Introduction

Design and print postcards and letters all within the Lofty platform! Use this feature to create designs, configure engagement mechanisms, and send mailers to your database or an uploaded list of recipients. The Print Center can be used as a tool that compliments the rest of the digital automation features in Lofty to make sure you have all your marketing and lead generation covered.

Summary

• Postcard Product Information
• Letter Product Information
• Sending Mailers Manually
• Sending Mailers Automatically via Smart Plans
• Create Mailing Label
• FAQs

Postcard Product Information

Sizes

Only the following postcard sizes are available:

• 4" x 6"
• 6" x 9"
• 6" x 11"

Materials

• Basis Weight: 100# - 120# Cover
• GSM: 255 - 325
• Full Bleed 1 Side UV Gloss
• 10% PCW Product
• FSC Certified

Mailing Options

All postcards are sent via the United States Postal Service (USPS).

First Class Mail 

• Supported Postcard Sizes
  • 4" x 6"
  • 6" x 9"
  • 6" x 11"
• Estimated Delivery Time
  • 4 - 6 business days

Standard Mail 

• Supported Postcard Sizes
  • 6" x 9"
  • 6" x 11"
• Estimated Delivery Time
  • 7 - 21 business days

Postcard Cost

You can choose to (a) pay-per-use on a postcard, or you can (b) purchase postcard print packages to save money by purchasing in bulk.

(a) Pay-Per-Use Cost

(b) Print Package Cost

You will be presented with the option to purchase postcard print packages during the order process of the postcards or on the main Marketing > Print House page if you have never used postcards in Lofty before.

Letter Product Information

Size

There is only one size: 8.5" x 11"

Letter Cost

Just like with postcards, you can use a print package to pay for letters or you can use a pay-per-use option instead.

(a) Pay-Per-Use Cost

The cost will vary depending on (1) the color and (2) the total number of pages.

(b) Print Package Cost

You will be presented with the option to purchase postcard print packages during the order process of the postcards or on the main Campaigns > Print Center page if you have never used postcards in Lofty before.

Printing Process Time Frame (Letters and Postcards)

1. After mailers are approved, we only send them to the print house the following day.
2. For mailers scheduled ahead of time, we'll send them to the print house on the Scheduled Print Date
3. It will take 24-48 business hours for the mailers to be printed before they are sent out to the Courier.

Sending Mailers Manually

Navigate to Marketing  > Direct Mail

Click Print Mailers to start the purchase process.

STEP 1: Select the Mailer Type:

We currently offer postcards or Letters. Click "Discard" to exit and "Next" to continue to the next step.

STEP 2: Select the Design

Note: Postcards have a Front and Back design, while Letters only have a Front design

Option 1: Use a Lofty Design

1. Browse through the available Lofty design options
2. Click "Preview" to expand or "Edit Design" to adjust the design
3. Click "Advanced Edit" to customize the design or "Confirm" to select it

Option 2: Upload Your Design

1. Click "Upload" in the upper right corner in the Select Design section
2. Crop to highlight the print area of the design
3. Access the design editor by clicking "Edit Design" on the pop-up window

STEP 3: If sending Postcards, choose the back design and set up the tracking tool.

STEP 4: Set up the Recipients

Here, you can select leads from the CRM, upload a mailing list, or purchase homeowner data using the Geographic Farming tool.

STEP 5: Review the order and pay:

Sending Mailers Automatically via Smart Plans

Postcards and letters can be sent as part of a Smart Plan. Note: all letters sent via a Smart Plan will be printed in color only.

Billing Logic

The following is the logic for the mailer billing

• If the Smart Plan is a My Smart Plan, you will be responsible for paying the fees associated with the mailers. You can add your payment method directly to the Smart Plan if you do not already have one on file.
• if the Smart Plan is a Team, Group, or Company Smart Plan, the responsible payer will be determined on the Smart Plan's settings page.
  • *Only those with admin-level access and the "Team Templates" permission can create Team/Company/Group Smart Plans (see Team Permissions)
• If there is no card on file, the Smart Plan cannot be saved successfully.

After a mailer is sent, the total accrued fees will be recorded. The total cost for mailers sent in the previous month will be billed on the scheduled billing date of the following month. 

• Please note, the postcards and letters sent via Smart Plans do not pull from any credit packages that you might have purchased. The cost is always the same for postcards sent via Smart Plans and will be billed separately on any billing statements.

Pricing is as follows:

• Postcards
  • Standard Mail: $1.15
  • First Class Mail: $1.20
• Letters
  • Standard Mail:
    • B&W one-page: $1.10
    • Color one-page: $1.15
    • Extra pages (maximum of 6): $0.20-$0.80
  • First Class Mail:
    • B&W one-page: $1.49
    • Color one-page: $1.55
    • Extra pages (maximum of 6): $0.20-$0.80

Setup Steps

For more general information regarding Smart Plans, please visit HERE.

To send a postcard via a Smart Plan, navigate to the CRM > Marketing > Automations > Smart Plans. Create a new Smart Plan.

