At first glance, direct mail may appear to have lost the glitz and glamour it once had a few decades ago.
Most marketers today may also not find it as their go-to marketing approach because it appears to be outdated and dead.
However, contrary to the popular belief, direct mail is still a viable form of advertisement. In fact, not only is direct mail alive and well, but it’s also a more effective marketing approach than digital methods based on recent studies and statistics.
In this post, we discuss why direct mail is still popular despite the major technological advancement in marketing and why savvy marketers need to consider it.
Top medium for high response
Although total mail volume has been declining over the years, direct mail response still holds strong compared to other forms of marketing.
According to DMA’s Rate of response report, direct mail campaigns get a 4.4% response rate while emails get 0.12%. Additionally, the report also found that the response rates are consistent and can be anywhere from 10 to 30 percent higher than email marketing.
In an era where everybody’s digital mailbox is cluttered with junk emails and subscriptions, direct mail seems to be a more welcome and scalable approach to marketing.
DIRECT MAIL GETS MORE ATTENTION
Think about the number of emails you receive each day. Do you find the number of emails overwhelmingly high?
Well, you are not alone. Research shows the average office worker receives about 121 emails every day.
That’s a lot!
Now let’s think about the number of mail pieces you receive in a day. I bet the number is much, much lower. With the low number of mails sent to the average person, direct mail pieces naturally get more attention than emails.
The overall decline in direct mail volume also translates to less competition and people are more likely to notice mail pieces when there are fewer of them.
CONSUMERS FEEL MORE VALUED
Giving and receiving physical items is an experience that most people value. Therefore, even the most obvious junk mail we receive in our mailbox gives us an experience most emails will never have: feeling valued.
In a study conducted in 2017, 70% of the respondents said they felt valued more by companies that sent them direct mail. This figure was a 62.7% increase in 10 years compared to the 57% people who ‘felt valued’ in 2013 and 43% in 2017.
BEYOND THE STEREOTYPE: ‘MILLENNIALS DON’T READ MAIL’
You know the myth: Millennials are young digital addicts, glued to their screens and won’t find an ad incredible if it is not on one of their favorite social media platforms.
But the truth is millennials too respond to low-tech marketing approaches like the good ol’ fashioned postal mail. Doubting that?
Consider this: USPS research showed that 84% of Millennials take time to look through their postal mail and that 64% would rather go through their mail to find useful information than their email.
And it’s easy to see where the stats come from.
Millennials are often overwhelmed every day with work and personal emails, digital advertising, blog subscription to a point that they now suffer from digital fatigue. Print media allows them to escape from the constant digital messages and notifications bombarding them all the time.
THE BOTTOM LINE – DIRECT MAIL MARKETING STILL REIGNS SUPREME!
It is easy to see why direct mail still remains a key and crucial part of today’s marketing. Direct marketing adds a personal touch to your marketing campaigns by creating ads that are not only more memorable but also more converting than digital marketing.
SOURCES
- https://www.iwco.com/blog/2019/01/16/direct-mail-response-rates-dominate-other-channels/
- https://www.campaignmonitor.com/blog/email-marketing/2019/05/shocking-truth-about-how-many- emails-sent/
- https://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/26/direct-mail-back-the-mix-consumers-consider-mail- believable-digital-channels-face
- https://united-mail.com/blog/2019/marketing-for-the-millennial-mailbox/
- https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-15-012.pdf
