Getting Started with PostKnock

PostKnock is built so you can go from "never used the product" to "first postcard in the mail" in about half an hour. There is no installer, no integration, no contract. This guide walks through every step in order, so you can follow along while your first campaign comes together.

If you get stuck at any point, email support@postknock.com. We reply to every message within a business day.

Step 1: Sign Up (2 minutes)

Head to app.postknock.com/signup and create your account using either Google or your work email. Signing up doesn't take a card — you add a payment method and fund your wallet later, before anything actually mails.

Once your account is created you go straight into the onboarding wizard. It's designed to "always feel almost done": four short questions, one per screen. You'll never see a long form or a settings page with 40 fields.

Pro tip: Use the same email address that the rest of your team can access. Account ownership transfers are a manual process today, so picking a shared inbox up front saves friction later.

Step 2: Answer Four Questions (3 minutes)

The onboarding wizard asks only what it needs to put a sensible first campaign in front of you:

Your business. Pick a category, then your industry. This determines which playbooks and recommended messaging you see by default. If yours isn't listed, choose General / Other.
Your list. A yes/no gate-check on whether you already have contacts to mail. Answering "not yet" doesn't block anything — it just surfaces the missing list on your Launch Checklist later.
Your playbook. A pre-built campaign sequence for your industry. More on this in Step 4.
Postcard size. 4×6, 6×9 or 6×11. You can change this per design afterwards.

On the Free plan you'll also be asked to choose a plan; accounts that are already on Pro skip that screen.

Deliberately not asked here: your return address, your logo and brand colours, and your contact list. Those are all Launch Checklist items you handle once you can see a real campaign on screen. Onboarding's job is to get you something concrete fast, not to collect every field up front.

Finishing the wizard creates a draft campaign and drops you on its detail page with the Launch Checklist showing what's left.

Step 3: Upload Your First Contacts (5–10 minutes)

PostKnock's default assumption is that you're mailing to your own customer list. Patients, clients, or prospects you already have. The fastest way to get them in is a CSV upload from your practice management or CRM system.

The required columns are simple:

first_name
last_name
address1
city
state
zip

Optional columns like phone, email, and last_visit unlock follow-up calls and smarter segmentation but aren't required for your first campaign.

When you drag your CSV into the import wizard, PostKnock auto-maps your column headers to the standard schema. If your headers don't match exactly (for example, "FirstName" instead of "first_name"), you'll see a one-click adjust panel so you can correct the mapping before importing.

For a deeper walkthrough (including how to export from Dentrix, ServiceTitan, ChiroTouch, and AVImark) see How to Import Contacts from a CSV File.

Step 4: Pick a Playbook (3 minutes)

A playbook is a pre-built campaign template. It defines how many waves there are, the timing between them, the suggested messaging, default UTMs, and starter call scripts. PostKnock ships with playbooks tuned for each industry: "Dental Recall," "HVAC Maintenance," "Veterinary Wellness Reminder," and so on.

Pick the playbook that matches what you're trying to accomplish. The most common starting playbook is the "Recall" or "Reactivation" template: reaching out to existing customers who haven't been seen in 6+ months. Onboarding asks you to pick one, so if nothing fits exactly, take the closest — every headline, offer and wave is editable afterwards. If you'd rather write your own from a blank slate, use Just exploring? Skip to dashboard and create the campaign yourself from Campaigns → New Campaign, where Write it myself is offered as a starting point.

A key thing to understand: a playbook controls the messaging structure (timing, wave count, copy, scripts), but it does not include a postcard design. Designs and messaging are separate, shuffleable layers in PostKnock. Once you pick a playbook, you'll choose a postcard design template in the next step.

Step 5: Customize Your Postcard (5–10 minutes)

Your playbook supplied the words, not the artwork — messaging and visual design are separate layers in PostKnock. Click Open Design Studio from the Launch Checklist to build the card itself.

The studio opens on four style directions (Clean Photo, Bold Color Block, Minimal White, Modern Gradient). Pick one and it rebuilds the card in that direction, already populated with your wave 1 headline, offer and call-to-action. Randomize reshuffles it, and you can lock down individual parts — layout, colours, fonts, photo — so shuffling one doesn't disturb the rest. Setting a Brand Kit (logo and colours) once means every future design starts from your branding.

Choosing I like this one — Refine opens the editor where you change the actual copy, switch postcard size (4×6, 6×9 or 6×11) and decide where the QR code sits — front, back, both, or off.

For a step-by-step version of this with screenshots, see How to Launch a Campaign, or Customizing Your Postcard Design for every editor feature.

Step 6: Proof, Review and Launch (5–10 minutes)

Applying a design isn't the same as approving it. The checklist item flips to Proof Your Design, and clicking Review & Approve renders your card to a real print file so you can see exactly what will come off the press — address block, barcode and all. It takes a minute or two, and you have to look at both sides before the approve button unlocks.

Two other things gate the Launch button: a return address (set under Admin → Organization — it's printed on every card) and a funded wallet. You're charged per piece as cards mail, so you don't have to cover the whole campaign up front.

With all four checklist items green, walk through Review Setup once — a short confirmation pass over your designs, send pace, and QR tracking destination — and the Launch button goes live. Only wave 1 has to be finished to launch; later waves can be built while wave 1 is in the mail, and contacts wait rather than skipping ahead.

After launch, your dashboard updates with delivery progress, QR scan counts, and (if you opted in) the call queue for your front desk. For the basics on how multiple touches compound into higher response rates, see our blog post on patient recall best practices.

What Happens Next

USPS First-Class delivery takes 3–5 business days from the date the cards drop. Each scan of the QR code is logged against the recipient, so by the end of week one you'll start to see attribution data on your dashboard. If you opted into call follow-up (Pro only), the call queue activates automatically 3–5 days after the postcards are mailed.

From here, you can keep going: add more contacts, schedule wave 2, or start a second campaign for a different segment. A single PostKnock account can run as many concurrent campaigns as you want.

Ready to start your first campaign?

Free plan, no monthly fee, no minimum. You only pay for cards you actually mail.

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Getting Started with PostKnock: Your First 30 Minutes