A direct mail postcard is three pieces that have to agree: the card, the QR code on it, and the landing page that code opens, and an AI you already pay for can write all three in an afternoon. This is a Workflow and Tech job: you run one chain of prompts in a single conversation, then hand the finished files to a print and mail vendor who prints, addresses and posts the cards. The AI writes the copy, the versions and the page. The vendor handles the printing and the postage. Plan for half an hour to gather your inputs, an hour in the chat, an hour to build and test the page and the code, and the rest to upload to your vendor's template and check its digital proof.
- Shape
- WorkflowTech
- Sitting
- an afternoon
The shape: Workflow and Tech
This job is a Workflow because it is a chain, and each link depends on the one before it. First you decide who gets the card and why they would care. Then the offer, then the card copy, then the landing page that finishes what the card started. A vague answer about who the card is for produces a vague card, and a card that promises one thing while its page says another loses the person at the moment they scanned. Run the whole chain in one conversation, so the AI holds the offer, the reader and the wording from the card to the page.
It is also Tech because the card has to work as a physical object and as a link. The QR code has to scan from a printed card in a kitchen with poor light. The page it opens has to load fast on a phone, carry tracking tags so you can tell mail visits apart from everything else, and have a form or a button that sends the answer somewhere you will see it. The print and mail vendor has its own template, with bleed, a safe area for text, and a blank zone the post office uses for the address and postage. None of that is writing, and the AI can explain each part, but you build and test it.
What this shape means for you: do the steps in order, and do not print until the page behind the code is live and tested. Reprinting a run is expensive; changing a web page costs nothing.
What you give the AI
Gather these before you open the chat. Plain notes are fine.
- Who gets the card. Past customers, every address on the mail routes around a job you just finished, people who asked for a quote and went quiet, or a list you plan to buy. One group per mailing. If you are not sure who, our guide to customer segments with AI helps you pick.
- What they already know about you. A past customer knows your name; a stranger on a new street knows nothing. The card for each reads differently.
- The one offer. A seasonal service, a returning-customer discount, a free inspection, a new location. One offer, written in one sentence, with any terms and the end date.
- The one next step. Scan to book, scan to claim, call, or visit. One step.
- Your services page text. Paste the paragraphs about the service the card is selling. This keeps the facts straight.
- What customers say before they hire you. Three or four phrases from calls, emails or reviews, in their own words. These make the front headline.
- The card size and the vendor's template. The size you plan to mail, and the template's safe area for text on each side. Note the address block so the AI does not write into it.
- The landing page address. A short page on your own website, made for this mailing, such as yoursite.com/fall. Write it down even if it does not exist yet.
- Your contact details and words to avoid. Phone, web address, and any words you never want in print.
If you can only gather three things, gather the group, the offer and the customer phrases. The rest helps; those three decide whether anyone turns the card over.
What comes back
Paste the prompt below into ChatGPT or Claude, with your notes in the brackets. It runs the chain in order and asks the AI to stop between steps, so you can correct the offer before it becomes a card.
We are a small business planning one direct mail postcard.
A print and mail vendor will print and post it. We need the words and the landing page.
About us:
- Services page text: [paste]
- What customers say before they hire us: [three or four real phrases]
- Contact details: [phone, web address]
- Words we never use: [list]
About this mailing:
- Who gets the card: [one group]
- What they already know about us: [nothing / past customer / asked for a quote]
- The offer, with terms and end date: [one sentence]
- The one next step: [scan to book / scan to claim / call]
- Card size: [for example 6 x 9 inches]. Suggest a word limit for each side that fits this size.
- Landing page address: [yoursite.com/short-word]
Work in three steps. Stop after each one and wait for our reply.
Step 1. Restate who the card is for, what they want, and why this offer matters to them, in three sentences. Tell us if the offer is unclear or has too many conditions.
Step 2. Write the card.
Front: five headlines of eight words or fewer, each using a customer phrase where it fits.
Back: two versions of the back copy within our word limit, each with the offer, the end date, one next step, a line telling the reader to scan the code, and the typed web address.
Do not write in the address and postage area.
Then wait while we choose one headline and one back.
Step 3. Write the landing page the code opens, using the headline and back we chose.
Repeat the card's headline and offer word for word at the top, so the reader knows they are in the right place.
Then three short lines on what happens next, one button or form, and the contact details.
Keep it under 200 words.
Rules for every step:
- Use only facts from our material. Do not invent services, prices, numbers, awards, guarantees or years in business.
- Plain words. No exclamation marks.
- After step 3, list every factual claim across the card and the page, so we can check each one.What comes back, after three rounds, is a short statement of who the card is for, five front headlines, two versions of the back, a short landing page and a list of claims to check. Between step 2 and step 3, reply with the headline and back you chose. To test two backs, split the mailing in half and give each half its own code with its own campaign tag, so you can see which one draws more scans.
