Gone are the days when marketing tactics like newspaper and TV advertisements performed best for Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
With increased competition and pricing becoming less of a differentiator, ISPs need new strategies. One such solution is direct mail. It complements your existing suite and delivers a cost-effective way to market your services and plans. Postalytics direct mail automation tools are making a significant impact in the ISP industry, helping businesses attract and retain subscribers.
In this guide, we’ll share four effective strategies to grow your ISP subscribers. We’ll also explore how adopting direct mail campaigns can boost revenue and sales.
What We’ll Cover:
Background: What Are Customers Looking For in an ISP?
When opting for digital services from a particular provider, customers don’t only consider one factor like price or speed. They look at multiple factors and then make a decision.
With the number of internet service providers increasing yearly, this choice becomes even more complex. Here are five things a customer looks for in an ISP.
- Speed: A high-speed data connection is something that all customers want these days. After all, nobody likes to see a video buffering for minutes or a website loading very slowly.
- Price: People are looking for affordable options, which has become a significant factor in customers’ decision-making process for ISPs.
- Plan customizations: Different customers will have different requirements. If you allow them to customize their plans according to their needs, that’s an added plus. Here’s how Xfinity showcases this on its homepage.
- Quick issue resolution: Users prioritize ISPs with knowledgeable representatives who can help quickly resolve problems.
- Security: If you’re catering to businesses, this is one of the most important parameters your client will look for so their data remains safe.
4 Effective Strategies to Increase ISP Subscribers
If you think your plans and pricing are better, and therefore you’ll increase your ISP subscriber base, you couldn’t be more wrong. With so many ISPs fighting for the same customers, you need to create an edge over your competitors.
Here are four powerful strategies guaranteed to give your internet business a boost.
#1 Referral Program
New marketing strategies may come and go, but word-of-mouth marketing is a golden strategy that will never lose its shine. People trust recommendations more than any other form of marketing, and thus, you can get a lot of success by creating a strong referral program.
Referrals are a less expensive customer acquisition strategy than putting money in paid or print ads.
Here are three ways to implement this strategy:
- Give customers a discount whenever they bring a referral.
- Offer them a one-month free subscription when they bring in a referral.
- Implement a tiered referral system where customers get higher discounts or benefits as they bring more customers.
Here’s how AW Broadband implements a tiered referral structure.
A referral program helps you strengthen relationships and boost customer loyalty. Ensure that details about this program are available to all your customers. Your offer can be advertised through direct mail or email or by creating a dedicated page on your website.
#2 Discount Offers
Special offers and limited-time discount deals are a great way to convert price-sensitive customers and upgrade them to your premium plans. Here are four different discount offers your ISP business can launch:
- Introductory offers: To convert your prospects, you can launch discounts or offers that push them to purchase your plan instead of your competitor’s. For example, get a month’s plan free if you subscribe to a 6-month plan.
- Bundle discounts: You can mix your standard offerings with premium services to create irresistible bundles. Many ISPs also partner with different companies to offer a complimentary plan. For example, get a three-month internet subscription when you buy a mobile or tablet.
- Loyalty discounts: By offering loyalty benefits to your most active customers, you can create a loyal community of fans that won’t shift to a competitor.
- Seasonal discounts: Many ISPs unveil seasonal discounted plans during festivals or special occasions to boost holiday sales and get a chance to attract more customers.
Thanks to Postalytics’ simple and easy-to-use range of tools, you can market these discount offers by creating personalized postcards in no time at all.
#3 Freemium Approach
The freemium model has been very successful in the SaaS industry. It’s now picking pace as a go-to model for ISP businesses.
The freemium model denotes giving access to basic services for free and charging a fee for accessing premium features or functions. You can set usage limits in this model, like offering free usage in a plan and charging when a user exceeds that limit.
By offering a free version or free trial, you encourage people to use your product. You can convince them to become paying customers for your business by delivering outstanding support, features and relevant content.
Many ISPs offer a free Wi-Fi extender add-on for customers with weak Wi-Fi signals in parts of their homes. However, if they want to manage that facility through an app, they must pay for it.
#4 Customer Loyalty
Are you seeing an increase in the churn rate? Or do you see your subscribers opting for a competitor plan after a year or two?
