Would you like to know a time-tested way to reach more customers, communicate directly with your ideal target audience and market to prospects in a vacuum?
Marketing departments can do all of this without social media, sending emails or using fancy software.
You can do it all – with direct mail marketing.
For years, we’ve heard that “direct mail is dead,” or “I’d rather spend my budget on digital than get pitched in the trash,” or “email is a better, cheaper alternative.”
But since 2004, direct mail response rates have increased by 14 percent while email response rates have declined by 57 percent. As email open rates continue to decline, direct mail is more attractive than ever – and it’s a game changer for any serious marketing campaign.
Too many cooks
While more and more companies are marketing online, the digital advertising space is becoming more cluttered. As a result, people are tuning out online marketing and ad blockers are gaining popularity among web users. This opens a big space for direct mail to come into play.
Since mail in general is used less frequently, any direct mail advertisement will stand out more. Because direct mail is more likely to get read, it increases your brand awareness. If a marketing strategy personalizes its mailers rather than treating the consumer as an afterthought, that material will stand out from the often-discarded “junk mail.”
If you open all your direct mail, you’re among the 70 to 80 percent of consumers who open almost all their mail, including junk mail. According to the Data and Marketing Association, 90 percent of direct mail gets opened and read compared with just 20 to 30 percent of email. In addition, 98 percent of Americans check their mail every day, and 79 percent of consumers act immediately on direct mail, while only 45 percent said the same for emails.
With the world becoming more digital by the day, the decreased clutter in physical mailboxes and attention paid to personalized marketing makes direct mail a great way to drive a one-on-one conversation.
Below are a few more reasons why direct mail should be in your marketing toolbelt.
- Direct mail campaigns give a high return on investment (ROI) – even higher than paid ads. They are effective in campaigns by themselves or alongside digital marketing.
- You can target the right customers at the right time, and it’s easy to track the results of each campaign you run.
- Unlike digital campaigns, direct mail has a larger appeal to every age group.
- As a physical product, direct mail allows more room for creativity and greater impact.
- It’s a missing personal touch in an increasingly digital and busy world.
FACTS ABOUT DIRECT MAIL
- 73% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail because they can read it whenever they want.
- 67% feel mail is more personal than the internet.
- 70% of consumers prefer traditional mail when it comes to unsolicited offers.
- 39% of customers say they engage with a business for the first time because of direct-mail advertising.
- 70% of Gen X consumers feel mail is more personal than online digital communications and are more likely to read promotional mail than emails.
- 82% of Millennials view messages printed on paper as more trustworthy than digital
- 92% of Millennials say they enjoy reading print marketing more than digital ads.
- Direct mail offers up to 112% ROI, followed by SMS with 102% and email at 93%.
- Industries with the highest use of direct mail are financial services at 71%, consumer packaged goods at 63%, retail at 55% and publishing/media at 54%.
Despite the belief that direct mail dead, it couldn’t be more alive. Make direct mail marketing a key component of your plan this year.
Need assistance? Let GAVIN help develop your next direct mail strategy. Contact us today.
