As per research, Americans still opt for direct mail over the digital form. In fact, more than 75% of people still trust the ads they receive in their mailbox. It’s because with users receiving more than 100 emails per day, it’s hard to engage them with emails. Contrary to that, four out of ten users love checking their mailbox.
It still holds some emotional connection. Who doesn’t like surfing through the mailbox to see what’s inside? That’s not all. As per the Data and Marketing Association, the direct mail had a 43% increase in the customer response rate. And it does not end there. The prospect response rate increased by around 150%.
Still don’t believe that? The following facts might help you understand the importance of direct mail marketing even in the age of digital transformation.
It Has High Return on Investment
It might surprise many business owners that direct mail advertising gives a lot more returns than paid ads or online display ads. Shocked! But as per survey, direct mail has an ROI of around 25%. In fact, it’s just behind email and social media when it comes to ROI.
If you go by the click-through rates, direct email has around 3%. In short, with direct mail marketing, you get a chance to engage with your customers in the most effective way than any other marketing channel.
It is Equivalent to Personalized Data-Driven Advertising
This is a great way to expand your business to the prospects that were earlier seemed unreachable. With so many data analytics software and applications available, marketers are using that data to find the right audience. That way, you can deliver the best results without exceeding your budget.
In fact, you can use that data to create personalized mails to a certain degree that allows you to grab the customers’ attention right away! It’s no more about sending mails to everyone. For instance, depending on the specific environments, you can tweak your direct mails to varied income groups simultaneously.
Leveraging the data and combining it with direct mail marketing will help you create targeted campaigns. In short, it will eventually increase your chances of grabbing prospects that will turn into customers.
It Produces Better Results When Combined With Digital Marketing
It would be wrong to say that your business can flourish solely based on a single marketing strategy. Smart marketers know how to combine different marketing strategies to extract the most out of them.
For instance, while running a Facebook ad, paid search campaigns; direct mail campaigns increase customers’ loyalty towards your brand. For example, a brand sent out a direct mail to its customers, offering them a $20 discount with a scannable code.
Another brand used a technique to enhance the visibility of their hashtag #20helps. They produced better results since no one resisted participating in the event.
It Allows You to Target Customers Without Any Complexities Involved
This is no surprise that you have to go through all the complex ways to target your audience with digital marketing. It’s usually geofencing or geotargeting. But that does not allow you to restrict the mailing list further.
On the flip side, with direct mail marketing, you can target the addresses based on PO boxes, drop addresses, businesses, or seasonal dwellings. Again, if you use Direct mail services, you can target the audience based on age, area, population, household income, and renter/owner. In fact you can choose any category to create a personalized mailing list as per your ongoing campaign needs.
So, you can quickly refine the list of your prospects and that too, without investing much. Hence, you can easily reach the people you wish to target in the most cost-effective way.
It Has Less Competition as Compared to Others
Undoubtedly, with everyone so engrossed with digital marketing strategies, only a few smart marketers think of using this as an option to increase their outcome. In short, you have higher chances of standing out as compared to your competitors. Think about it like this. For the keyword “how to send awesome direct mail,” Google shows around 6,000,000 possible answers. But with mailboxes, you have a limited number of choices so that the outcome can be more fruitful.
Hence, if you take this option seriously, you can increase the chances of being memorable. And if you use oversized postcards or magnets that can be used in daily life, the chances of prospects becoming customers increases a lot more.
It Helps to Elevate Brand Recognition
With emails, most users feel insecure about the emails being spam. And if, by any chance, after opening your mailer, their system gets attacked by any malware. The impact will be even more daunting.
Plus, if you are starting out, customers won’t feel that connection to open your email as compared to the name they already have dealt with. So, with direct mail, you can give yourself the opportunity to let customers know about your brand and why they should opt for your products/services.
It is Easily Trackable
Is it? Some marketers might think, “how is it even possible?” Right? We are not implying that you can follow every piece of mail that you mailed to your customers. But there are many aspects that you can track which will help you understand if your strategy is working or not.
Here’s how you can do it.
- You can add a specific number that will cater to only direct mail campaigns. So, you can quickly determine how many customers came through direct mails.
- You can use the option of QR codes that will take the customers either to your website or the landing page. Now you know you can track how the customers landed on such pages. Right?
- You can also go a little further and create personalized landing pages for every recipient. But that’s only possible if the mailing list or size is small.
- You can also use coupon code to know how many customers used that code to interact with your products or services.
Isn’t that easy? I am sure you’ll find it a lot more comfortable than tracking Google Analytics or other metrics.
Wrapping up
The most compelling reason that direct mail advertising is still alive is that this form of marketing caters to people of all ages, unlike other marketing strategies. For example, more than 30% of seniors don’t use the internet. Also, only 46% of adults use Facebook. So, using this marketing, you can engage the ones who are still away from digital trends.
Other than that, most people try to click away from digital advertisements. And since we are bombarded with hundreds of such ads every day, using a means that has almost a guarantee of getting noticed must be on the top of your priorities.
Remember, people, remember things that touch them personally and emotionally together. With direct mail, you can be creative to attract the attention of your customers instantly. So, if you have the time to put together some amazing pieces of information for your customers, using direct mail marketing must be a go-to marketing strategy for improving various aspects of your business.
So, what reason is compelling enough for you to switch to direct mail marketing?
