Top 5 Benefits of Direct Mail

Direct mail is a great form of communication with huge potential for reaching your target audience. It can be used in conjunction with other marketing strategies and there are many reasons why you can greatly benefit from using this medium. We would like to share our top 5 with you now.

1. It’s Trusted

Consumers today are exposed to an ever-increasing number of advertising messages. It’s getting harder for brands to cut through the noise and clutter and to reach the right audience at the right time, whilst building trust through the use of their chosen medium. A report examined the perceptions of mail across a wide range of characteristics. Findings showed that when people are sent ‘sensitive or confidential account information’, mail really stands out, with 51% preferring to be contacted by mail and only 35% preferring email - Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail Cuts Through.

2. It’s Highly Targeted.

Every direct mail campaign has great targeting options. You can adjust messages for a specific audience, from loyal customers to new prospects. Thus, customers receive only offers that meet their individual needs or buying habits. Some examples of how you can target your direct mail include:

• Geographic Segmentation. This involves targeting customers based on their location, such as region, postcode, neighbourhood, village, town, or city.

• Demographic Segmentation. This involves using characteristics such as age, gender, income, marital status, occupation, or life stage (marriage, parenthood, homeownership).

• Psychographic Segmentation. This involves targeting your audience through attitudes, values, interests, personality, or hobbies.

• Behavioural Segmentation. This involves targeting your audience based on where the prospect is in the buyer journey- are they active customers, inactive customers, frequent buyers, loyal customers, or past customers?

Don’t worry if this seems overwhelming, that’s what we're here for, to help you through the direct mail process and advise you through the journey! This guide may help you to know what kind of audience you are hoping to target for your campaign.

3. It’s Tangible

There is no other medium that enables you to put a physical item into the hands of a potential client. As soon as someone sees mail land on their doormat, a first impression is created. Unlike emails and adverts, a mail piece is tangible; you touch it, you hold it and interact with it, so why not use that unique aspect, and make the most of it. After all, you can’t get closer than that.

4. Direct Mail Complements Digital Marketing

Direct mail and digital marketing work exceedingly well together. Direct mail can be used in any stage of the marketing funnel to work toward the same goals as online ads. For example, you could send out mailers with a QR code for recipients to scan that will drive them to a landing page. Or you could run an online campaign and follow it up with a direct mail campaign to a small group of ideal customers with an exclusive offer. Whatever your goal may be, direct mail can work with your other marketing methods to improve overall performance and increase customer engagement and ROI.

5. Direct Mail is Highly Trackable

Direct mail might not seem easy to monitor, however, there are a variety of techniques that help marketers to measure performance for any campaign. We highly recommend using one of the methods below so that you can find exactly which sales are from your direct mail campaign:

• Via a Website. One of the most common methods is to use a custom landing page and list the URL on your mailing item. That way, you can track exactly what traffic is coming to your website as a result of your direct mail campaign.

• Via Custom Phone Numbers. Unique phone numbers can be created for inclusion on your mailing item which forward and document calls to your current numbers, enabling you to track which calls are coming through as a result of the direct mail campaign.

• Via Exclusive Offers. You can create an exclusive offer to only send via direct mail. For example, this could be through a specific discount code, that way, all sales made with the specific code can be linked back to the campaign.

We hope this article has highlighted some of the many benefits that direct mail can bring. Blue Print Direct Mail is here to help if you have any campaign ideas you would like to discuss. Please email us at sales@bpdm.uk or phone us on 01905 621 118.