Then ask for the Tech half in the same conversation:
Give us the landing page address with tracking tags for this mailing (source postcard, medium mail, campaign named for the season), a plain-text checklist for making a static QR code that points to that full address, and a checklist for testing the code from a printed proof before we approve the run.
Make the QR code with any generator that produces a static code, and download it as a vector file (SVG or EPS), or as a PNG at high resolution if that is all it offers. Build the page with the same tools you use for the rest of your site; our guide to landing pages with AI covers the building and the form. Then upload the card copy and the code to your vendor's template.
How to judge it
You can reject most weak cards in a minute. Cross out any version that does one of these:
- The front headline is about you. "Thirty years of quality service" makes the reader work. The front should name the problem or the thing they want, in words they would use.
- The offer needs a second read. If a stranger cannot say what they get and by when after one glance, the offer has too many conditions.
- It asks for more than one action. Scan, call, follow us and visit is four asks. One wins.
- The page does not match the card. If the headline at the top of the page is different from the card, people who scanned wonder if they landed in the right place and leave.
- It claims something you did not give it. A price, a number, "licensed and insured" or "guaranteed" that was not in your notes. Delete it, or check it and keep it.
- The code has no words around it. A QR code alone asks people to scan without saying why. Put the reason next to it and the typed address under it.
Then test the survivors in the real world. Print the card at real size on plain paper and leave it on a counter. Pick it up as if it just came in the mail, and give it five seconds. If you know what it offers and what to do next, the copy works. Scan the code with two different phones, in ordinary room light, and fill in the form on the page to see that the answer arrives where you expect it.
What stays with you
The AI writes words and checklists. These parts stay with you.
The list. Who gets the card decides more than any headline. Only you know which customers would welcome a card and which would not, and whether a bought list is worth what it costs. Remove anyone who asked not to hear from you.
The offer and the capacity behind it. Only you know what discount you can afford and how many calls you can answer in a week. A mailing that brings in more work than you can schedule does harm.
The facts. The AI only knows what you pasted. Check every service, term, date and claim on the list it gave you. A mistake on a page takes a minute to fix; a mistake on five thousand cards is already in the mail.
The rules for your trade. Licensed and regulated businesses often have rules about what advertising may say, and a postcard counts as advertising. If you work in health, law, finance, insurance or real estate, check the copy against your own rules before it goes to print.
The vendor, the price and the postage. Choosing a print and mail vendor, approving the quote and paying for postage are yours. Check the vendor's size limits and template, because postal rules decide which sizes mail at which rate.
The proof. Always approve a printed proof or a full-size digital proof, and read every word on it. Scan the code from the proof, not from your screen. Check the phone number and the web address twice.
The count. Write down how many cards went out and on what day. Without that number, no amount of scans tells you whether the mailing paid for itself. Our guide to analytics with AI covers reading the visits from those tracking tags.
An example, labeled as one
This is an invented business, used only to show the method.
Say you run a small lawn care company, and you just finished a big job in a neighborhood. You want a postcard to every address on the mail route around it, offering a first visit at a reduced rate, booked by the end of the month. Your notes say most new customers call because "the weeds came back" or "we just don't have the weekends for it."
From inputs like that, the front might come back as:
Want your weekends back?
We mow, edge and weed on your street already.
The back might carry the offer and its end date, one line on how a first visit goes, the QR code with "Scan to book your first visit" beside it, and the typed address yoursite.com/lawn under it. The page that code opens would repeat "Want your weekends back?" at the top, then the offer, three lines on what happens next and a booking form. The owner would check the offer terms, confirm the crew can take the bookings, and scan the code from the proof before approving. Nothing here is a result; it only shows how a customer phrase becomes the card and the page.
Who gets the card
There is one real choice before you write: which group you mail.
| If you want to | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| Bring back people who already know you | Your own past customers | You hold the addresses, and the card can speak to someone who already trusts you |
| Reach the neighbors of a job you just did | Every address on a few nearby routes | No names needed, and the work down the street is the proof |
| Reach a type of business or household you have never served | A list bought from a broker | Wider reach, but you cannot check its accuracy before you pay |
Start with your own customers if you have them. You already hold their addresses, and theirs is the easiest card to write. If a piece will be handed out rather than mailed, the brochures and flyers job covers that version.
When you are done
Save the prompt, your notes, the final card, the page address and the mailing count in one file. The next season, you change the offer and the group, run the chain again, and point a new page at a new code.
Of every job on this list, social media is the one that comes back every week, and Boomp is software that does that one for you. See ten posts made from your website, free
