This video will walk you through how to Design and Publish your ZAP~POST Direct Mail campaign from start to finish. If you are looking for help on other topics, please check Academy where there are bite-size video and text lessons on all things Zap.

Once you’ve set up your Campaign (it's free to set up by the way), you can jump straight into the Design Portal where you can let your creative side run wild! You should keep 4 things front & centre of your mind when thinking about content: 

1: The Creative - Go Bold or Go Home!
2: The Message - One simple message
3: The Call to Action - Clear & confident
4: Dynamic Data - Personalise the content for maximum impact

Right, let’s jump in...

For the purposes of the demo, I created a Lapsed Customer Campaign using the ZAP IMAPACT template as an example. Hit the ‘edit’ button next to the Campaign, or use the Design icon from the top Nav.
Your Zap is in the left-hand navigation. You’ve got a blank canvas for the front and the back has a postage area pre-populated. 

Up top, you have the Image Explorer, Text & QR Code tools, a Font manager, and finally, the Proofing tool.

Once you’ve designed the background imagery (and you can use any tool to do this - from Adobe InDesign to Photoshop to Canva) go ahead and upload directly to the Static Image file explorer. If required, multiple images can be used in the canvas - just note there is a 2mb limit per image.

Remember, your Zaps will be printed so your images should be in CMYK colour profile wherever possible.  Also, read the help in the bottom right corner - it’ll tell you exactly what the dimensions should be for every Zap template (there are more templates coming all the time so keep your eyes peeled).

Uploaded imagery can now be selected and snapped into place on the canvas. Inside the dotted line is the safe zone but where you’ve got full bleed images, go the extra 3mm to ensure the final output is full bleed.
Next up, you want to personalise this Zap to each recipient so we’ll add some text:

Combine text with variables so, for example, “We miss you <r:first-name>.” Make it big & bold and, of course, you can change the font and formatting to keep it perfectly on brand. Copy fitting is on by default which means the text size will shrink or grow to fit the text box area you have drawn. If needed, you can turn this off.

There are almost limitless variables available so you can personalise the content as much as you like, for every recipient. If you need help with anything here, speak to one of ZAP~POST’s Tech Sherpas - they’ll guide you through it.

Save the design and give it a friendly name. You can save as many versions as you like.

Right, let’s take care of the flip side - note there’s a postage area and a returns QR, both of which are off-limits. Otherwise, anything goes! Our recommendation is a strong message with a clear call-to-action. 

Each element, whether image, text, or QR code appears as a layer over here. Select and move them as you need to.

Remember to add some tracking, or you can even apply the promotion code right within the QR code, or both.

Toggle through some example data so you can see what your content looks like when personalised. When you’re done, again, save the design. 

Finally hit the ‘Publish’ button. 

Select the content you want to publish and watch Ziggy do his thing! It really is that simple.

Check out the Academy pages for much more content and best practice information.

Your next video tutorial to watch in this series is How to Publish - take a look now.

Thanks for Zapping in 🙂