Here is a list of all the major benefits and disadvantages of direct mail marketing and postcard marketing in modern times.
As direct marketers ourselves, we know that mail-order companies don't want to waste their money sending mail to people who don't want to receive it. They'll gladly take your name off their lists when they're asked to do so. Ah, direct mail. It may seem like an outdated strategy, but it’s actually, well, not. Over the past few years, companies like LendingClub, Casper, and Everlane have all figured out how to perfect their direct mail campaigns, allowing them to engage with customers that might not see their traditional digital marketing and double down on people that have seen their other forms of marketing.
DirectMail.com is an industry leader providing Intelligent Marketing Solutions to the nation's leading brands, fundraisers, membership organizations and midmarket enterprises. We give organizations Insight & Analytics that turn their raw numbers into useful information to support strategic decision-making and bottom-line growth. Use the free Every Door Direct Mail ® (EDDM ®) mail route mapping tool to target addresses in specific areas, whether you're sending small business advertisements or large corporate mailings. Save money on marketing campaigns.
Advantages
1. Brand Retention
Direct Mail is one of the few marketing channels which engage all the senses, as you can touch and feel it. Because of this direct mail is over 5x more likely to be remembered compared to digital channels.
Research strongly suggests that consumers trust brands from direct mail much more than digital ads.
2. Response Rates vs Email
The average response rate of a direct mail campaign is between 2.7 – 4.4%. This dwarfs email response rates, so if you want to maximise the responses from your contacts direct mail is little known opportunity compared to email which has 0.12% response.
3. Household reach
The average piece of mail is kept in the household for 17 days. It is shared on average with members of the household 23% of the time and can also be shared on social media when done right.
4. Open rates are through the roof
82% of mail is opened, and 47% of direct mail is read or scanned. Because the competition for attention in the letterbox is currently so low, direct mail has incredibly high open and read rates compared with most digital channels.
5. Insane Impact
Direct mail is much more visual and physical, giving you much more freedom for creativity. See this list of some of the most creative direct mail campaigns to see how direct mail can instil emotion and impact in your audience.
6. Personalisation
Direct mail can be personalised so your promotion speaks directly to the contact. For example if using postary to send postcard marketing campaigns you can easily include dynamic text to include first name, or other personal information on the design and text of a card.
7. Highly Targeted
Because direct mail is direct, it can be highly targeted to existing customers, leads prospective customers. Although mailing lists can be bought and sold, using direct mail for on-boarding, re-targeting, and building loyalty are extremely effective.
8. GDPR friendly
Unlike email you don’t need explicit consent to send direct mail to your customers. You can often rely on legitimate interest. For more information on this see this article on how to send direct mail in a GDPR compliment way without requiring explicit consent.
Disadvantages
1. Cost
Direct mail has fixed costs as it needs to be sent through the postal system. You must also design the mail piece which may have an additional cost. You will need to work out the ROI (return on investment) to see how viable direct mail is for you.
Using a service like postary to send direct mail means there is no minimum order size, and you can either use the built in design templates, design your own, or request a custom hand crafted bespoke design.
2. Traditionally Time consuming
Direct Mailers
Depending if you use a traditional agency or a service like postary this isn’t so true anymore. But a consideration if you want to send out a very bespoke type of direct mail.
3. Not-instantanious
Mail isn’t delivered instantly, so depending on your requirements it may not be suitable for some types of campaign.
4. Requires Address data
It helps to be able to source the addresses of your contacts. Depending on your unique business this may not be possible to obtain.
Let Direct Mail Solutions save you time, money and the headaches
of managing your direct mail
We give our clients the power of one team. It’s like having a marketing campaign planner, graphic designer, project manager, printing company and mailing provider all rolled up into ONE SOLUTION.
We are true partners with our clients. Your project is our project. Your success is our success. That’s why we’ve been able to grow from just one client in a suburban living room, to hundreds of clients across almost every industry sector. And yes, in case you’re wondering our FIRST client is STILL a client, more than twenty years later.
So give us a call and let’s get started! We’re pretty sure you’ll still be a client in twenty years.
We can turn and mail more. With 13 laser and inkjet printers, and 28 inserters/binders/sorters, we can process on average 12-14 million direct mail packages a week. We specialize in a wide variety of formats, from large volumes to highly personalized match mailings. We pride ourselves on fast turn-around while maintaining the highest quality and accuracy.
We have the tools to save you more money. We have 6 comminglers on site and can clear 14-16 million pieces of mail/week, 7 days a week. That means you’re getting the lowest possible postage rate.
Direct Mail Cards
We really care more. Our experienced and flexible team will help you with all aspects of your mailing, including advice on postal regulations, ideas to help make your mailings more efficient to produce, and providing print buying services so your direct mail production can be handled all under one roof. We are here to help you, regardless of the size of your mailing