October 1st, 2013: ParcelPush, the insert marketing specialist based in Sydney has teamed up with Australia’s leading online retailers to wow Australian online consumers with extra goodies within their online orders leading up to Christmas this year.

Advertisers can now add their targeted offers or samples into hundreds of thousands of parcels each month reaching consumers in a very positive moment – at the time of opening their online orders.

Daniel Jarosch, Managing Director at brandsExclusive: “We, at brandsExclusive, always try to deliver the best fashion, lifestyle and home ware products as well as the best customer experience to our members. We work with ParcelPush towards the goal of making our customers even happier when they open up their brandsExclusive box.”

Andreas Otto, Managing Director at THE ICONIC: ”We loved the idea of surprising our customers with a little extras in their box, especially if it adds value and complements our fashion or beauty products.”

Craig Morris, Co-founder and Director at ParcelPush: “Our team maximises the conversion rates and customer satisfaction of both retail partners and advertisers ensuring that the right offers go into the right parcels and we have even invented a new advertising form that sticks to the outside of a box.”

ParcelPush has not only signed up THE ICONIC, brandsExclusive, DealsDirect and oo.com.au, but many smaller retailers as well, servicing categories such as fashion, lifestyle, footwear, car parts, pharmaceuticals, ladies lingerie, baby products, DVDs or electronics. Advertisers can run AB tests across different product groups to optimise conversion rates even in niche segments.

About ParcelPush

ParcelPush is the specialist for inserting flyer coupons or samples into e-commerce parcels. ParcelPush brings online retailers and advertisers together allowing them to choose from attractive opportunities within a password-protected online network. ParcelPush Pty Ltd is based in Sydney and was founded in 2012 by Craig Morris, an experienced general manager and e-commerce entrepreneur Bjorn Behrendt.

About THE ICONIC

Founded in late 2011, THE ICONIC is Australia’s leading online fashion retailer. Customers can choose from more than 500 brands and over 45,000 products. THE ICONIC sets the bar in Australian online retail, offering its customers free overnight shipping, 100 day free returns, and 3 hour delivery in Sydney. Find out more about THE ICONIC on Facebook: www.facebook.com/IconicAU

About brandsExclusive

brandsExclusive is Australia’s leading online shopping destination for fashion and accessories. Our community of savvy shoppers enjoy their favourite Australian and international labels at insider prices - up to 70% off retail. We work closely with over 800 premium brand partners to secure the best available offers on exclusive products for our members.

For further information please contact:

Website: www.parcelpush.com.au         
Tel: 1300 436 806
Twitter:  twitter.com/parcelpush

Craig Morris: craig@parcelpush.com.au   
Bjorn Behrendt: bjorn@parcelpush.com.au

Effective promotional measures contribute significantly to the success of a business  when they reach the right audience. However, many consumers feel annoyed by advertising. No wonder - when surfing the internet customers see banners flashing on all corners of the screen, which makes it difficult to focus on the content of the website. If you come home at night and empty your mailbox, you probably have difficulties in finding something interesting among the many leaflets and free newspapers. Or if you are relaxing in front of the TV after work to watch your favourite movie, most likely it will be interrupted every 20 minutes by commercials.


Many people simply do not pay attention to advertising and Advertisers ask themselves - “How can I reach my target audience more effectively?  How can I  ensure that the customer does not feel bothered by my advertising, but picks it up positively?”


A particularly eye-catching form of advertising are package inserts. Companies place their promotional material as inserts into the boxes of mail-order or online retailing companies. Key benefits of this method of advertising are, that the advertising hits the parcel receiver and potential customer in a positive mood which already increases the conversion rate. The reason for this is quite simple: The consumer has ordered something he or she would like to have and is happy about the package, which is why the content of the box gets observed in every detail – a bit like Christmas.


Since package inserts can be adapted by specific selection criteria for the target group on the basis of the ordered goods, the probability is high that the advertised offers within the package match the interest of the receiver. The precise localization of the target group creates an advantage for the advertiser as well, who hardly needs to worry about wastage. Customers also value the relevancy of advertising, especially if it adds value to the product they just received.

To achieve the greatest impact through a ParcelPush, you should consider the following:

1. Target Group

Advertise through parcel inserts, as if you offer someone a relevant coupon or sample that is relevant to what they are receiving from a store - a woman who has just bought a month's supply of  Nappies will probably not react too well to an offer of a car subwoofer...

It is important to know your target audience well and to know where they shop online, which the ParcelPush team is more than happy to work out with you. In addition to the mandatory socio-demographic data and their socioeconomic characteristics, personality factors and their communication behaviour provide valuable background information.

