course, you should not use this option of individual communication too often to maintain the surprise effect. But if you use handwritten postcards or handwritten letters correctly, you will retain existing customers better and attract new leads with more ease.

The critical factor for many companies as to why they shy away from this type of communication is the effort involved. This is where Pensaki’s friendly handwriting robots can help. You choose the card or stationery online in our showroom, decide on a handwriting style and send us the message. Our hard-working humanoids take care of the rest. In this way, you can achieve higher volumes of hundreds of handwritten letters with very little effort. The robots use a real fountain pen with ink. And the beauty of it is that they never get tired, their writing is always legible and even, and above all they don’t make any mistakes.