There is no doubt that we live in a digital world. Most of us check our email and social media feeds before we even get out of bed in the morning. What does this mean for your brand? An obvious need to allocate a good portion of your budget to online channels.
Even so, in a world that has been working, going to school, and socializing online during this pandemic, digital fatigue is a real problem. Your ability to connect with your customers in the tangible way that direct mail allows is more important now than ever before.
Before you give up on the analog world to go fully-digital, we want to share a list of statistics that show those that ignore the mailbox do so at their own peril. As you read the list below, we challenge you to think about how you might pair your digital efforts with a renewed focus on direct mail to invigorate your response and conversion rates and drive your sales to new heights.
Direct mail by the Numbers:
Conclusion 1: People Love Getting Mail, and They’re Actually Reading It
- 73% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail because they can read it whenever they want.
- 59% of US respondents say they enjoy getting mail from brands about new products.
- 41% of Americans of all ages look forward to checking their mail each day.
- 2% of direct mail recipients either read or scan every piece of mail they get.
- Advertising mail is kept in a household for 17 days on average.
- 9% of recipients say they find postcards useful.
Conclusion 2: Direct Mail Drives Customer Behavior
- Over the last 10 years, direct mail response rates have tripled (or better) for both house lists (3% to 9%) and prospect lists (1% to 5%).
- 60% of catalog recipients visit the website of the company that mailed them the catalog.
Conclusion 3: Direct Mail Simply Makes Brands More Money
- Direct mail recipients purchase 28% more items and spend 28% more money than people who don’t get that same piece of direct mail.
- In the last year the ROI of direct mail increased by 12% and exceeds that of online display.
Challenges
The potential for direct mail is impossible to ignore, but it can be difficult and expensive to employ for brands without the know-how and experience. The most common direct mail challenges listed by marketers tell the story:
- 7% say the cost can be prohibitive.
- 8% say maintaining reliable address lists can be difficult.
- 3% say that it takes too much time to set up and run personalized, effective campaigns through the mail.
We get it. Direct mail can be intimidating. But at ALitho, we’ve been focused on making printing and direct mail marketers faster, easier, and cheaper for all of our partner brands for decades. Direct mail is what we do, and we do it well.
Are you Ready?
If ready to explore direct mail as an arm of your marketing efforts, let us know. As a leader in direct mail, we’d love to show you how we can lower your costs, help you target better, and easily personalize your pieces.
Sources:
- Association of National Advertisers – Demand Metric Analysis Research
- CompereMedia Research – The State of Direct Mail: Insights from 200 Marketing Leaders
- USPS Industry Outreach – Direct Mail Statistics That Will Have You Running to the Post Office
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