With the broad range of digital communication available to market your brand, it might seem odd that direct mail advertising still plays a significant role in shopping journeys, but it does. While digital advertising methods are inexpensive and convenient to send emails and post on social media, consumers are so inundated with digital communications that many don’t open emails or read text messages from advertisers. However, people do like to open their mailboxes and find a personalized print ad combined with a digital call to action that directs interested parties to visit your website or their social platform pages. The right mix of direct mail and digital marketing can help drive more sales and grow your brand. It’s just the way we’re wired.
The Way We Are Wired
People react to physical things in their world more efficiently than they do to digital media because humans respond better to paper than pixels. Also, according to Small Biz Genius, “73% of American consumers prefer being contacted by brands via mail because they can read it at their convenience.” A neuromarketing study by Canada Post and Ipsos used eye-tracking technology and EEG brain scans to compare direct mail campaigns to digital advertising. The study revealed that people used 21% less of their cognitive capabilities than when asked to process digital ads. This means that, as humans, our brains are less stressed trying to understand a letter or another piece of direct mail than they are when processing digital ads. Researchers also found that people remember more about mail pieces and retain that information longer than they do with digital ads. In fact, humans are capable of recalling the brand:
- On a direct mail piece, 75% of the time
- In a digital ad, 44% of the time
The big takeaway from this study concluded that integrated campaigns, with both print and digital components, proved more successful in driving attention to your brand, with more emotional response and more engagement with brands than with any one form of marketing.
The Connectivity Effect
A personalized direct mail invitation with a call-to-action to visit your website and take advantage of special offers can drive consumers to action, streamlining their shopping journey to increase sales. The Canadian study showed that combining direct mail and digital campaigns resulted in the following:
- 39% more attention to ads
- 10% higher brand recall
- 5% greater motivation than in digital or print alone campaigns
Compelling Arguments for Direct Mail
Featuring direct mail in your marketing mix allows you to personalize your ads and hyper-target specific demographic groups. With an eye-catching direct mail ad, you can send potential customers marketing pieces that they will interact with when they visit their mailboxes. As humans, we enjoy finding something interesting among our bills and other mail. Stats show that different demographics enjoy receiving personalized mail, as a disruption in our digital lifestyles. This includes more demographic groups than older consumers, who are in the habit of always opening their mail, often living in the same place for a long time, and are easily reached. What might surprise you is that direct mail not only appeals to older consumers, who may or may not be as digitally savvy as younger generations, but also to others, including:
- 84% of Gen Z who have received a direct mail piece with a QR code interacted with a brand online (by watching a video, going to a landing page with sales copy, or to order by phone/action device). Nearly 40% of these campaigns used direct mail and generated a profitable ROI. (CDMG Inc.)
- 90% of millennials want to receive mail fitting with their physical media, such as vinyl records. The study also revealed that 57% of millennial respondents acted on these offers. (USPS)
- Two-thirds of Gen X consumers have a positive impression of companies that send out relevant marketing mail. (USPS)
- In fact, the demographic group most likely to engage often with mail pieces is millennials, according to Keypoint Intelligence-InfoTrends.
Less Competition for Your Attention
With everything trending towards digital mobility and 81% of companies relying on social media marketing to sell directly to more consumers, according to the Huffington Post,
direct mail marketing, as part of an integrated campaign can prove effective because there’s less competition for consumers’ attention than on social media. Shoppers wanting to try on products advertised in your personalized mail piece can be directed to your site or social platform, where they can interact with augmented reality features to try on accessories, cosmetics, and even apparel or to view home furnishings in their own spaces, or virtually walk through a house they are interested in buying.
In much the same way that many people still prefer the feel and experience of reading physical books and magazines, print advertising remains a viable strategy to market your brand and grow your business. As a crucial part of your multichannel marketing strategies, personalized and hyper-targeted direct mail advertisements can reach a broader audience than digital or print alone. As we work and live in an increasingly digital world, adding or starting a marketing campaign with personalized direct mail can give your brand a boost, as the average response rate for direct mail pieces is between 2.7% and 4.4%, according to Newswire, while the response rate for email ads hovers at 0.6%. According to the 2022 Direct Mail Advertising Global Market Report, the direct mail industry is on track to exceed 72 billion dollars in 2023.
Making It Happen
Armed with these compelling reasons that print is a crucial piece of your marketing puzzle, how do you get your print ad campaigns up and running and working for you? With many options available to advertisers, such as creating your own print ads and figuring out how to target the right demographic groups, plus acquiring mailing lists that reach those audiences, you might also work with a graphic designer and a printer to get your ads printed. Or…
Taking the Guesswork Out of Your Print and Digital Marketing
If you would like to take the guesswork out of your direct mail and digital marketing campaigns, consider partnering with direct mail marketing pros, such as MoneyMailer! Using digital tools to expand the reach of print products, Money Mailer designs your ads, sends you proofs to sign off on, and sets up a direct mailing system that automates your print and mailing operations to get your ads in your customers’ hands as soon as possible. Further, to connect your print ads to your digital presence, our mobile app displays your ad and offer on your customers’ mobile phones. Plus, we create a business page that leads more customers to your website and improves your Google ranking. Contact us to find out more about how we can help grow your brand! Money Mailer: Marketing done right!