# A Complete Design-to-Print Workflow Inside 1 App - Postbuddy Powered by IMG.LY SDK

See how Postbuddy modernized direct mail marketing by integrating IMG.LYâs Editor SDK, enabling e-commerce brands to create, personalize, and automate postcard campaigns as seamlessly as email.

*March 20, 2025*

*5*

*min read*

#### On this Page

We sat down with Christian Vestergaard and Hans Christian BÃ¸ggild from Postbuddy.

Postbuddy is a Denmark-based startup seeking to modernize offline, direct mail marketing by giving e-commerce businesses a new way to reconnect with dormant customers. Unlike conventional direct mail processes, Postbuddy integrates fully with online workflows, allowing brands to automate postcards and track performance metrics in much the same way they do with email.

Co-Founder Hans Christian BÃ¸ggild explained the motivation:

`âOffline marketing lags behind because itâs not caught up with the personalizations we see in digital marketing. We wanted a way for brands to send data-driven postcardsâcomplete with the advanced targeting and A/B testing they rely on for email.â`

Postbuddy had an existing product concept that blended Shopify and other e-commerce connectors with printing and mailing operations. However, they needed an embedded design editor for users to create postcards with proper bleeds and while allowing creative automation on the backend to easily insert customer names, coupon codes, and other dynamic fields.

## Adoption and Customer Success

Postbuddyâs approach hinges on user empowerment and minimal friction. By offering a straightforward in-app editor, they aim to make direct mail accessible to ânon-technicalâ users, many of whom have limited design skills. BÃ¸ggild noted:

`âWhen customers feel even the slightest friction, they postpone or abandon direct mail campaigns. We needed to reduce friction around design by making it easy and familiarâlike creating an email or a social post.â`

Postbuddy highlights that the ability to personalize each postcard is essential for driving return on investment. They rely on variable interpolationâmail mergeâfor thousands of postcards at a time. Making these personalization features readily accessible within the editor is a cornerstone of their user experience.

They also introduced a feature for A/B testing two postcard designs within the same campaign. According to BÃ¸ggild, one customer recently saw a fourfold difference in results between a simple text-only design and a more polished layout. By giving marketers the freedom to test and iterate, Postbuddy sees increased campaign success and stronger adoption of its platform.

## The Challenge

Initially, Postbuddy evaluated several ways to offer an in-platform design experience. They considered developing a proprietary editor, but the scope was large, and ongoing maintenance would be significant. They also examined a few âweb-to-printâ solutions but found them either too rigid or too expensive.

Vestergaard and BÃ¸ggild pointed out that while most existing design tools focus on online output (e.g., social graphics), Postbuddyâs customers needed postcards conforming to strict print specifications. Adopting an external design tool would have forced Postbuddy to do substantial clean up of incoming files for printing.

`âItâs almost impossible to imagine we could have built this company without an SDK. Doing it from scratch wouldâve been a time sink, and weâd have to maintain everything ourselves. Thatâs not feasible for a startup.â`

The team also required an interface that felt fully native to Postbuddy so that customers would not sense they were using an external plug-in. They wanted tight control over colors, fonts, layout, and brand elements, plus ways to handle variable data seamlessly.

## The Solution

Postbuddy integrated the IMG.LY Editor SDK into its platform to streamline postcard design. Early on, they completed a âplug-and-playâ proof of concept, embedding the basic editor for layout creation and variable placeholders. Once the mail merge functionality was live, users could upload a CSV of recipient data and auto-generate thousands of personalized postcards.

`âWe can insert variable fields on the design, export, and merge each field on the final postcard,â Vestergaard said. âThat was crucial. Otherwise, we could have just let people design elsewhere.â`

During a second phase, Postbuddy overhauled the editorâs front-end, customizing CSS, color schemes, and additional UI elements to match their branding. The team built a small template library to guide users who are new to design. They also created a checklist overlay inside the editor to remind marketers of best practices, such as variable usage and minimal text, to enhance campaign results.

To improve user acceptance, Postbuddy integrated the editor with their workflow tools so that creating, testing, and finalizing designs happen under one roof. By aligning UI controls (like adding brand colors or controlling bleeds) with Postbuddyâs existing printing logic, the company maintained consistent, print-ready files at scale.

## Implementation Notes

BÃ¸ggild found that Postbuddyâs developers could rely on IMG.LYâs documentation, but the biggest advantage came from the responsive support channels:

`âWe could speak directly with technical people. Itâs rare to have that kind of quick help. Every time we asked a question, we got a near-immediate answer. That eliminated a lot of guesswork.â`

He especially emphasized how helpful and unique it was that engineers could ask follow-up and integrations questions in a dedicated Slack channel. Meanwhile, the Editor SDK continued to release new featuresâsuch as advanced plugin architectureâwhich Postbuddy can adopt over time to offer custom design features.

`âWe like that we can add new plugins. Every improvement you build, we can fold in easily,â BÃ¸ggild said.`

## Results

With the editor in place, Postbuddy has streamlined its operations and realized tangible benefits:

1. Reduced User Friction

Postbuddyâs customers no longer have to learn a separate design program or send PDFs back and forth. They can complete design tasks within the same app they use to plan and deploy campaigns.

2. Stronger ROI Through Personalization

Variable data fields and simple A/B testing have helped users see higher response rates in direct mail. In one instance, a text-only design significantly outperformed a polished layout, underlining the importance of experimentation.

3. Lower Maintenance Burden

Postbuddy avoided building and maintaining a fully custom editor. IMG.LYâs continuous improvements to the Editor SDK help Postbuddy stay competitive without adding technical debt.

4. Scalability Across Europe

Having solved the design and personalization pieces, Postbuddy can focus on establishing print partnerships in new regions. They have already expanded to Sweden and Norway, with plans to move into larger European markets.

`âItâs hard to imagine we could have launched Postbuddy without a design editor SDK,â BÃ¸ggild said. âCustomers want an integrated experience, and we needed to channel our limited resources into our core mission, not a custom editor.â`

## Moving Forward

Postbuddy is steadily adding new template options and exploring deeper customization of the editorâs UI, aiming to further reduce friction for less tech-savvy users. Plans also include a more dynamic plugin-based onboarding system. By leveraging IMG.LYâs ongoing product updates, Postbuddy can continue refining features that matter most to its direct mail audience.

For now, the integration with the Editor SDK supports Postbuddyâs core objective: to bring data-rich personalization to direct mail campaigns in a way that feels as straightforward as email. Through a combination of advanced functionality and steady user guidance, the platform now helps businesses of all sizes run marketing campaigns that stand out, even in a crowded digital landscape.

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