Welcomemat Services Wants to Make New Movers Your New Customers

In the world of business, it’s crucial that a brand makes itself known on the local level to remain competitive. Many consumers can easily recognize brand names and logos, but they fail to understand that a “chain restaurant” is actually owned and operated by someone who lives in their community. 

More so than ever before, those personal connections in local markets can make a difference when it comes to a potential customer choosing—or not choosing—the competition. And that's why creating important relationships as soon as new residents move into a community is the goal of Welcomemat Services, a franchise concept based in Atlanta.

The concept fueling Welcomemat is simple and effective. When a person moves to a new community, they receive a package in the mail with vouchers for free gifts at the participating merchants in the area. When the new resident uses the voucher, it’s collected by the Welcomemat franchisee and sent back to the Welcomemat data center where codes are scanned and demographics are compiled. The businesses can then tailor their products or services to the information they receive from the Welcommat franchise. After taking advantage of their gift, customers also receive a thank you note from the business along with some type of bounce back offer or more information from the store where the gift was redeemed.

“In essence, we are a system of local business owners whose goal is to drum up business for other local business owners,” said Brian Mattingly, founder and CEO of Welcomemat Services. “We understand that the strongest bond you can create with a customer is being there when they are new to a city and trying to get the lay of the land. We are continuously improving our approach, technology and services to best capture that audience.”

When Mattingly and his wife, Michelle, created Welcomemat Services in 2003, they envisioned building an innovative company to help local mom-and-pop shops compete to reach new customers who had just moved to the area. With approximately 50 million people moving every year (that’s one in six people in the U.S.), the Mattingly’s pinpointed new movers as the ideal target audience for small-business owners—and for good reason. According to the New York Times bestseller The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg explains that a precisely timed advertisement sent to a new homebuyer can change someone’s shopping patterns for years. And that’s exactly what Welcomemat Services has set out to do in a much more high-tech, data-driven way.

“Our programs target new movers who move into an area by presenting invitations and offers to try various businesses and organizations in their community, helping them get acclimated to their surroundings,” Mattingly said. “While most other marketing company programs stop there, leaving businesses asking for the results of the marketing efforts, Welcomemat Services provides extensive data back to our business clients. This allows the business owners to better understand the demographics and buying tendencies of their customers—a ‘big-data’ solution for small business.”

By combining traditional direct mail marketing with an innovative platform that monitors the use of each offer sent to new movers, Welcomemat Services provides the most extensive data collection in the industry. Every time a new mover uses an invitation from the welcome package, it’s tracked. Business owners are given access to the most significant demographic, socio-graphic and geographic data, helping them learn more about their customers to make additional business decisions.

Welcomemat Services’ approach was not just specific to the established small-business owner, but also the future through franchising. With opportunities available at a franchise fee of $44,750, Welcomemat Services has positioned itself perfectly among the lower investment franchises, all while maintaining a very scalable and expandable model.

Today, by leveraging the low startup expenses and the ability for small-business owners to market and support fellow small-business owners in their local communities, Welcomemat Services has grown to more than 60 units. And by utilizing the same approach to data collection and marketing strategies that large companies implement, Welcomemat Services hopes to continue changing the face of direct mail marketing in the years to come.

“We help turn people into small-business owners, and in turn, they help fellow business owners expand their local marketing efforts,” Mattingly said. “We are a true win-win business for all communities.”