Merlin’s has a reputation for working magic with its auto repair shops. UpSwell is known for being wizards at automotive repair marketing. So, it’s no surprise that Merlin’s turned to us some time ago when they needed the best in automotive direct mail.

Our partnership was remarkably successful for the first several years, consistently producing superior response rates. But then, like any category leader, Merlin wanted more. Specifically, more car count, without having to market outside a 2-mile radius of each location.

This was not going to be easy. They were already mailing postcards to every one of their target prospects within those 2-mile marketing zones.

We recommended that Merlin’s build on their already successful direct mail effort by turning it into a Mail2Moble program. This new approach would reinforce the direct mail offer by delivering digital ads to the mobile devices of prospects before and after they received the physical mailers. And, thanks to a technology called geofencing, we’d be able to keep all communications within the specified 2-mile areas.

Experience told us that the digitally-augmented campaign would engage prospects that traditional marketing alone couldn’t capture. To prove just how much of a difference this could make, we urged the client to conduct an A/B test. Half of the lists got postcards only, the other half got postcards and the mobile ads. Not surprisingly, the combined approach was the big winner.