PROBLEM
A Manual Operation
When Harris inherited the direct mail channel a couple years ago, all those campaigns were sent out manually.
“And when I say manually,” notes Harris, “I mean every single step of the campaign was manual. One of the main problems was that we really needed to scale. That system was too manual, cumbersome, and prone to error.”
But that wasn’t the only challenge Harris and her team faced. They were spending a lot on direct mail but couldn’t easily predict all the costs involved.
“On top of all that,” continues Harris, “we had just selected Iterable as our marketing automation platform, and there was a desire to integrate our direct mail campaign into Iterable as well. And that’s how we found PFL—based on Iterable’s partner recommendation.”
“The PFL team took on the coding and building out of all the templates that already existed, which previously were handled manually on a case-by-case basis. They were built pretty quickly—I would say within a couple of months.”
SOLUTION
Design, Speed, and Scale
Harris noted that PFL was able to quickly help with new concepts and format design. PFL stepped right in to show the Hinge Health team how to scale these new formats quickly.
She went on to explain that when her Hinge Health marketing team worked with some previous partners, there were a great many limitations around what formats they could support, which was very constraining. “That was one of the things that was so appealing about PFL,” says Harris. “We’ve probably experimented with nine new mail formats, including some that have had really impactful results. And we plan to scale that to all of our campaigns.”
RESULTS
Easier and More Economical
Right from the beginning, in addition to process improvements, the company saw real benefits on the cost side. “We immediately had complete control of our costs,” she says. “Everything was not only more economical, in terms of our average cost per piece, but it was all just much more efficient and easier to predict. That was a huge stressor we had removed—and it was immediate.”
Explains Harris, it's all about scale and speed. “We have certainly increased our volume,” she says.
"We immediately had complete control of our costs. Everything was not only more economical, in terms of our average cost per piece, but it was all just much more efficient and easier to predict."
– Gia Harris, Manager, Growth Marketing, Hinge Health
Working with Iterable and PFL, the team is looking to do even more, particularly around innovation with what direct mailers look like. “There’s an eagerness to experiment here,” says Harris, “as well as a lot of confidence in experimentation and its importance. We strive to find new and better assets, improve overall performance, drive more revenue, possibly even reduce the number of mailers we have to send out. That’s because the mailers we do send out are working harder for us.”
Harris concluded that, because of these strides, her team can now focus on more strategic and operational projects instead of just “another batch and blast. “With PFL, we feel like we really have a partnership, that they are an extension of our internal team—highly available and eager to help. It is definitely a special relationship that we're excited to continue.”
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Hinge Health’s journey exemplifies the power of partnerships and the strategic integration of direct mail with PFL's solutions. This has allowed the team to:
- Immediately gain complete control over direct mail costs, which removed a huge stressor for the team.
- Focus on more strategic and operational projects instead of just “another batch and blast."
