Your existing customer list is the most valuable marketing asset you own. Most print shops send a blast once a quarter and call it email marketing. Here's what a real program looks like.
Most print companies confuse email blasts with email marketing. A blast is sending the same message to your whole list on the same day when you feel like it. An email program is a system — segmented campaigns timed to where each contact is in the buying cycle, with automated nurture sequences that run without you.
Print companies have a natural email marketing advantage: their customers buy repeatedly. A restaurant reorders menus seasonally. A real estate office needs new agent materials with every hire. Email is how you stay in front of those repeat opportunities — and how you re-activate customers who've gone quiet.
Pryntbase LeadsMagic identifies anonymous visitors to your website and automatically enrolls them in a customized email nurture sequence. You set it up once. Every new lead gets consistent follow-up, on schedule, regardless of how busy your team is.
The sections below cover the two types of email campaigns, how to build your list, what to segment, and what to write about.
Broadcast campaigns and automated nurture sequences serve different purposes. Most print shops only do one of them — and it's the less efficient of the two.
Monthly newsletters, seasonal promotions, product announcements — sent to your full list or a large segment at a specific time. These keep you visible and generate opportunistic purchases. Worth doing. But not your highest-ROI email activity.
Emails that go out automatically when a prospect takes an action — quote request, trade show badge scan, website visit. A 5-step nurture sequence starting the day of the inquiry converts 2–3x better than a single manual follow-up, every time.
Restaurants get restaurant content. Real estate agents get real estate content. Contacts who ordered direct mail get direct mail campaigns. Segmented email generates 58% higher revenue than unsegmented broadcast campaigns, across every industry studied.
Your dormant customers are easier to win back than new customers are to acquire. A 3-email re-engagement sequence — "we miss you," case study, limited offer — converts 15–25% of dormant contacts back into active buyers.
Email content formats that consistently produce clicks, replies, and orders for commercial print companies.
"Q4 is trade show season — book your booth materials now." Timed to when buyers are naturally thinking about print, these emails generate immediate action.
"We just added UV spot coating — here's when it makes sense." Existing customers buy more when they know what you can do for them.
"How a regional home builder used branded signage to sell 40 homes in a new development." Specific outcomes make compelling emails that get forwarded.
A 5-step sequence starting immediately after a quote request: intro, educational content, social proof, offer, re-engagement. Most shops send zero follow-ups — this alone converts significantly more quotes into orders.
One email to all your restaurant clients about new menu printing options. One to your real estate clients about listing kits. Relevant content gets opened.
"Free print sample kit — request yours." A box of paper stocks, coatings, and finish samples is a low-cost, high-conversion lead generation offer.
Automated. Triggers when a customer hasn't ordered in 90 days. Three emails: "we miss you," your best case study, a limited offer. Gets 15–25% of dormant customers back.
A 3-email series on a single product line — direct mail, for example — covering specs, design tips, and a real case study. Educates and primes buyers for that specific order.
"A year ago you placed your first order with us." Personal, low-cost, extremely high open rates. Often triggers a "now that you mention it, we do need to reorder" reply.
LeadsMagic identifies website visitors and enrolls them in automated nurture. EmailMagic drafts marketing and sales emails in minutes. Both are pre-trained on print industry buying patterns.