Nonprofit & Public Sector / Government, Political & Public Services
Energy provider marketing, from the postcard to the feed
Energy provider marketing is what a retail electric or energy supplier runs to acquire new customers: one integrated campaign built from a mailing list, a postcard, a landing page, an Informed Delivery link, online ads and Facebook and Instagram ads, planned, produced and delivered by one team at MBI.
Not sure where to start? Talk with our teamDirect mail
What does an energy provider direct mail campaign contain?
The short answer
An energy provider direct mail campaign runs as one integrated campaign built from a mailing list, a postcard, a landing page, an Informed Delivery link, online ads and Facebook and Instagram ads. MBI plans it, prints the postcard, mails it and runs the digital half, so the six parts arrive as one campaign rather than six separate jobs.
What the campaign is built from. Energy-provider direct-marketing guidance describes an integrated campaign comprising a mailing list, postcard, landing page, Informed Delivery link, online ads, and Facebook/Instagram ads.
USPS describes Informed Delivery as a feature that gives eligible residential, business, and PO Box customers digital previews of their mail and packages, with grayscale images of the exterior, address side of letter-size mailpieces arriving soon, available by email notification, online dashboard, or mobile app, and offers business mailers and shippers the opportunity to engage users through an integrated mail or package digital marketing campaign.
USPS, Informed Delivery for business mailers
One campaign, six parts
Postcard · Direct Mail
The Informed Delivery link
Printing
How do energy provider postcards get printed and mailed?
The short answer
Postcards are the print format for this campaign. MBI prints the energy provider's postcard in house - commercial and variable-data printing - and then mails it. Data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989, so one team answers for the whole campaign instead of the supplier coordinating a printer and a mailer.
The format. Postcards.
In house. Printing at MBI is commercial and variable-data printing produced in house.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.2.1 sets card-price physical standards at not less than 3-1/2 inches high, 5 inches long and 0.007 inch thick, with a card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long required to be at least 0.009 inch thick; at not more than 4-1/4 inches high, 6 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each stamped card or each half of a double postcard; and at not more than 6 inches high, 9 inches long or 0.016 inch thick for each postcard. The same card-price standard requires the card to be within an aspect ratio (length divided by height) of 1.3 to 2.5, inclusive (cross-referencing 3.7), with an exception permitting four identical-size postcards created from an 11-inch by 8.5-inch sheet.
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 201.1.2.1
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5 provides that each address, except for mail bearing an alternative address format, in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices is subject to the Move Update standard, and that each address and associated addressee used on the mailpieces in a mailing must be updated within 95 days before the mailing date with one of the USPS-approved methods, which include Address Change Service and the National Change of Address Linkage System (NCOALink).
USPS Domestic Mail Manual 602.5
printing services postcard mailing services direct mail cost
Postcard · Direct Mail
One team
Facebook and Instagram
What do energy provider Facebook ads do after the postcard arrives?
The short answer
Facebook and Instagram ads run as the digital reinforcement layer for an energy-provider direct-marketing campaign after the postcard is received. The order is fixed by that: the mail lands first and the feed follows it. MBI builds the postcard and the ads inside one integrated campaign rather than as two separate buys.
The reinforcement layer. Facebook/Instagram ads are documented as a digital reinforcement layer for an energy-provider direct-marketing campaign after the postcard is received.
The one moment fixed. The Facebook/Instagram layer runs after the postcard is received, which is the only moment in the campaign that the sourced material fixes.
Meta's advertising standards state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and that ads must not promote products, services, schemes or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information.
Meta, Advertising Standards
digital advertising services direct mail and digital marketing
Meta ad · Facebook
Meta carousel · Facebook
Reel · Instagram
Acquisition
What is an energy customer acquisition campaign built to do?
The short answer
Acquire new customers. The first campaign is an integrated direct-mail postcard and Facebook/Instagram campaign to acquire new customers; the second is a direct-marketing response campaign using a postcard, a landing page and online social ads. Two campaigns, both built to put an energy supplier's offer in the mail and give the response somewhere to go.
FTC advertising guidance for small business states that under the Federal Trade Commission Act advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and advertisements cannot be unfair, and that an ad is deceptive if it contains a statement, or omits information, that is likely to mislead consumers acting reasonably under the circumstances and is material to a consumer's decision to buy or use the product.
Federal Trade Commission, Advertising FAQ’s: A Guide for Small Business
Guide · Printing
Checklist · Printing
Sheet · Printing
The response
Where does the response to the postcard go?
The short answer
To the landing page. The response campaign for an energy provider uses a postcard, a landing page and online social ads together: the postcard carries the offer, the landing page is where the response goes, and the ads keep that same offer running behind it. MBI produces all three as one response campaign.
One team. MBI is one company that plans, produces, and delivers from a single team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print, and delivery have been in-house since 1989.
Landing page · Web
Questions
Questions an energy supplier asks before it mails
Searched for electric supplier marketing, energy supplier marketing or retail energy marketing? Same work, same answers.
What campaign does an energy provider run to reach new customers?
Two. One is an integrated direct-mail postcard and Facebook/Instagram campaign to acquire new customers. The other is a direct-marketing response campaign using a postcard, a landing page and online social ads. Each is built around a postcard, and MBI plans, produces and delivers the work behind both.
Where does the Informed Delivery link sit in the mailing?
Inside the campaign rather than beside it: an Informed Delivery link is one of the integrated campaign's six components, alongside the mailing list, the postcard, the landing page, the online ads and the Facebook and Instagram ads. USPS says the feature gives eligible residential, business, and PO Box customers digital previews of their mail and packages.
How big can an energy provider's postcard be and still mail at card prices?
An energy provider's postcard at commercial card prices must be no more than 6 inches high, no more than 9 inches long and no thicker than 0.016 inch, with an aspect ratio of 1.3 to 2.5. A card more than 4-1/4 inches high or 6 inches long must be at least 0.009 inch thick.
What keeps the addresses on an energy provider's mailing accurate before the drop?
A Move Update pass on the campaign's mailing list. USPS requires each address in a mailing at commercial First-Class Mail presorted or automation prices or USPS Marketing Mail prices to be updated within 95 days before the mailing date, using an approved method such as NCOALink or Address Change Service; mail using an alternative address format is excepted.
What are the two costs behind an energy provider's postcard drop?
Producing an energy provider's postcard and mailing it are the two costs, and seven decisions move those two numbers, among them quantity, format and finished size, paper and weight, data and personalization, and postage, mail class, and sortation. All seven are set out for an energy provider's drop at /capabilities/direct-mail/direct-mail-cost.
Who is responsible for what an energy provider's ad says?
The advertiser. Meta's advertising standards state that advertisers are responsible for understanding and complying with all applicable laws and regulations. Under the FTC Act, advertising must be truthful and non-deceptive, advertisers must have evidence to back up their claims, and advertisements cannot be unfair. The energy supplier is the advertiser behind the postcard and the ads.
Who plans, prints and delivers an energy provider's campaign?
One team. MBI plans, produces, and delivers from a single team in DeLand, Florida, and data, print and delivery have been in-house since 1989. Printing is commercial and variable-data printing in house, so the postcard an energy provider mails is produced by the team that planned the campaign.
Get started
Start an energy provider campaign.
Say which of the two campaigns it is, and what the postcard should carry. It goes to a real member of the MBI team, not a queue.