2. Form of Advertising

The variety of different advertising materials is huge: flyers, coupons, product samples, giveaways, stickers… endless options. While the success of each advertising medium depends on the target group, a few general statements can be made:  Simple Flyers are not grabbing enough attention in most cases (see best-practices here). Product samples and giveaways are always more successful in stimulating the customer and often remain in the customers memory for a long time “I owe them something”, which often leads to a purchase. However, they are lacking a call-to-action and work best in conjunction with a voucher. Vouchers or coupons are best suited to make a promotional statement. It is no surprise that coupons with a fixed value, such as a discount of $15 AUD are more popular than those that promise a percentage discount, because the price advantage is more obvious to the customer although the actual percentage discount may be worth more in the end.

3. Design

Well designed inserts are the perfect business card for a company. A clear layout, the proper placement of the heading and meaningful images plus a large dollar value provide the best results (read our previous blog post). Warm background tones convey a positive feeling - especially when they are printed on high quality paper, which gives a feeling of quality and desire. Also the print quality is essential which is why ParcelPush works with one of the best printers in Sydney. Blurred letters and blurred prints always look unprofessional.

4. Distribution Channel Partners

ParcelPush selects and manages the right Distribution Channel Partners with the right target audiences including quality control such as impromptu warehouse visits and test orders. We also conduct competitive analysis for both the Advertiser and Distribution partner in order to prevent marketing collaterals from going into boxes with competing products.

5. Reporting and Analytics

Performance is everything. Anyone who spends money on advertising would like to know what he/she gets for their advertising dollars. Our performance reviews include demographics, distribution and conversion data.

A very practical way to check the performance of the campaign, even in real time, can be achieved through the use of dedicated coupon codes or URLs. Thus, the success of the action may be directly identified. Especially if the campaign runs across various distribution partners and  the use of separate codes and URLs is always recommended.

The ParcelPush team has designed and analysed hundreds of voucher flyer creatives over time and shares with you a 5-step guide about how to design the perfect flyer with a voucher code offer on it in order to get the highest possible conversion rate results for your webshop:

Step 1: Print Size And Weight
We have found a DL-sized format (99x210mm) at 150gsm or 175gsm to work the best for the following reasons:

1. It fits into envelopes
2. It is big enough to be noticed
3. It reminds customers of a dollar note shape (perceived value)
4. It can still be folded or carried in a pocket easily
5. It is big enough for all relevant elements (see below)

Step 2: Copy writing And Text Elements
The copy of your flyer is crucial and these are the standard elements that need to be worded according to your brand guidelines:

1. Headline: Your headline needs to stand out in big letters and should ideally be less than 5 words. Based on your brand you can choose to make it catchy, dramatic, fun or informative. It always helps to be different and creative.
2. Main text block: It helps to inform your customers in very short bullet points or through customer stories about your product or service, but remember that it is always better to talk about benefits or why customers really want it rather than talking about features or why customers need it - Customers want EASE, PHYSICAL COMFORT, MENTAL STIMULATION, IDENTITY REINFORCEMENT or SOCIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.
3. Deal terms and conditions: This part is usually the fine print on the bottom somewhere in small letters (legally, they need to be readable though!). You need to inform the customer about all the terms of your offer. Be honest and try not to forget a detail. You also need to specify the currency and GST or other tax implications accurately. Often retailers forget to mention that "this is a one-time offer" and that "no cash redemption is possible", which is very important in order for customers not to claim that they can use a voucher code more than once or that they can exchange it for money. A link to your terms and privacy policy may be needed as well plus ideally another explanation how and where the voucher can be redeemed.
4. Disruptive element: You may choose to include a disruptive element e.g. like a circle or bubble with a short single message like "Free Delivery" or "Act Now" or "Free Signup" or "Only valid in June"

Step 3: Define Your Offer And Set Up The Right Conversion Tracking
This is probably the most important part, which many advertisers still get wrong although all marketing should really be made trackable. Always use these three elements for a flyer with a voucher code offer on it:

1. Highest possible value for your offer: We found Dollar values to work better than a percentage-off. Think twice about who you market to, what their customer lifetime value is and what offer you can afford. Obviously a $20 off will work better than a $10 off. If your webshop / shopping cart system allows you to attach minimum order values to a voucher code, it may help to consider your gross margins and shipping costs as well on certain order values in order to maybe raise the dollar value of your voucher code offer by attaching it to a large enough minimum order value. Whatever you decide, you will need a two or three digit value e.g. "$20 off" as a key design element for step 4.
2. You will also need a voucher code they customers can enter into your online checkout to receive the offered discount. Make it as easy as possible to redeem the voucher. Very sophisticated advertisers that ParcelPush works with, even let us print personalised codes for them on thousands of flyers, which prevents the codes from being published on numerous coupon sites. Other advertisers choose to only disclose the voucher after customers signed up with their email on a landingpage which can work, but may reduce your conversion rates slightly. Make sure that you have a reporting set up for any voucher code setup in order to exactly measure when codes have been redeemed, by whom, how much the customers spend and what their customer lifetime value is over time.
3. Landing page URL: We always recommend to set up a special landing page URL (e.g. www.yourwebsite.com/get-the-wow) for your offer rather than sending customers straight to your website for the following reasons:
   a) It allows you to measure the "click" conversion rate (#visits / #flyers) as well and to track what the customers do on your site before they purchase (funnel metrics) rather than just measuring the code redemption rate (#redemptions / #flyers)
   b) You can give customers a smooth landing through a nice design that picks up the elements of the flyer and that explains again in brief words or in a video or graphic how it works
   c) It allows you to drop a cookie e.g. to measure returning visits and to measure other interesting data like time on site, exit paths, etc.