If you would like to add a postcard or letter step (or multiple) as part of your Smart Plan, choose Postcard or Letter from the action drop-down:

The next step is to go ahead and design the mailer that you'd like to send. Use the available option and Click on Design Postcard:

You will then be presented with the option to either use a system template or your own template, or you can upload a design. 

You can create custom designs in the Lofty Design Center. Learn more about the Lofty Design Center here: Design Center

After you have selected your design, you can preview it and make any necessary edits. 

Remember to add your return address and select the delivery option (Standard Mail vs. First Class Mail). The price is outlined in the notes at the bottom of the Smart Plan step. If you only see one of the options (First Class Mail), it is because the postcard size you selected is not available via Standard Mail.

Navigate to the Smart Plan Settings tab to determine who is responsible for the fees incurred by this Smart Plan.

• Smart Plan Creator is the Lofty user who created this Smart Plan
• Smart Plan Users are any Lofty users who add a lead to this Smart Plan

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• All postcards designed within Smart Plan steps are accessible via Design Center > My Designs > Lofty Postcards. You can use this to copy a postcard, but you will not be able to edit it from there. If you need to edit a postcard, you must do so via the Smart Plan where it resides.

Mailer Campaign Reporting

After campaigns are built, navigate back to Marketing > Print House to see any campaigns that are being run. Click on the name of any campaign to open up the specific information regarding that campaign. 

After clicking into an individual campaign, the following information is available:

SECTION 1

• Campaign Name. The name was given automatically to the campaign when created, as well as the date the campaign was created (YYYYMMDD)
• Campaign Status
  • Scheduled: You have paid, but the scheduled print date has not yet been reached.
  • Delivering: The postcard designs have been sent to the printer to process and send the postcards. The cards are still in transit.
  • Finished: If the delivery status of all recipients in the mailing list is in a "final" status, this status will be displayed. "Final" means any of the following: Delivered, Re-Routed, “Returned To Sender.
  • Delayed: If the scheduled print date has been reached or passed, but the client has not completed the engagement setup, which is a requirement to send if that element was added.
• Last Updated. The last time this campaign report was updated.
• Settings. This will only appear if the Campaign Status = "Scheduled". With this option, you can (1) edit the design or (2) change the engagement settings:

SECTION 2

• Postcard Preview. A thumbnail preview of the front page of the postcard design.
• Total Sent. The total number of postcards sent.
• Delivering. Postcard with any of the following delivery statuses:
  • In Transit
  • In Local Area
  • Processed for Delivery
• Delivered. Postcard with any of the following delivery statuses:
  • Delivered
  • Re-routed
  • Returned
• Engaged Leads / New Leads. If an existing lead is engaged, it will show up in the large number, but only newly captured leads will display in the "New Leads" number

SECTION 3

Delivery Report

• Download. Use this option to download a delivery report for this postcard campaign in CSV format, including the following fields:
  • Lead Full Name
  • Mailing Address
  • Status
• Lead Name. This column refers to the specific lead in your database who was sent a postcard. Clicking on the lead name will take you to the lead profile. This column will not be visible if the postcards are sent to uploaded addresses via CSV.
• Mailing Address. The mailing address that the postcard was sent to for that lead. This column will be changed to the name of "Recipients" if postcards are sent to uploaded addresses via CSV.
• Status. The following statuses are possible:
  • Scheduled. The postcard has been paid for and is scheduled to be sent on the defined print date.
  • Invalid Address.
  • Printing. The printer is working on printing the postcard. 
  • In Transit. The postcard is being processed at the entry/origin facility.
  • In the Local Area. The postcard is being processed at the destination facility.
  • Processed for Delivery. The postcard has been given the green light for delivery at the recipient's nearest postal facility. The postcard should reach the mailbox within 1 business day of this status being shown.
  • Delivered. The postcard is marked as "Delivered" one business day after the "Processed for Delivery" status.
  • Re-Routed. The postcard was rerouted due to the recipient's change of address, address errors, or USPS relabeling of the barcode/ID tag area.
  • Returned. The postcard is being returned to the sender due to barcode, ID tag area, or address errors.

Smart Plan Mailer Reporting

Reporting for Smart Plan mailers can be accessed by going to Marketing > Print House> Smart Plans:

A Smart Plan "Mailer Campaign" (whose name will be auto-generated) is equivalent to one specific postcard or letter step in a Smart Plan. In other words, if you have one Smart Plan with multiple postcard/letter steps, each one of those individual postcard/letter steps would have its own mailer campaign.

The name of the Smart Plan that the step belongs to will be listed underneath the campaign name, along with the type of Smart Plan that it is (My Smart Plan vs. Team Smart Plan)

The status of mailers for that campaign is displayed in the middle columns:

Remember that Smart Plan mailers are charged separately from any pre-purchased mailer packages (Standard Mail = $0.99/postcard, First Class Mail = $1.49/postcard). The total spent for each campaign (Smart Plan postcard step) will be listed in the Total Spent column at the right.

