155 Million +
delivery points exist, nationwide.
900,000 +
new addresses are added yearly.
~8,000,000
pieces of mail sent yearly for our clients.
$44.5 Billion
spent on direct mail last year.
BENEFITS
More and more ways to interact with our customers exist than ever before. Some are dying off and new ones are sprouting up every day. New key audiences are becoming more difficult to reach as we speak. Direct Mail still holds up well in the mix, and here are some reasons why it can be a very smart strategy:
It performs well.
- Direct Marketing produced $2.05 trillion in sales in 2012 – representing roughly 8.7% of US GDP.
- In general, for 2012, an investment of $1 in direct marketing ad expenditures is predicted to return, on average, $12.18 in incremental revenue across all industries.
- In the business to business market, 79% of professionals consider direct mail to be “effective” or “very effective”.
- Direct mail has the highest rate of success in new customer acquisition at 34%.
- 40% of consumers say that they have tried a new business after receiving direct mail, and 70% have renewed relationships with businesses that they had previously ceased using.
Direct Mail is beating out other mediums.
- Targeted directed mail boasts a 4.4% response rate, compared to email’s rate of 0.12%.
- 4/5 (79%) of consumers will act on direct mail immediately compared to only 45% who say they deal with email straightaway.
- Direct mail still reigns supreme, offering response rates of 1.1 to 1.4% versus 0.03% for email, 0.04% for Internet display ads, and 0.22% for paid search.
- Over the past decade, the percentage reading a print newspaper has fallen by 18 points (from 41% to 23%).
- The response rate for Direct Mail to an existing customer averages 3.4%, compared to 0.12% for email.
(Information collected from the CMO Council and Printing Industries Alliance.)
We’re not interesting in guiding our clients toward the wrong solution. Since we offer so many services, we don’t have anything to lose by engaging in honest consultation about the best bang for your buck. Consider the factors below when considering starting, expanding, or tuning in your Direct Mail efforts.
What are the trends?
- 18% of young people between the ages of 22 and 24 say they will respond to direct mail. A good sign as Millennials take control of the market!
- It’s a good chance to show your “green” side. 70 percent of direct mail pieces come from recycled materials.
- 12% of direct marketers surveyed say they intend to decrease direct mail spend.
- Spending on direct marketing, which uses consumer data lists, continues to grow at a healthy 5 percent clip.
- Direct Mail remains the largest single direct marketing expenditure, at $41.2 billion.
- The typical organization receives more than three-quarters of its total gifts through direct mail and only 10% of its gifts online.
Follow some best-practices.
- Size matters! Consult with an expert (us!) to identify the best size for the piece and any effects on your budget that may have.
- Offer multiple channels of communication back to you. Use Direct Mail in concert with other outlets like web and social media.
- Integrate with those other mediums to amplify the message.
- Include calls to action and deadlines/expiration dates. Urgency is key, and helps in measurement.
- Use accurate data and targeting, including carrier routes, income, and other demographics.
- Employ technology with features like variable data, customizing content and imagery by gender or other criteria.
- Timing is everything. Put our expert advice to use, buy the right postage, and make sure your mail hits when it’s supposed to.
- Become a mail stalker. We can track your mail as it travels so you’ll be in-the-know on how it’s going.
- Never settle for mediocre printing or sloppy labels with smeared ink. Our merged data is printed with the full piece, for a deliberate and quality integration.