Step 4: Design and Layout
You need a graphics designer or an agency like ParcelPush, who is experienced in Photoshop to get this right as the design really makes a difference. Here are our design tips to get it right:

1. Avoid an overload and minimise text as much as possible
2. Use the colours of your styleguide
3. The front of the flyer needs at least 30% of space for the value of your offer. Have a look at a 100 dollar note... the size proportions of the number is your minimum!
4. The headline should stand out with enough free space around it
5. You need ideally only one catchy image in the front and one in the back. Again: Less is more. Product images are good, but images that create emotions e.g. through people, faces or animals are better, especially if you promote a service.
6. Make the landing page URL obvious with or without a www. in front of it.
7. Some designers prefer to use the front e.g. like on a postcard only for one big image and all the information gets put onto the back. While we accept this method since it surely looks nice and it can bring a brand message across quite nicely, we would always recommend the "dollar note" approach with a clear value and a dollar symbol in the front.
8. Only use images for which you have the copyright e.g. buy them from istockphoto.com or use the advanced search of flickr to find images with a tolerant creative commons license by checking all the CC fields on the bottom
   - Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content 
   - Find content to use commercially 
   - Find content to modify, adapt, or build upon
   so that the search string looks something like this example for the word "apple": http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=apple&l=commderiv&ss=0&ct=0&mt=all&w=all&adv=1

Step 5: Create And Test Different Versions Of Your Flyer By Measuring Results
Graphics Designers need to think like managers or entrepreneurs in today's data-driven world and need to find ways to learn and iterate designs quickly. Hence there is no way around AB testing different designs. Here are a few tips how to do design AB testing correctly:

1. Make sure to only change one crucial element as a point of difference between version A and B in order to test the result.
2. Make sure both designs go out to enough people at the same time, so that results are statistically relevant and free from any external influences such as weather conditions.
3. Really think hard about what graphical elements will make a different and what to test. Come up with a hypothesis beforehand and read the book "The lean startup" by Eric Ries
4. Ask your IT team for all the data and make sure you get it in time and that you understand it to make the next design decisions and to iterate your work. Conversion rates or customer lifetime values are always the best actionable metrics. Avoid vanity metrics such as visits or views.

42% of Australian consumers prefer to receive vouchers or coupons in the postal mail, while only 25% would like to receive such offers electronically via email, according to a recent Australia Post Consumer survey around mail findings. The statistic shows an even more promising result for brochures or catalogues which 51% of Australian consumers would prefer to receive via postal mail while only 14% would prefer to receive them via email. 84% the Australian people open their mail on the day it’s received (up 3% on last quarter), illustrates that people are genuinely interested in opening and reading their mail.

The survey results strengthen the above-the-line marketing channel around flyer distribution and especially great offers delivered as inserts within e-commerce boxes can be expected to show great conversion rates for online retailers. The survey strengthens this argument by stating "When thinking about the multitude of messages consumers are exposed to every day via email, television, daily, newspaper, magazines and outdoor billboards, the letterbox as a channel has great potential when the message needs to stand out from the clutter."

We just launched our new network pages where our advertising and retailing partners can view updates around the latest distribution and insert opportunities. This solution is designed also for the long-tail of e-commerce e.g. all online shops or eBay powersellers can participate with a minimum monthly shipping volume of 500 orders. http://www.parcelpush.com.au/network.html

We have an exciting news for advertisers: We have now grown 200,000 monthly insert opportunities and the first slots of up to 5 flyers per insert have already been sold.

Back in the old days in the 1990s insert marketing was heavily used by the financial and telecoms sector. Consumer magazines accounted for 69% of all inserts in 1996* and often the inserts would simply fall out of the magazines or just remain for seconds in the hands of consumers. The internet and online retail revolution changed all of that. Voucher codes can now be redeemed online much quicker and who doesn't like to order something online and have that almost "Christmas-like" feeling, when the parcel arrives at home. Flyers that get inserted into eCommerce parcels are an excellent way to reach online consumers in a positive moment. 

* http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/61882/DIRECT-MARKETING-Inside-jobs---insert-market-booming-it-rsquos-not-regarded-successful-Lexie-Goddard-reports-improving-its-image/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

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