We are living in a digital world in which we receive an overwhelming amount of electronic messaging every day. Even though it’s a traditional medium, direct mail has never been more relevant and has more power than ever to attract new customers. In fact, research has shown that direct mail response rates are on the rise and that up to 90% of direct mail gets opened.
If you’re involved in e-commerce, make sure you don’t focus all your energies online, and capitalise on one of the oldest forms of advertising to achieve your business objectives.
Make a big impact with direct mail
One of the main benefits of direct mail marketing is that you can avoid intense digital competition. The major marketing challenge for e-tailers is finding ways to stand out in a digitally saturated world, where brands compete with each other through banner ads, emails, paid search results, native advertising and sponsored posts; a crowded situation where ad blockers are no longer a nice feature to have, but the accepted norm.
With so many online brands focusing on digital, there’s less competition in the physical inboxes of your customers. Businesses investing in direct mail therefore stand to make more impact, but be quick: a recent survey found that companies are waking up to the enduring influence of direct mail, with 8 out of 10 brands planning to maintain or increase direct mail marketing.
The many benefits of direct mail
So what makes this advertising medium so effective? Firstly, offering something tangible builds a sense of trust with customers – much more so than an electronic message that can be quickly deleted or re-routed to the Trash folder. As neuroscientists found in a study, direct mail has a higher impact on consumers and leaves ‘a deeper footprint in the brain’.
Also, direct mail advertising is highly measurable. An e-tailer, for example, could easily review how many customers used a free coupon attached to a direct mail offering and contrast the results with other campaigns for insights on planning their next one. Furthermore, direct mail is, in many cases, more appropriate for independent marketing budgets and can be much more cost-effective than above-the-line activities.
Direct mail also increases the quality of your website traffic as interested parties would need to manually type in your website address to access your online business, rather than simply clicking a link.
Be creative and keep experimenting
As mentioned above, we recommend including some kind of reward with your direct mail offering as these strategies have been proven to gain the best results. According to Total Retail, combining rewards with technology has become increasingly important for online retailers: ‘Using direct mail in combination with tactics like QR codes, scannable coupons and even augmented reality (AR) has driven better response [for millennials].’
Direct mail which incorporates high design also perform much better, with campaigns that demonstrate enhanced vibrancy generating greater incremental revenue of up to 20%. With direct mail, you have the freedom to experiment to work out what works best for your customer groups; use A/B testing to trial different designs, content and offers, and use the results to inform your future marketing.
If you want to cement trust with your audience and offer them an excellent customer experience while building your online brand, then try direct mail marketing today.
Sprint Logistics is a premium logistics and mailing services company for worldwide customers looking for bespoke solutions. We understand the importance of direct mail in your marketing strategy, which is why we have the experts, facilities and technology to cover every mailing and fulfilment need. From high-volume fulfilment to simple mass mailing, we will ensure your local or international direct mail campaign is a total success.
If you have any questions about preparing a direct mail campaign, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.