The digital era has amplified opportunities for marketers to reach consumers in real-time and with increasing personalisation, but with people receiving an average of 10,000 marketing messages daily*, it has also become increasingly difficult to stand out. The challenge is formulating a message that will cut through the noise and be recognised by your consumer but considering the saturation of the digital channel how do you achieve this goal? Following the crowd and investing most of your marketing budget into digital, will most likely not maximise the returns. So why not zig when everyone zags and consider more traditional forms of direct marketing such as direct mail?

Direct mail has many unique advantages that other marketing channels do not have. The opportunity to engage senses, especially the power of touch triggers an emotional reaction and a much higher engagement and recall rate than digital. Furthermore, Paperplanes takes a data-driven approach to mail, making use of the science behind it, tailoring the copy and creative to audience segments and analysing results along the way for consistent campaign optimisation. We can’t help falling in love with this new way of approaching direct mail and here are four other attractive traits which we think will make you head over heels.

Mail has a Higher Recall Rate

According to neuroscience research which measures the response of the subconscious brain to messages, direct mail activates areas of the brain responsible for long-term memory. This is crucial to marketers as messages which are stored for longer than one minute can influence purchase intent and inspire action. According to The Joint Industry Committee for Mail, 31% of all addressed marketing mail results in a commercial action. Furthermore, IPA Touchpoints reported that as a result of receiving mail, 37% of people bought or ordered something in the past 12 months.

This shows how direct mail, when incorporated into your marketing efforts can help increase brand recall and recognition, consequently, encouraging consumers to finalise purchase or further engage with the brand, leading to conversions and a high ROI. Compared to email, mail can trigger a 49% higher recall rate and 35% higher than social media advertising *.

The Five Senses

While most marketing techniques only engage the consumer’s sight, mail provides an immersive experience by engaging all of your senses but especially the sense of touch. This not only helps increase recall rates as mentioned before but grasps consumers undivided attention. The physical appeal of mail together with personalised messages, makes the consumer feel appreciated and valued while respecting their inbox space. Recent research by the Royal Mail on measuring mail’s effectiveness through neuroscience, claims that people are likely to give mail their 65% full attention compared to 35% for email marketing. Furthermore, 70% of people said that receiving mail gives them a better impression of the company.

Making consumer’s feel valued and recognised is key to re-marketing. The combination of physical media with personalisation can do exactly that. When working with Smartphoto, (pioneers of digitalised photos and personalised gift), we were able to outline firsthand that personalisation makes or breaks a campaign. Mail featuring the products and categories consumer’s had previously engaged with whilst browsing the website, generated a 350% uplift in conversion compared to a standard generic creative.

See more case studies here

Age is Just a Number

As an older form of marketing, mail is also traditionally associated with an older demographic, limiting perceived reach or effectiveness for targeting younger generations. However, this is just a myth as mail can make a lasting impression regardless of the age. Further research from Royal Mail showed that brain responses to mail for those over and under 35 had higher encoding and engagement responses than for social media advertising. The Life Stages of Mail study, also outlined that young adults living in shared accommodations were 75% more likely to buy or order something as a result of mail.

Effectively targeting millennials poses an ongoing challenge to marketers, and despite engagement on mobile and app-based technologies being high, this should not stop you from considering other options such as the post box. Millennials actually value real interactions with brands and as stated by Gallup, not only do 36% of people under 30 claim to look forward to reading their mail but 95% of 18 to 29-year-olds have a positive reaction to personalised mail*.

International cosmetics brand, Benefit, sees millennials as a key target demographic and saw a 60% uplift on featured products when working with us.

A Match Made in Heaven

Direct mail can be easily incorporated as part of your current digital marketing mix. When adding direct mail to their already advanced social media strategies, OTTY noted that browsers were 30% more likely to return to site after receiving mail. Integration and a multi-channel approach is key to a strong and steady marketing strategy. According to Royal Mail research, the time spent looking at social ads increased from an average of 3.3 seconds for those who had not seen mail to 4.3 seconds for people who had previously seen mail, spending 30% longer.

When planning out your marketing budget if you consider investing in direct mail together with your current digital efforts, it can significantly leverage engagement, conversions and response rate. By incorporating mail prior to online display, email and social media advertising, the consumer stands more chance of having your brand already encoded in their memory and will pay more attention to all forms of marketing, increasing intent of purchase and the engagement in consumption actions.

Final Thoughts

Although direct mail is an underrated channel by many marketers there are plenty of reasons to fall back in love with the channel. The four reasons outlined will hopefully make you reconsider it as an effective, memorable and non-intrusive marketing mechanic that can cut through the noise and get your brand noticed in a digitally-dominant world. Paired with your current marketing strategy, you’re guaranteed results.

Contact us for a free demo or just to chat here.

• How To Cut Through The Noise And Connect With Customers, American Marketing Association, 2018.
• https://www.marketreach.co.uk/resources/measuring-mail-with-neuroscience
• https://www.marketreach.co.uk/sites/default/files/RM_MarketReach_Mail-Cuts-Through-Report_0.pdf
• https://www.uktech.news/how-to-market-to-millennials-20200131

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