It's Marketing's Fault

It's time for it's marketing's fault the podcast where we discuss how to do marketing the right way I'm your host Eric Rutherford and I'm thrilled today because I have with me David wax he is the founder and CEO of handwritten a service that allows businesses nonprofits and individuals to scale handwritten outreach and it his company's bringing back the lost art of letter writing through scalable robot -based solutions that write notes in pen.

David, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much for having me, Eric.

Oh, it is my pleasure.

Now, before we jump into handwritten, I have to ask, because I think everybody is all digital, or at least they think communication is all digital.

So what do most people believe to be true about first class mail that you disagree with?

I think most people think it's all junk and it doesn't get opened in red.

What we see with our handwritten notes, because it's not a standard glossy junk mail piece, is they have a three time greater open rate than printed envelopes, because it's a handwritten envelope, and a response rate compared to print of about 27x.

So, you know, from that perspective, it is a way to get in front of the customer, consumer at a higher level.

And actually, if you go to handwritten.com and you click the resources tab, and it's handwritten with the Y -H -A -N -D -W-R -Y -T -T -E -N dot com, and you click the resources tab.

We have a consumer survey that we did where we had an independent research firm survey 2 ,000 consumers and ask them their interest in receiving handwritten notes.

And not only do they find it to be the second most personal form of communication behind phone calls, but they also find it to be the least annoying form of communication compared to phone calls, which run the highest risk of being annoying.

So if you're trying to walk the line of being highly personal while not being annoying, handwritten notes are the way to go.

Additionally, when these consumers were asked, do they feel appreciated by brands, the vast majority, and this is all in the research report, so feel free to download it, the vast majority said no, they don't feel appreciated.

And then we asked them, what would make you feel appreciated by a brand?

And the number one answer was receiving a handwritten note from the company.

So, you know, I think people's, you know, number one, people say it's old school and I say, absolutely, 100%.

I mean, my background is I used to run a text messaging company and we'd send a million or more text messages a day on behalf of large brands like Abercrombie and Fitch, Toys R Us, Sam's Club, Office Max.

And...

I sold that company and I wanted to figure out what to do next.

And I looked around and I saw on my bookshelves behind me and the bookshelves behind my employees and my home refrigerator, they were all scattered with handwritten notes.

And I realized, gee, in this day and age where everybody receives 130 emails a day and they spend 24 % of their time just managing their email inbox.

handwritten note stands out because the average consumer only receives between one and three handwritten notes a month.

So do you want to be in that pile of 130, 140 emails a day or that pile of one to three emails a month?

And it's not mutually exclusive.

You could be in both, but the least used inbox is now the one at the end of their driveway.

So you want to be able to reach out to that through that means because when everybody's pivoting right, you'll stand out by pivoting left.

And I know that's a long -winded answer, but that's kind of what we stand on.

Wow.

So first, if you're listening, I will make sure we put that link to the report and the show notes from their website so you can go check that out.

That blows me away.

I had no idea that handwritten mail that doesn't look like junk mail makes that significant of an impact for just for businesses in general, if they send it, that that's mind blowing.

Yeah, I mean, we see customers that or clients that have a 18 % coupon redemption rate, like online coupon redemption rate.

So if they include a coupon in their note message or printed on the card that they write on, they see about a three to five times greater redemption rate than any email offer they have.

Now granted, email's pretty much free.

So, you know, the ROI difference is there, but if you have some substantial offers and you want to get in front of people like once or twice a year, this is really a great way to go.

We attend trade shows.

You know, I'm at trade shows all the time and my way to book meetings at that trade show and maximize the value of the trade shows, send every attendee a handwritten note prior to that.

And from that, we were just at a trade show.

We had over a hundred meetings booked.

for a three -day trade show.

Now, not everybody came to that booking, but we were able to get in front of them and book a hundred meetings and then we can always follow up with them, text them, email them after because then we have all their contact information.

