Between social channels, favorite websites and full email inboxes, marketers are competing with many pleas for attention online. That’s why direct mail begins with an advantage that only partially reflects the value of a higher investment—it is more likely to reach its intended recipient. Research shows that 75 percent of consumers read or at least scan their mail daily.
Direct mail is also more memorable. Consumers are exposed to thousands of marketing messages each day—radio, TV, point of purchase, billboards, social ads, email and online ads, etc. It’s difficult for any of us to remember what we’ve seen or heard. Yet one research study found that direct mail is easier to mentally process than digital marketing is. The results showed that 75% of participants were able to recall the brand name from a direct mail piece they had seen compared to 44% who viewed a digital ad.
Not only that, across generations direct mail is considered to be more trustworthy than other digital or traditional marketing. Another plus—consumers with higher income are more likely to respond to direct mail than those with lower income.
It’s natural to compare direct mail to email—they both go directly to individuals—yet direct mail still stands out for effectiveness. A Direct Marketing Association report showed that response rates for direct mail to an in-house list is 5.1% compared to 0.6% response for email to an in-house list.