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Direct mail 'better than internet or phone'
Companies may be better off contacting potential customers via direct mail than the internet or telephone, according to new research.
A study carried out by Amarach on behalf of the Irish postal service An Post, claimed the majority of people read their post as soon as they receive it.
Although around 70% of people felt most of the direct mail they receive is irrelevant, nearly half said that they enjoy reading their post and 70% said they preferred companies to use the postal service.
The positive response for direct mail is surprising given that in the same research, nearly two-thirds of the people surveyed said they felt negatively towards direct mail.
Furthermore, 80% of the 1,000 people who were surveyed for the report said they felt the amount of direct mail sent out should be limited because of the impact on the environment.
Most people read post as soon as they receive it
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Comments
Zog Mire - 01 June 2008
Email advertising, like direct mail, upsets people and conversion rates into sales are very low. Web-based advertising commonly has a high conversion rate, 25 times higher than email marketing or direct mail.
The use of the word "internet" is totally inaccurate. Internet advertising is behind the scale of Google's wealth and power, and most print media advertising is being crushed by online advertising.
Your mistake is that you see email advertising as the only form of internet advertising - simply because it's the only one which is like direct mail and which is a bit rubbish.
Matthew Parker - 02 June 2008
I'd have to agree that the majority of traditional Direct Mail is indeed "a bit rubbish" (although, to be fair, there are a few notable exceptions). But the potential effect of good quality, personalised mail is much more impressive - and by personalised I'm not talking about the frequent use of your name name in a letter! People will eyeball something if they see it as relevant to them. The trick is to ensure you have suitable data and build a suitably cohesive campaign, complete with personalised design, around it.
Matthew Parker
www.printandprocurement.com
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