How Upstart Breaks Through the Noise to Build Pipeline with Sendoso
When email open rates hover at 2%, digital outreach isn't enough to reach top executives. Upstart partnered with Sendoso to cut through the noise with direct mail, generating over 50% of their first meetings from physical packages. Ready to rethink your outreach?
Challenge
Upstart needed to build partnerships with financial executives—some of the most heavily targeted professionals in the world. But with email open rates at just 2% and AI-generated spam flooding inboxes, their team was actively being ignored. They needed a way to bypass the digital noise and get their message directly into the hands of decision-makers.
Solution
Upstart transformed its outreach by putting direct mail at the center of a multi-touch strategy. Using Sendoso, they lead 90% of their campaigns with high-quality, memorable gifts like Apple AirTags and high-end coffee. Sendoso handles the inventory and shipping logistics, while direct CRM integrations give sales reps real-time delivery alerts so they can reach out exactly when the package lands on a prospect's desk.
Results
Upstart built a repeatable pipeline engine by moving away from digital spam and showing up in the real world.
90%
of Upstart's outreach campaigns with physical, direct mail touchpoints.
>50%
of Upstart’s first meetings with high-level executives generated with direct mail campaigns.
The Challenge: Reaching Decision Makers in an Overcrowded Market
“They’re inundated each and every day with messages from potential vendors. Email open rates are 2–3%. Phone pickup rates are 2–3%. Getting through is harder than it’s ever been in my 35-year career.”
For Upstart, the leading AI-powered lending marketplace, growth depends on building strong partnerships with banks, credit unions, and financial institutions to provide more capital to more borrowers. But building these partnerships requires capturing the attention of a highly specific group of executives within these institutions.
That level of focus creates both opportunity and difficulty. On one hand, it’s a relatively small list of people for Upstart’s team to target. On the other, those individuals are among the most heavily targeted professionals in the world.
“They’re inundated each and every day with messages from potential vendors,” says Michael Lock, Upstart’s Senior Vice President of Lending Partnerships. “Email open rates are 2–3%. Phone pickup rates are 2–3%. Getting through is harder than it’s ever been in my 35-year career.”
With the rise of AI-generated outreach—including automated emails and AI SDRs—Lock believes the challenge is only intensifying.
“Whatever level of noise is out there today—call it a nine out of ten—it’s about to go to a hundred,” he warns.
For Upstart’s marketing and sales teams, this creates a fundamental challenge: how do you get your message in front of someone who is actively ignoring nearly every channel you use?
The Strategy: A Multi-Touch Approach with Direct Mail at the Center
“People are not picking up the phone. They’re not reading emails,” Lock explains. “But you know what they do? They open packages.”
To cut through the noise, Upstart has made direct mail and gifting a core part of its growth strategy. Using Sendoso, the team sends beautifully packaged, on-brand gifts designed to spark conversations with high-value prospects.
- 90% of campaigns are led with direct mail
- More than 50% of first meetings come from direct mail campaigns
“We believe in multi-channel, multi-touch outreach. But the tip of the spear is direct mail powered by Sendoso.”
Breaking Through with Memorable Experiences
“We really value the opportunity with Sendoso to send high-quality items that people actually want to keep—on their desk or in their daily lives.”
For Augie Phillips, Senior Manager of Account-Based Marketing, the power of gifting lies in delivering creative, high-quality experiences.
“So many pieces of corporate swag just end up in the trash,” he says. “We really value the opportunity with Sendoso to send high-quality items that people actually want to keep—on their desk or in their daily lives.”
“You’re not going to delight somebody with a cold call,” he adds. “But a package landing on someone’s desk—with a message and a gift they actually want—that’s an experience they won’t forget.”
Examples include:
- Apple AirTags with the message “Never lose track of performance”
- Potted plants tied to themes of growth and milestones
- High-end coffee sent to CEOs as part of a “You Deserve the Best” campaign
- Scented candles for the holidays—one of their highest-performing campaigns
“It’s not about what you think the customer wants,” Lock reflects. “It’s about something innovative and different that catches attention.”
Turning Gifting into Meetings
“It’s much easier to ask, ‘Did you receive the gift?’ than, ‘Do you have two minutes for a sales pitch?’
One of the most impactful aspects of Upstart’s use of Sendoso is how it transforms follow-up, giving sales teams a natural, human way to start conversations.
“It gives our team a reason to call that’s not asking for anything,” says Phillips. “It’s much easier to ask, ‘Did you receive the gift?’ than, ‘Do you have two minutes for a sales pitch?’”
To ensure timely follow-up, Sendoso integrates directly with Upstart’s systems, providing real-time updates on shipping and delivery. This allows reps to reach out at the exact moment when the brand is top of mind.
“We reach out before the package arrives, when it arrives, and after,” explains Gary Liu, Vice President of Marketing at Upstart. “Those are the moments when we know we have their attention.”
The result is a coordinated, multi-touch experience that significantly improves conversion rates.
Scaling Mailings Without the Stress
Before Sendoso, managing direct mail at scale was nearly impossible.
“I had hundreds of boxes showing up in my office,” Phillips recalls. “I was packing them myself, writing notes by hand—it’s just not possible to do at the scale we need.”
Sendoso removes that operational burden by handling key logistics, including:
- Inventory and warehousing
- Creation of on-brand packaging
- Shipping and tracking
- CRM integrations for targeting and follow-up
This enables Upstart to run campaigns at any scale—from broad outreach across multiple levels of leadership to highly targeted efforts focused on the C-suite.
The Future: Human Connection in an AI-Driven World
“When someone gets a package, you know it’s not AI. It feels like one human reaching out to another.”
As AI-driven outreach continues to grow, Upstart believes the value of real-world experiences will only increase.
“In a world of AI-generated noise, real-life experiences are going to be much more important,” Lock says.
Sendoso enables exactly that: a tangible, human connection that cuts through digital clutter.
“When someone gets a package, you know it’s not AI,” Lock explains. “It feels like one human reaching out to another.”
Conclusion: Turning Attention into Pipeline
For Upstart, the challenge isn’t just crafting a compelling message—it’s ensuring that message is actually seen.
By placing direct mail at the center of a multi-channel strategy and leveraging Sendoso to execute at scale, Upstart has built a repeatable, high-performing pipeline engine.
- They reach the right people with the right message
- They create memorable, differentiated experiences
- They give their teams better ways to engage
- They convert attention into meaningful business outcomes
In a world where digital noise continues to rise, Upstart’s approach offers a clear lesson:
Sometimes the most effective way to stand out… is to show up in the real world.
Campaign Details
“People are not picking up the phone. They’re not reading emails. But you know what they do? They open packages.”
Michael Lock
Senior Vice President of Lending Partnerships