So it's been tremendous for us as well.

Wow.

The only word I have is wow.

That's just, it is so different from a lot of what we hear in terms of email.

And in fact, you know, you even hear emails dead.

It's all video and social and everything else, but really the handwritten note is the champ, so to speak, of what, of being able to interact and making people feel welcome and appreciated then.

I think in an age, everybody thinks everything can be auto -scaled.

If I send you an email after this call or after this podcast, you might think, oh wow, I have a script set up or a persist IQ campaign and I automate that to you.

Or when I make a donation to a nonprofit and I immediately get back a response saying thank you for your donation.

Do you feel thanked by that?

Yes, so there's a difference between being thanked and feeling thanked.

And with that, that makes all the difference in the world for a nonprofit because their re -donation rate is sub 50%.

And the number one reason is people don't feel thanked.

Well, again, it's a difference of feeling thanked and being thanked.

So there's...

People should not, if everybody's following this path like a herd of lemmings off the end of a cliff, think maybe I could do something different.

Not replace email, not replace text, but layer it in where appropriate to generate outsized returns.

That makes so much sense.

It's a layering in.

It's another facet that you add to your portfolio, to your toolbox.

And then, so let's just jump kind of to the nonprofits that you mentioned.

So is that the big benefit for nonprofits?

It sounds like it's significantly impacting donations that way.

If you have a handwritten versus a non-handwritten, is your business primarily two?

or to businesses all over.

It's nonprofits are certainly a vertical.

But I mean, Eric, it's everything from realtors and individuals.

I consider realtors just to be individuals, consumers all the way up to car dealerships, nonprofits, etal brands.

You know, we have a plug in directly into the Shopify store so you can set up a trigger where after.

a certain number of purchases or after their first purchase or whatever it is, we can automatically send handwritten notes.

So that's the other side of this.

It's not just sending a handwritten note, it's automating it because no matter how easy we make our website or our app or whatever else or how easy it is to write out a handwritten note, if you don't systematize it and automate it, it's not gonna get done in the long term.

So, I mean, we have sales organizations that use our Salesforce app or a HubSpot app or plug us in with Zapier.

So, I mean, it's across the board, but our verticals are real estate, automotive, nonprofit, retail and luxury.

Those are kind of the big ones.

Wow.

And being able to integrate with those, you know, Shopify with the other apps through Zapier and all of that, that makes it super easy for the business or the nonprofit.

It's not like they're having to go jump through a bunch of hoops, do a bunch of other things.

It just becomes part of the process, as you say.

So it's easy for everybody.

Wow.

And...

How can brands build better relationships with their clients?

I know you mentioned there is a distinct difference between being thanked and feeling thanked.

Is it more than that?

How can brands really start building that relationship as well?

I think it's a multi -touch process across all channels, but understanding when you don't deliver for the customer and owning it, I think that's a big thing.

I mean, I post a lot about this on Medium and stuff like that.

Just being able to graciously accept when you've screwed up builds a lot of trust and builds a better relationship.

So much so we have a snack box that every time they screw up sending snacks to their customer, it's a subscription snack box, they will then send a handwritten note saying, we're so sorry for the screw up.

Here's a new box of snacks and some swag.

What they found was those customers that were screwed up with and then had the wind back, they actually had a lot higher lifetime value than the customers that were never screwed up with.

So now what they do is they just screw up with all customers intentionally and then send a wind back to all of them and it raises all boats.

So that's what they're doing there.

But yeah, so it's...

It really depends on the brand, but staying in touch through all forms of communication, I think is really critical.

You know, during COVID, my company was just getting on the phone with people asking how we could be of service, not handwritten note related, just, is there anything we can do?

You know, just, just trying to appeal on a personal level and believe it or not, online brands have an easier way to appeal on a personal level than offline.

And I can give you an example.

We work with a perfume brand, a cologne brand, and they're sold in major department stores and then also online.

