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
• 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 Campaigns > Print Center 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.

 

Sending Mailers Manually

Navigate to Campaigns > Print Center:

 

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 Own 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, your individual card will need to be billed. You can add it directly to the Smart Plan if you do not already have one on file.
• if the Smart Plan is a Team Smart Plan, the account owner's card will be billed.
  • *Only those with admin-level access and the "Team Templates" permission can create Team 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 count 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. 
• 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:
  • Standard Mail: $0.99
  • First Class Mail: $1.49

Setup Steps

More general information regarding Smart Plans can be found HERE.

To send a postcard via a Smart Plan, navigate to the CRM > Campaigns > 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 design the mailer that you want 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 one that you have saved or you can click in the top-right to start a + New Design:

 

A new tab will open in your browser. If for some reason the new tab does not open, please check your browser site settings to make sure that it is not blocking pop-ups or new windows from being opened on this website.

 

Edit your design using all of the available options. You can learn more about the Design Center by clicking HERE. 

 

Be sure to add a second page to your design by clicking on the arrows in the top-left and then hitting the + plus button:

 

Also, pay attention to the settings in the right panel. This is where you will choose the front and back pages as well as decide on the size that you want to print (which is important to pick before finalizing your design.

 

Once you have selected a back page, it will have the address area blocked off automatically in red:

 

When you are ready to save this design to the Smart Plan that you were setting up go ahead and click the blue Save button in the bottom-right:

 

This should automatically take you back to the Smart Plan where you can see the design you selected and preview as needed. If, at any time, you want to edit the design or create a new design for this step, simply use the available options to do so:

 

You will then choose 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.

 

If you do not already have a card on file you will be prompted to add one here:

 

After you have finalized this step you can move on to create any additional steps as part of this Smart Plan. If you would like to save your progress up to this point you can click the Save button in the bottom-right but make sure that your Smart Plan is not set up to auto-apply to any leads before you do that because it would start if you click "Save" and had already defined the criteria.

 

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 from there. If you need to edit a postcard you must do so via the Smart Plan where it resides.
• Reporting for postcards triggered via Smart Plans is not currently available but is expected as part of a future release.

 

Mailer Campaign Reporting

After campaigns are built, navigate back to Campaigns > Print Center, 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 refers to the specific lead in your database that was sent a postcard. The lead name is clickable and 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 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 re-routed 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 Campaigns > Print Center > 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

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 own 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?

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 the present time.

 

Can I upload my own 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.

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 a chat with us through your Lofty CRM.