It could be because you’re not thanking and rewarding your loyal customers. When done right, these loyalty rewards generate demand and increase profitability. Here are four things you can do to boost customer loyalty and retain existing customers:
- Upsell your premium digital services or features to these clients but provide them with an incentive like, “Get one month free!”
- If you’re launching new or extended services, let these customers be the first ones to know. Better yet, let them try it for free
- Offer them a gift card or add something free to their existing plan.
If you’re an established player, a loyal customer would be someone who has stuck to your brand for over two years. If you’re starting, set this threshold at a year.
How Can Direct Mail Campaigns Increase ISP Sales?
Did you know that coordinating digital efforts with direct mail can increase response rate by 63%, website visits by 68%, and leads by 53%?
With the emergence of direct mail automation platforms like Postalytics, you can put your creative hats on to meet customer demands and increase ISP sales. Here are five reasons why you should adopt it.
Personalized Messaging
Do you sometimes wish for a way to reach your customers in a more relevant and impactful manner? Direct mail can help you do that.
Direct mail tools like Postalytics allow you to personalize your messaging based on recipient demographics, previous actions, preferences, and behavior. For example, based on the recipient’s purchase history, you can showcase plans and services that might interest them.
You can set up IF/THEN conditions to create more powerful direct mail campaigns. Here’s a guide on how to set up these conditions in Postalytics.
These conditions allow you to showcase different images to different buyer segments, like for your business and personal internet subscribers.
If you do not have a design team, our platform has a lot of readymade templates and workflows that you can easily set up.
Enhanced Visibility
Our email inboxes are flooded. Our social media feeds are full of hundreds of posts from brands. How do you cut through this digital noise? One method is direct mail campaigns, which offer enhanced visibility.
Take a look at this direct mail postcard designed in Postalytics.
If this same thing was emailed to you, would it draw equal attention? Definitely not. The tangible nature of direct marketing demands attention and creates a lasting impression when it arrives in the recipient’s mailbox. This immediate impact is often lacking in digital campaigns.
If kept in the open (say, on your work desk in the office), it also draws the attention of others and helps spread your message further.
To make your direct mail more eye-catching, you can use visuals and colors to create stand-out mail.
Targeted Geographic Reach
As an internet service provider, you will want to target customers from different locations. Direct mail allows you to do that with powerful segmentation features and targeted geographic reach.
Geographical reach becomes particularly valuable if you want to expand into a different location or promote localized offers. For example, if the offers differ for San Francisco and New York, you will want to display them differently for these residents.
As an ISP, you can use variable logic to create content that speaks to the unique needs and interests of recipients in specific geographic areas. For example, some services may be more used and preferred in certain locations. Talking about them and encouraging subscribers to include them in their packages would get you better conversion rates.
Insert: Postalytics postcard with geographic segmentation
Engagement Tracking and Analytics
Many ISPs refrain from using direct marketing because they think tracking their response and conversion rates is difficult. That problem is a thing of the past; most direct mail tools offer engagement tracking and analytics features to understand how effective your campaigns are.
Postalytics offers QR codes you can embed in your direct mail postcards and letters. Through this, you can bring your recipients online and track their activity. You can even get a clear idea of who is responding to your campaign and if you need to remove some mailers from your list.
These analytics and tracking features help you refine your direct mail strategies, ensuring you make ongoing improvements and cater to your customers and prospects better.
Personal Touch
Direct mail campaigns often leave a lasting impression on your recipients because it has a personal touch that is missing in digital campaigns. It humanizes your brand and creates a sense of trust and connection.
There are many ways ISPs can connect with their customers and prospects and build a relationship. Here are four ideas you can get started with.
- Sending welcome letters to new subscribers.
- Sending thank-you notes to your loyal customers.
- Informing customers about your new digital services or providing them digital education on how they can use their existing plan better.
- Sending deal announcements to your premium customers first.
These simple things can go a long way to helping engage your customers and foster loyalty. Better yet, many of them can be automated using Postalytics’ automation triggers.
Boost Your ISP Subscribers Today!
Generating more leads and turning them into loyal customers is the main goal of any ISP business. Implementing these strategies and making direct mail a part of your marketing efforts will boost your revenue and sales.
While creating direct mail campaigns, ensure you adhere to the best practices and create relevant, personalized content for your subscribers. Head to our blog to get more information on how you can create effective campaigns.
Get your free Postalytics account today and start building your first campaign.