So I went, I was at our local mall here in Arizona, I went to the department store and I saw their brand on display and I showed my wife and I said they're a client of ours.

And then the sales clerk walked over and I said, oh yeah, we just handle your handwritten notes for you.

and she said, no you don't, I do my own handwritten notes for my clients.

And I don't typically have time to do it because I'm too busy merchandising and checking out clients and doing end of day bookkeeping, et cetera, closing out the books.

So it turns out the Perfume brand was only automating handwritten notes for the online sales, not the offline sales.

And therefore they're putting their offline at a big disadvantage.

We then worked with another luxury brand that automated for both the online and the offline.

And they saw a much better uplift by doing that.

And we were able to sign all the notes by the store clerk that worked with them to make it feel really personal and unique.

And then it's not just saying thank you.

It could be recommending complimentary products.

So you're kind of cross -selling gently.

I think it's important when you do thank somebody, you don't have a full call to action.

You don't say, post this on Instagram, or visit this QR code, or buy this with this coupon code.

But a gentle, hey, we so appreciate you buying this.

We thought you might want to check out.

You bought this backpack.

Maybe you want this purse or wallet or something.

So some very gentle recommendations of value kind of help.

But I think what I call the full stop thank you, just thanking somebody is truly important these days because so few people do it.

And if they do it, it's an automated email.

So it's just kind of standing out and standing different.

At Handwritten, if you sign up and you purchase, say, a $5 ,000 prepay plan of handwritten notes, we'll send you a whole swag box with, a handwritten notebook that's actually really high quality, some pens, some other little things like playing cards and all the rest.

And we'll just send that to everybody just to kind of provide a thank you gift for joining the handwritten family.

And at scale, it works really well.

In my prior life running this text messaging company, I was trying to hire an SEO firm.

and I spoke to some company and we talked and I ended up hiring them and I told them I was from Arizona.

Or no, I told them I was living in Chicago thinking of moving to California because I felt Chicago was too flat and all this stuff.

So when I moved to California, they sent me a book that said, the 50 greatest hikes in California.

And that level of thoughtfulness.

You know if you have the time to do something like that, that's really just good selling and good listening But you know I remember it 12 years later, so you know it's it's something nice to do But I know I'm kind of rambling here, but but really just being thankful for people I think is the biggest biggest thing you can do Wow, and that's it sounds like even just that very personalized.

Thank you.

That's it's not just a blanket.

Thank you, but You know, thank you for buying this particular item and just making them feel That that feeling appreciated is really what it what it gets down to now is it?

just from a technical standpoint is is there like is it like heavy grade paper is it like what what's like what's that look like is it as opposed to just very inexpensive paper how's that work?

Yeah, so we run our own digital presses.

We have two digital presses here.

We print all notes, print them, meaning we create the greeting card that you write on, on 120 pound cover stock.

So it's a thick stock and we use vellum, which is for those that aren't first in paper, it's like a toothy, it's got texture to it.

which actually makes the printing hard, but we've taken care of that.

So we first print your card on a thick vellum stock.

We then feed that card into one of the 175 robots we've built in our facility in Phoenix.

So we're completely vertically integrated.

We build the robots.

We take your printed card that we print for you, feed it in the robot, write the card, write the envelope, match the two and stamp it with a real stamp and send it.

The envelope is a thick envelope as well.

So the very first impression is something of quality So yeah, so we print the card on thick cardstock we feed it in the robot the robot is capable of varying the characters so first of all the the the customer can choose between a 30 handwriting styles that we have available and then when they write their note It's each individual characters is a little different We connect characters in different ways.

So like, how do two O's connect or do they not connect?

Do you cross two T's with one crossbar or two?

All those types of things.

We then vary the line spacing.

So you didn't use a ruled piece of paper that had you perfectly spaced.

We vary that ever so slightly.

We vary the left margin ever so slightly because you're not writing down a hard edge of a page.

