The Cold, Hard Facts About Direct Mail Marketing

In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the cold hard facts you need to know about direct mail. Once you’ve digested them, you’ll get a sense of why this method of marketing is worth your time. 

People Keep Mail Advertising For An Average Of 17 Days

Google, Facebook, and other major advertising platforms like to charge companies lots of money for remarketing. Remarketing is where they serve up an advertisement that a user has already seen on a third-party site. The idea is to remind people of their interest in a particular product and encourage them to part with their cash. Thus you can end up paying twice: once for the original ad, and then again for the follow-ups. It can all get rather expensive. 

With mail, though, it’s different. According to the data, people hang on to their correspondence for an average of 17 days. That’s a long time, and it means that they usually interact with it several times before discarding it. 

More Than 96 Percent Of People Regularly Unsubscribe From Emails

Building email lists is a significant part of modern marketing according to https://www.wordstream.com/. Gurus tell companies that they need to gather as many names and email addresses as possible so that they can conduct effective marketing campaigns. 

But there’s a problem, though: customers have an annoying habit of unsubscribing. Most people don’t want a constant torrent of irrelevant emails cluttering up their inboxes. It’s a hassle and gets in the way of all their essential correspondence. 

Some email services, like Gmail, have made progress in sidestepping this issue by providing separate tabs for promotions. But many users still use older services, and they don’t have such advanced features. 

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that more than 96 percent of people unsubscribe from emails after signing up. That’s a shockingly high number that only serves to make direct mail more appealing. 

56 Percent Of Customers Say That Direct Mail Always Grabs Their Attention

There’s a reason that sites like https://www.action-mailing.com/direct-mail-marketing promote direct mail: it has an uncanny ability to grab people’s attention. 

Think about the last time a pizza menu popped through your door. There’s a good chance that it grabbed your attention, even if you didn’t order anything. The bright colors and promise of delicious food were enough to leave you wanting more. 

Interestingly, though, a similar thing happens across the rest of direct mail advertising. Consumers don’t just throw out mail they don’t want – they regularly glance at it and consider it. For that reason, it can be far more effective than regular digital banner ads. 

Only 28 Percent Of People Consider Direct Mail As A Negative Form Of Marketing

Twenty-eight percent of people might sound like a lot, but it is far lower than other forms of marketing. 

More than 76 percent of people consider cold calling to be a bad thing. Forty-eight percent don’t like auto-playing online advertisements. And 63 percent despise pop-up ads. 

When you view direct mail in that context, you soon realize how positive it is. People certainly dislike it far less than practically every other form of advertising currently available. 

85 Percent Of Recipients Rated Their Mail As Useful If It Came From A Company They Knew

Every marketer worth his or her salt knows that building an email list is vital for getting customers onboard. Nobody wants a firm they don’t remember to spam them all day with emails. They only want stuff from companies with which they already have a relationship.

The same is true of direct mail. People don’t want random people sending them junk in the post. They want content they’ve asked for. That way, they are more grateful and happy when they receive it. 

Building relationships with customers first, therefore, can boost your marketing efforts. The more you can convince them of the virtues of direct mail ahead of time, the more likely they are to appreciate any correspondence you do wind up sending them. 

Direct Mail Feels More Authoritative

People are used to receiving emails and then dumping them in their trash. All it requires is a quick click, and then it’s gone. 

Physical mail, on the other hand, feels more authoritative. This fact is why so many utility companies still send out their bills via the post. They want to remind people that they have no choice but to pay. Likewise, companies only rarely send requests for late payment via email. Instead, they hit people with the full force of a physical letter. It’s somehow different. 

31 Percent Of People Won’t Open Your Letter If You Fail To Spell Their Name Correctly

In life, it is often the little things that count. The way that you spell a person’s name has no impact on your ability to serve them, but it can alter their perceptions of you. If you misspell their name on direct mail, they may not bother to open the envelope at all. 

Direct Mail Consumes Around 43 Percent Of Total Retail Advertising

Where are people spending all their marketing dollars? The answer isn’t digital marketing, TV, or radio. Primarily, it is through direct mail, especially in the retail sector. It consumes a whopping 43 percent of total spend according to the data. 

There’s a lot of conversation about the benefits that digital marketing brings. And even though that is true, it is not the only method you can use to reach your customers. Fleshing out other options is a powerful way to communicate about your brand and build new audiences. 

Don’t be afraid to experiment with new things. You might not be able to tweak direct mail in the same way that you can PPC advertising, but that doesn’t mean it is outdated. It still works – and that’s what counts.