Retargeting Email List Subscribers with Direct Mail (If You're Not, You're Leaving Money on the Table)

Your email list is growing. Your open rates are shrinking. Sound familiar?

It’s not just you. 

Brands across ecomm verticals are seeing half their subscribers sitting on the fence… Engaged enough to give you their email but not (seemingly) ready to buy.

But those fence-sitters represent serious rev potential. 

You just need to reach them where your competitors aren't. Their physical mailboxes.

The Email Engagement Crisis

Email marketing faces some harsh realities. Open rates have been declining for years, and add digital fatigue to the mix, and you've got customers who tune out faster than ever.

Take Mini Katana, the viral sword brand that exploded on TikTok and YouTube. They built a massive email list. Over 500,000 subscribers in just six months. 

But their conversion rate? Below 1%.

"We're driving so much traffic to the site that's low intent," explained their founder, Isaac Medeiros.

Why Direct Mail (Literally) Cuts Through Digital Noise

While everyone else fights for inbox attention, IRL mailboxes remain surprisingly quiet. 

The average person receives just a few pieces of relevant mail per week, compared to dozens (or hundreds… we’ve seen it) of marketing emails per day.

Direct mail also sticks around. Customers hold onto direct mail pieces for weeks, compared to the seconds they spend scanning email subject lines. That extended exposure creates multiple opportunities for your message to sink in.

Plus, there's something about holding a physical piece that creates stronger memory formation. Digital messages feel temporary, here one second, deleted the next. 

How long do you look at the average ad?

Physical mail feels deliberate, personal, worth keeping.

Enter MailMatch^TM: Email-to-Mail Technology

Here's where things get interesting. PostPilot's MailMatch^TM technology can match email addresses to physical mailing addresses using a proprietary algorithm and dataset. 

No additional customer data required, just the email addresses you already have.

The process is simple: 

• Customer subscribes to your email list.
• MailMatch identifies their physical address.
• An automated postcard will arrive at their home. 
• (Personalized with their name, your branding, and compelling messaging.)
• (It can be automated, too!)

As marketing expert Jeremy Horowitz put it: "MailMatch from @getpostpilot will be every Email Marketers' favorite hack. Converting 5-10% of fence sitters that make up 40-60% of your email list in a less crowded channel will fundamentally change most brands' acquisition funnels."

Real Brands, Real Results

Mini Katana: Slicing (Figuratively) through Digital Noise

Mini Katana solved their email conversion problem by taking their message offline. After proving direct mail could work with winback campaigns (achieving 9x returns), they decided to test MailMatch.

The strategy was elegant: when someone subscribed to Mini Katana's email list, PostPilot automatically sent them a postcard. The design matched their dramatic brand aesthetic, think samurai swords and bold typography, with an exclusive offer.

Results? 5x returns on their email list subscriber retargeting campaign.

Having proven the power of postcards to reach email ignorers, they decided to try MailMatch. The campaign launched quickly thanks to PostPilot's managed service, and the results spoke for themselves.

HexClad: $3M Holiday Success

HexClad's direct mail program drove nearly $3 million over Black Friday Cyber Monday, with MailMatch playing a key acquisition role.

On the acquisition side, the team used MailMatch to convert leads who had subscribed to their email list but had not purchased yet, which was key when HexClad was driving massive amounts of traffic to their site leading up to BFCM.

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This approach informed their larger, evergreen retargeting strategy, with seven different triggered campaigns running hands-off throughout the year.

TOTY: The Suncare Brand's First-Purchase Strategy

When Brandon Amoroso joined toty to lead their marketing efforts, he immediately added direct mail to complement their email and SMS flows. The goal: convince people to hop off the "Fence of Indecision" and make their first purchases.

Using MailMatch, toty sent postcards to physical addresses based on email addresses alone. The strategy focused specifically on first-time purchase conversion from engaged email subscribers.

Results were strong enough that Brandon plans to expand. He told us that “There's much more to be done with direct mail.” As in, sending automated birthday cards and targeting more segments."

Kindred Bravely: Maternity Wear Conversions

Kindred Bravely used MailMatch to retarget email list subscribers, sending postcards to customers who had signed up for their email list but hadn't made a purchase. The goal was converting warm leads into fully-fledged customers.

Their Labor Day retargeting campaign delivered impressive results: 10.4x returns and 5.37% conversion rate.

Rapidfire Round: 5 MailMatch Use Cases

1. Email Subscriber Activation

Convert email subscribers who browse but never buy. If you're collecting emails faster than you're converting them, MailMatch helps activate that dormant audience with physical touchpoints.

2. Welcome Series Enhancement

Make new subscribers feel special from day one. A physical welcome postcard creates a memorable first impression that sets the tone for the relationship.

3. Cart Abandonment Recovery

Nudge cart abandoners who ignore email follow-ups. The tangible reminder feels different than another digital message and often breaks through when emails can't.

4. Checkout Abandonment Targeting

We can send mail to your screaming hot never-buyers, too. If cart abandoners need a nudge, these folks just need a tap on the shoulder. Or a postcard.

5. Seasonal Campaign Amplification

Extend the life of holiday promotions. Physical mail sticks around on kitchen counters, fridges, desks, and tables (and even bathrooms) long after email promotions get deleted, creating multiple exposure opportunities.

Setting Up Your Email Retargeting Campaign

Super important note: We do literally this all for you… But y’know, SEO and stuff.

Audience segmentation

Identify email subscribers who haven't made first purchases, especially those who've shown engagement through clicks or site visits. These high-intent, non-converting subscribers represent your best MailMatch opportunities.

Mail Design

Your postcard should feel consistent with your brand while standing out in a physical mailbox. Include clear value propositions and strong calls-to-action that drive recipients back to your website.

Timing 

For new subscribers, consider sending welcome postcards within a week of sign-up. For existing subscribers, trigger campaigns based on email engagement patterns, maybe 30 days after their last email click without a purchase.

Integrating MailMatch into Your Marketing

Getting MailMatch up and running starts with connecting your ESP (like Klaviyo, Yotpo, or ) and Shopify store to PostPilot. 

The technical setup takes less than 5 minutes.

Once connected, MailMatch works best as part of a broader marketing mix, not a replacement for existing channels. The goal is creating multi-touch experiences that reinforce your message across digital and physical touchpoints.

In other words, view MailMatch as funnel enhancement rather than channel replacement. The best results come from brands that use physical mail to strengthen their overall customer journey. The goal isn’t to compete with email campaigns.

The Revenue Opportunity

Converting even 5% of non-purchasing email subscribers can create significant revenue impact. For a brand with 50,000 email subscribers and a $50 average order value, that's $125,000 in additional sales.

The math gets even better when you consider customer lifetime value. Customers acquired through multi-channel experiences (and specifically, via direct mail) often show higher retention rates and larger order values over time.

Direct Your Direct Mail Questions to Us

Even if you’re a brand new customer, we can launch MailMatch campaigns for you in ~1wk. 

We’ll handle the technical setup, address matching, and printing logistics.

We’ll scale what works. The brands seeing the biggest success treat MailMatch as an ongoing optimization opportunity, not a one-time test.

And for good reason… The fence-sitters on your email list represent untapped revenue. Direct mail might be exactly what convinces them to finally buy.

Wanna learn more? We’re here to help.

Or, if you made it this far, you might be interested in our overall, AI-powered, full-funnel approach: programmatic direct mail.

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