And now we actually warp the text ever so slightly because you try very hard to write straight across the page, but you're not a robot.

So, but you are.

So we do all that.

And then, you know, we can sign the notes with your signature.

It's all in blue ink, which we find to look more realistic for whatever reason.

And then we mail it within one business day.

Wow.

That just the the attention to detail, but also the the quality of the detail.

High quality envelope, high quality paper.

Now you mentioned you stick like a regular stamp on it as opposed to like one of those machined like that, you know, businesses, you know, that they're cranking things out.

It's like just like a forever stamp.

it is a first class forever stamp.

We get them in rolls from the post office in ten thousand at a time.

And so we only have one and the post office only has one design on that roll at a time.

So typically it's either a star or a flag, but it is a forever stamp.

You can pick them up at your post office.

It's not metered mail and it's not pre sort.

So it does have a postmark when it's received, which I think is very, very important.

That postmark does say Phoenix, Arizona, but 99 % of people don't care about that.

I don't notice it.

I'm just happy to know.

Because if I receive a pre -sort, it's not going to have a postmark on it.

I think that stands out more than a postmark that's wrong.

If our client is very concerned about that postmark, we can.

seal, stamp, and ship back to them all those notes, they then just dump them in the mail and then they get the local postmark.

But I'd say for 99 % of our clients, it doesn't matter.

Yeah, I mean that that is like three levels beyond what we think of for personal touch in terms of real stamp, real envelope, real card.

Yeah, like a real postmark.

Even, you know, regardless of it's Phoenix.

Yeah, I would never notice.

I'd be like simply, hey, it's as a postmark.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah, we go over, you know, there's that big debate all the time.

Is it better to have what's called a pre-canceled stamp, which, sorry, which then doesn't have a postmark, or is it better to have the wrong postmark?

And I think it's better to have a postmark than none.

So yeah, we made that decision.

Yeah, I mean that that makes total sense in terms of making that personal touch.

Just as we're beginning to wrap up here, one takeaway you would like to leave the audience with.

It could be in terms of just communication with their audience, but I'll kind of leave the floor open.

Any takeaways you'd like to leave them with?

Yeah, I would say, you know, I came on your podcast not to push the company handwritten, but to push the notion of sending handwritten notes.

So I would say, you know, sit down, send five or 10 on your own and see the response you get.

And if you like that response, or if you feel it's a value, then look to automate it.

And there's a couple vendors out there, we just happen to be the oldest and the biggest, and I'd like to say the best.

But, you know, do your research and find a solution that allows you to scale this easily because I think you'll find some magic out of it.

No, and I appreciate that.

And so everybody listening, I would just encourage you just experiment, you know, as, as David was saying, just try it out, see what it's like, see what response you get.

I know it feels a little weird writing a handwritten note.

Oftentimes, you know, at least for me, because I'm so out of practice to be to be perfectly blunt, I'm just out of practice.

But it's definitely worth worth doing.

David, if people want to know more about you, more about handwritten, where would you like them to go?

Sure, just visit handwritten .com, H -A -N-D -W -R -Y -T -T -E -N dot com, and click the business tab and you can request samples there.

Or you can find me on LinkedIn, I'm the only David, actually there's two Davids, I'm David Wax with handwritten on LinkedIn.

So please find me there, I'm not really big on Twitter or anything else, but.

The company is, and you can also, if you go to handwritten .com, at the bottom, find all our socials.

We do a lot of videos on YouTube and occasionally run webinars and you'll find all those old recordings there as well as updates on future recordings.

Excellent.

So if you're listening, we definitely encourage you to check out handwritten.

Reach out to David, check out his stuff on LinkedIn.

David, this has been incredibly, man, this has been an awesome learning experience for me and just a delightful conversation.

Thank you for joining me today.

Thanks Eric, the pleasure is all mine.

Appreciate it.

Was that okay?