A smarter way to do direct mail.
Most political mail goes from the mailbox to the trash. A hand addressed envelope with a real stamp gets opened. SmartMail puts the right message, for the right household, inside it.
What is SmartMail?
SmartMail is URSA Dynamics' direct mail program for campaigns. It combines hand addressed, first class stamped letters, which see a 95% read rate in our campaigns, with voter guides, before and after mail pieces and variable data printing, so each piece carries the message, the issue and even the numbers that fit the household it is going to. The mail list comes from the same Culper universe as every other channel.
Nobody throws away a hand addressed letter without opening it.
Junk Mail Versus SmartMail
Standard political mail
- Glossy oversized card with a printed indicia that says bulk mail.
- The same piece to every household in the precinct.
- Sorted with the coupons and sent to the recycling bin unread.
- Talks about the candidate, not about the voter.
SmartMail
- A plain envelope, addressed by hand, with a real first class stamp.
- A letter or piece written for this household's situation, from the campaign's data.
- Opened like personal mail, because it looks like personal mail. A 95% read rate in our campaigns.
- Talks about the voter's street, the voter's tax bill, the voter's polling place.
Hand addressed. Stamped. Read.
The envelope is the whole battle. A hand addressed envelope with a Forever stamp is treated like a note from a neighbor, and it gets opened at the kitchen table instead of sorted over the recycling bin.
We use it where the stakes justify it: letters to business and multifamily owners about their own tax exposure, a personal note from a candidate to the most reliable voters in a precinct, a request from a neighbor to stand a sign at the polls. Typed, signed and mailed first class, so each one arrives looking exactly like what it is: a personal letter.
What We Mail
Hand addressed letters
Personal letters from a candidate, a committee leader or a neighbor, addressed by hand and stamped first class. Our highest impact piece for the voters who matter most.
Voter guides
Where the race is on the ballot, when early voting runs, where to vote and what the proposition says. Guides get kept on the counter until the voter goes to the polls.
Before and afters
The road as it is and the road as it will be. The crowded classroom and the new one. A before and after makes the promise visible in one glance.
Variable printed pieces
Every piece printed for its household: the voter's name, their neighborhood's issue and photo, their own estimated tax change from county appraisal data, and their polling place.
Business owner letters
Owners of commercial and multifamily property, resolved to a decision maker and told their own dollar exposure, in a signed letter.
Chase mail
Pieces for supporters who have not voted yet, dropped in time for early voting and updated as the daily early vote scrub shrinks the list.
Micro-targeting, printed.
Variable data printing means our targeting does not stop at digital. The flooded street goes to the households on that street. The carpool line goes to the parents who sit in it.
Before and after, in one glance.
Voters believe what they can see. A before and after puts the pothole and the fixed road, the old station and the new response time, side by side, so the promise reads in a second at the mailbox.
Paired with variable printing, the before is a photo from the voter's own neighborhood. It is micro-targeting on paper, and it is the same issue the household sees on its streaming TV spot and its outdoor board.
From Culper to the Mailbox
Pull the list from the universe
The same scored voter universe in Culper that feeds streaming, digital and P2P, so mail reaches the same people as every other channel. See voter data.
Match the message to the household
The message matrix picks each household's argument: the senior gets the debt message, the homeowner gets the calculator number, the business owner gets the exposure letter.
Set the variable fields
Name, neighborhood photo, estimated tax figure, polling place and issue, merged into each piece from the data.
Choose the format
Hand addressed letters for the highest value voters, variable pieces and guides for the wider universe.
Time the drops
Persuasion before early voting, guides as it opens, chase mail during it, all timed to arrive when it matters.
Disclose and mail
Every piece carries the required political advertising disclosure.
Do hand addressed letters work for political campaigns?
Yes. A hand addressed envelope with a real stamp looks like personal mail, so it gets opened. URSA's hand addressed, stamped letters see a 95% read rate in our campaigns, far above what a glossy bulk mail card can expect.
What is variable data printing in political mail?
Variable data printing changes the content of each piece as it prints, using fields from the campaign's data: the voter's name, a photo of their neighborhood's issue, their estimated tax change or their polling place. It lets micro-targeting carry into mail instead of sending one piece to everyone.
What is a voter guide mailer?
A voter guide tells a voter where the race or proposition is on the ballot, when early voting runs, where to vote and what the ballot language says. Voters often keep it until they vote.
Does political mail need a disclaimer?
Yes. Political advertising mail generally must say who paid for it, under state law for state and local races and federal rules for federal races. Every SmartMail piece carries the required disclosure.
Is hand addressed mail expensive?
It costs more per piece than bulk mail, which is why we use it for the voters and owners whose decision matters most and use variable printed pieces and guides for the wider universe.
Keep reading.
- Micro-TargetingURSA finds the issues voters feel at the end of their own street, like the pothole, the carpool line and the road where people dump pets, and targets those households with messages that drive them to vote.
- Voter Data and TargetingURSA builds every campaign universe from the voter file and vote history, county appraisal district parcel data, licensed L2 and i360 data and daily early vote rosters, resolved in Culper into one record per voter.
- Defeating a School BondThe URSA playbook for committees opposing a Texas school bond or tax rate election: the ballot language, the full cost with interest, existing debt, the budget, separate propositions and tax-sensitive turnout.
Your victory starts here.
Tell us where you are running or what is on your ballot. We will show you who decides it, what moves them, and what it costs to reach them.
Schedule a Consultation