At Innovative Response Marketing, we spend a lot of time defending direct mail. On any given day, when we tell people what we do, we get at least one person who says: “Wow mail, that has to be a dying industry”.
We completely understand that technology has changed the industry, after all, we have been doing this for almost 30 years! But, our personal experience and effective market research has shown that direct mail marketing has not been damaged by technology. In fact, using the proper direct mail messages can actually enhance visits to a webpage and encourage customers to buy online. You can utilize both mediums to garner a greater response from your target market.
There is also the benefit of tangible marketing. Not everyone likes to save everything to a cell phone! One of the most successful campaigns we have seen in recent years included a tip-on card – a small, tangible item – that could be removed from the direct mail piece, placed in your wallet and used for cost savings at your favourite restaurant.
So when we defend direct mail marketing, we often end the conversation with “Direct mail isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” To prove that claim, we have assembled 3 main reasons why we feel direct mail is trumping email in the marketing world.
1. In-Box Crowding
Be honest – how many emails do you receive each day? How many do you read? The simple fact is that most of us get more emails each day than we can possibly absorb.
Our inboxes are completely crowded with work emails, personal communication, updates, and being CC’d on everything a colleague says. We read the important ones, we skim and delete most and some are sent directly to a Clutter folder. Not a great outcome for a marketing message and certainly not the venue for any campaign that requires a call to action by a certain date (think a sale or event).
We know that people throw away mail pieces too. But, market research from Canada Post has shown us that: Direct mail gets noticed, opened and read; our brains are hard-wired to pay more attention to it. 74% of Canadian consumers always or sometimes notice advertising in direct mail.
2. Personal & Tangible
You want to ensure that your piece is not being thrown out, but how do you do that? First, you need your direct mail piece, such as a direct mail postcard, to connect with your target on a personal level. The easiest step? Personalize your mailing. Put the customer’s name and address on every piece you send.
Direct mail marketing is all about providing a tangible way to “talk” directly to your target. Strong graphics that resonate, a good call to action and the ability for your prospect to actually touch, feel and retain your mail piece allows you to stand out from the constant demands on a multi-taskers attention – texts, tweets, Instagram posts – none of that is going to distract you from the direct mail piece sitting on your kitchen counter!
And once they have that piece in their hand, your sales copy can do its job.
3. Your Privacy
With the on-going advancements in technology comes an increased concern for privacy. We have apps that want to monitor our location, hackers breaking into secure sites and identity theft on the rise. People do not trust attachments and links in an email from someone they do not know. Spam filters are set to catch anything that looks remotely like marketing.
People are beginning to trust technology less and less.
The more “attachments” you put in your envelope, the more interesting the package can become. Your target is the only person who decides whether or not to read your offer and there is no way that it can create trust issues with the consumer.
In short, anyone can send an email, but direct mail marketing is something special these days. It has the ability to connect with customers on a deeper emotional level and provides a much higher response rate.
