What’s been your experience? Are you more likely to make a purchase based on something you first saw in print in your letter box or online in your inbox?
Are you part of the 33% who find direct mail the most effective way to remember a product? How about the 79% of consumers who will act on direct mail immediately? Or maybe you’re part of the 74% of consumers who can’t wait to find out what’s in their letter box?[1]
In a tough economy when businesses are slashing budgets and wanting a clear ROI on every Rand spent, there’s nothing like direct marketing to validate your marketing investment. Businesses love finding new ways to connect with customers, but what if one of the oldest ways is still one of the most effective?
Part of direct mail’s longevity is its strong results, but those results don’t come without challenges. One important detail is making sure you have a strong list: a list with appropriate up-to-date information on your target market.[2]
A well-executed direct mail campaign, combined with work in other channels, will get noticed and build engagement with your target audience. In fact, it must be considered for any one-to-one campaign, if strategy, time and budget are to align.
According to the 2015 DMA (USA) Response Rate Report:
- Direct mail is over 7x more effective than all digital channels combined.
- Direct Mail, even with its higher cost, offers the same ROI as social media at 15% – 17%.
- 3.73% is the median direct mail response rate for warm prospects that have opted in to receive information. The only medium higher is telephone calls with a response rate of 9%-10%. (Email, social media, paid search, mobile and internet display together tallied only at 0.62% median response!)
- Direct mail formats continue to play a role in response rate and cost per response. Oversized envelopes have the best response rate at 5.0%, followed by postcards at 4.25%, dimensional 4.0%, catalogues 3.9% and letter-sized envelopes 3.5%.[3]
Direct Mail is Tangible
Is there a marketing method that offers a more tangible solution than direct mail? Studies show that once the audience opens a piece of direct mail, studies show they are far more likely to take the time to look over the offer than they would in comparison to email marketing.[4]
Direct Mail allows you to weave traditional and digital approaches together to drive your marketing efforts
Studies successfully showed that using personalised direct mail as part of a wider digital strategy can see response rates for a campaign hit over 20%.[5]
While direct mail is also a competitive discipline, there is less direct mail going out than ever before and with nearly 80% of consumers saying they will open all their postal mail (including the so-called ‘junk mail’) it is likely that your message will end up with the correct person and without any competition with it.[6]
Thus, direct mail can play a pivotal role in reaching certain offline customers that refuse to be contacted online and allows you to keep your offers open to all audiences rather than just the majority who fit your online strategy.
Direct Mail Allows Creativity
Direct mail campaigns are all about getting creative and delivering something that your customers cannot resist. Many consumers still value paper based communication because it engages them via the use of sight, touch, smell and a wealth of tangible creativity that doesn’t exist online.[7]
If you are experiencing difficulties with customer contact data and ensuring your mailing campaign is successful in reaching your audience, IDATA can help ensure that your customer contact data is clean and PAMSS compliant, saving you on your mail and helping ensure that post is delivered.
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-taylor/why-direct-mail-marketing_b_10627116.html
[2] http://blog.staples.ca/2015/10/21/direct-mail-is-still-alive-and-stronger-than-ever-heres-how-to-run-a-successful-campaign/
[3] http://www.iwco.com/blog/2015/04/14/dma-response-rate-report-and-direct-mail/
[4] https://www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?view=all&category=direct-marketing
[5] http://www.dmnews.com/direct-mail/will-programmatic-direct-mail-be-the-new-growth-channel/article/480676/
[6] https://magazine.dashburst.com/infographic/mail-dead-or-alive/
[7] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-taylor/why-direct-mail-marketing_b_10627116.html