Pausing a Smart Plan

Because letters have variable data support for the agent or lead information, we do not want those to be sent if that information is not available. The logic is as follows:

• Smart Plan Campaigns
  • If variables in the letter/postcard are for data that is not available, the Smart Plan will auto-pause for any leads where that data is not available
  • If the system recognizes that the data is available now, the Smart Plan will reactivate automatically.
• Manual Campaigns
  • If agent variables (agent data) have data that is not available, the whole campaign will be paused
  • If lead variables have data that is not available, the postcard/letter will not be sent to just that recipient

Create Mailing Label

Lofty supports printing up to 30 Mailing Labels on one sheet. Up to 250 leads can be selected at once to create mailing labels for leads with a mailing address. 

Navigate to People Page > select at least one lead > click the More button > select Mailing label. 

To create a mailing label for one specific lead, navigate to the Lead Detail page > 3 dots > Mailing Label.
Note: The leads has to have a valid mailing address for the button to be available in the lead profile. 

• A pop-up window will show how many valid leads are able to generate a mailing label. You may choose to include spouses and eliminate duplicate leads. 
• For spouse, we will take the lead who are described as: wife, husband, Spouse, Life partner, Companion, Consort, or Marriage Partner in the lead profile. Those leads can be identified as a spouse.

• A PDF will be generated based on the selected leads. 

  • 30 mailing labels on one page. 

    • If you choose only 1 lead, we will generate 30 identical labels to fill out one page.
    • If you choose multiple leads, each lead will get 1 label in the PDF file.
    • Size: Avery 5160：2.625 x 1 inches（66.675 x 25.4 mm）
    • Info on mailing label:
      • First & Last name, street, city, state, zip code

FAQs

• Can I send postcards to Canada?
• Can I send postcards directly from the People page? 
• If I schedule a postcard to be sent, is it possible to edit the design before it is sent?
• Can I upload my designs and mail postcards via Lofty?
• If I want to cancel a postcard campaign that has not yet been sent, how can I do that?
• Can I purchase more than one print package at a time?
• Will I be notified before my print package credits expire?
• What are the exact triggers for the engagement mechanisms?
• Can I edit recipients on an ongoing print campaign?
• Why can't I upload my Company Logo in the Personal Information?

Can I send postcards to Canada?

No, currently we do not support sending postcards to addresses located in Canada. Other limitations for Canada are documented HERE.

Can I send postcards directly from the People page? 

Yes, you can choose an audience for your postcards by navigating to the People page, selecting the leads you want to send postcards to, and then clicking on the button to Send Postcards. Only leads that have mailing addresses on their lead profile will be able to receive postcards.

You may receive a warning informing you that only a certain number of the leads selected have a mailing address associated with their profile. In other words, the exact number of leads that you selected will only be sent postcards if they all have mailing addresses.

If I schedule a postcard to be sent, is it possible to edit the design before it is sent?

No, not at present.

Can I upload my designs and mail postcards via Lofty?

Yes, to some extent. An Upload Design button is available on the template screen:

This adds the uploaded image directly to the design for your use. When uploading an image, the postcard canvas will remain the default size, and the image will be added to that canvas size. 

Please note the following:

• Only JPG and PNG file types are currently supported. PSD is not supported in this version.
• The file size must be ≤ 10 MB

If I want to cancel a postcard campaign that has not yet been sent, how can I do that?

If you would like to cancel a postcard campaign that is scheduled to be sent on a future date, please contact our Support Team via email at <support@lofty.com> or by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557.

You cannot cancel a campaign that has already been started.

Currently, there is no option to cancel a campaign directly on the platform.

Can I purchase more than one print package at a time?

No, the entire credit balance of an existing package must be used before another package can be purchased. However, if you are sending a campaign that would use up the entire balance, the option will be available for you to purchase another print package during the final order process for the postcards.

Will I be notified before my print package credits expire?

Currently, there is no reminder configured. However, this is being considered for future optimizations here. For now, you will want to pay attention to the expiration date (AKA "Period of Validity") for each postcard print package. 

What are the exact triggers for the engagement mechanisms

See Postcard Engagement: Text Codes and QR Codes.

Can I edit recipients on an ongoing print campaign?

To add or remove recipients from an ongoing print campaign, navigate to the campaign in the Print Center and click Update Plan Settings. New recipients can be added by clicking + Add New. Click the Trash Can icon to remove a recipient from the list. 

Why can't I upload my Company Logo in the Personal Information?

Your account admin may have set up the company branding details for you. If you would like to change your own design center branding, please ask your account admin to toggle off the setting that you would like to change.

Will the order for the postcard reflect in the lead's timeline?

Yes, there is an activity recorded in the lead's timeline of activities.

Questions?

If you have any questions regarding this topic or any others, please reach out to our Support Team via email at <support@lofty.com>, by phone at 1 (855) 981-7557, or by chat with us through your Lofty CRM.