“The Postcard Was My Sign”: How Direct Mail Can Turn Consideration Into Action

For most businesses, a postcard is a marketing piece. But for one potential surrogate in Virginia, receiving one at exactly the right moment felt like something more: a sign.

Andrea McAfee owns three surrogacy agencies across the U.S., including Hawaii Surrogacy Center, her flagship program that has been operating for 19 years. As the organization expanded into new markets, Andrea began looking for new ways to reach potential gestational carriers and build awareness in their local communities.

That led her to direct mail—and to a story that shows just how powerful the right message at the right moment can be.

Watch Andrea share the story below:

The Postcard That Became “Her Sign”

Recruiting a gestational carrier is very different from marketing an everyday product or service. Becoming a surrogate is an incredibly personal, life-changing decision, and potential applicants may spend significant time considering whether it's right for them.

That's why Andrea was struck by just how memorable their postcards became.

In Virginia alone, she said three applicants specifically mentioned receiving a postcard in the mail. One recalled her husband picking it up from the counter and saying, “Hey, check this out. Did you see this?”

For another applicant, the timing felt even more meaningful.

“One of our applicants said it was practically serendipitous...receiving that physical piece of mail was like her sign that she should do it.”

For someone already thinking about becoming a surrogate, the postcard became another touchpoint at exactly the right time. As Andrea explained, people are often on the fence about making such a significant commitment, and receiving something tangible in the mail can provide an extra push toward taking the next step.

Direct Mail Can Turn Consideration Into Action

Andrea's experience illustrates something important about direct mail: the person receiving your postcard doesn't always need to be introduced to your business for the first time.

They may have already seen your name online. They may have heard about you from someone else. They may even have been considering your product or service for months.

Sometimes, marketing's job is simply to show up again at the right moment.

And research backs that up: 62% of consumers say direct mail has inspired them to take action.

Unlike an ad that disappears with the next scroll, a postcard physically enters someone's home. It can sit on a counter, get passed to a spouse, or be picked up again later.

That's exactly what happened with Hawaii Surrogacy Center. For one applicant, the postcard became the extra push she needed to move from consideration to action.

For businesses selling products or services with longer consideration periods, those additional touchpoints can be especially valuable. A postcard doesn't necessarily have to introduce the idea—it might be the thing that finally inspires someone to act.

For High-Consideration Decisions, Trust Matters

There's another reason direct mail fits Hawaii Surrogacy Center's strategy: trust.

The organization operates in an industry with large national agencies, but Andrea intentionally positions her programs differently. They focus on local matches and helping families within the community.

That makes establishing a genuine local presence particularly important.

“Having something local that they can physically hold, versus having an ad that drifts across their screen when they're browsing, reinforces that message that we are a real local company.”

In Virginia, where Andrea's agency was entering a brand-new market, that distinction became even more important. Their message wasn't simply become a surrogate. It was about the opportunity to help someone dealing with infertility within their own community.

That lesson extends far beyond surrogacy.

Healthcare practices, home service providers, real estate professionals, financial services companies, and other businesses asking customers to make significant decisions all face a similar challenge: before someone is ready to act, they need to feel comfortable with who they're choosing.

A physical presence in the mailbox can help reinforce that local connection.

One Postcard Isn't the Whole Story

It's tempting to hear Andrea's story and conclude that one postcard created the conversion.

But that's not really the lesson.

Hawaii Surrogacy Center doesn't rely on a single marketing channel. Andrea has experimented with EDDM®, Facebook, Hulu, Spotify, local events, and other forms of outreach across her different markets. Her goal is to create multiple opportunities for potential applicants to encounter the brand.

As Andrea explained, Hawaii Surrogacy Center uses its Taradel campaigns to help create broad exposure and multiple exposure points rather than expecting someone to encounter one ad and immediately apply.

The journey may look more like:

Awareness → Repeated Exposure → Familiarity → Consideration → Action

Someone might hear a streaming ad, encounter the organization in their community, see its digital marketing, and eventually receive a postcard.

It's difficult to know which impression will ultimately make someone act.

That's exactly why repetition matters.

Be There When They're Ready

Andrea's biggest piece of advice for other niche businesses entering new markets wasn't to find one perfect advertising channel.

It was to be patient and keep experimenting.

“Try different things. Be okay with trying different things because different tools that work in one market are not going to work in the other. You have to kind of find what the magical mix is.”

And once you find that mix, don't expect everything to happen overnight.

“It's not weekly numbers. It's not monthly numbers. It's at minimum quarterly, if not annual.”

Businesses can't always control when someone will be ready to make a decision. They can control whether their brand continues showing up while that decision is being made.

Sometimes it's a digital ad that introduces someone to your business. Sometimes it's the third or fourth time they recognize your name.

And sometimes, it's a postcard sitting on the kitchen counter that arrives at exactly the right time.

Hear More From Hawaii Surrogacy Center

Want to hear more about the strategy behind Hawaii Surrogacy Center's marketing?

Watch the full interview with Andrea McAfee to hear how her team uses EDDM®, Hulu, Spotify, Facebook, local events, and other channels to build awareness, reach potential surrogates, and market across three very different regions.

Put Your Brand in the Right Homes

Hawaii Surrogacy Center's story is a reminder that you don't always know which marketing touchpoint will be the one that makes the difference.

With Taradel, businesses can use EDDM® to reach specific local neighborhoods and combine direct mail with digital advertising to create more opportunities for customers to see, recognize, and remember their brand.

Ready to put your message in front of the right audience?