LX Printing
(719) 591-0790
(719) 550-1677 ~ Fax
 
3672 E Bijou St, Suite A
Colorado Springs, CO 80909
 
 

Home   >>>  Resources and Support  >>  The Value of Print  >  Direct Mail

Direct mail

As the amount of advertising on the Internet has grown, conventional wisdom has declared that direct mail marketing will disappear as a way of reaching customers and prospects. To us this sounds a lot like the now-debunked predictions about the paperless office. Every year since 1987, the United States Postal Service has conducted an annual study called The Household Diary Study. In 2008 the study included 5,312 households who completed a seven-day household diary of mail received and sent for all 52 weeks of the study year. Here are some of the study results:
  • Advertising mail represented 63% of all mail received" an average of about 16 pieces a week.
  • 79% of households said they either read or scanned the advertising mail they received.
  • One in three households said they made one or more purchases as a result of receiving the advertising mail.
Contrary to the prevailing opinion that direct mail is "junk" mail that is immediately discarded by recipients, a majority of respondents in the 2008 Household Study reported paying attention to the advertising.
 
In another 2008 study, the DMNews/Pitney Bowes survey, 1000 American consumers (split 50-50 between men and women) age 18 and up from ten major metropolitan areas (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Phoenix and Seattle) were surveyed regarding the direct mail marketing pieces they receive. The survey findings:
  • Nearly 94% of consumers surveyed reported taking action on promotional offers and coupons received via direct mail.
  • 20% of consumers reported that more than 10% of the offers or coupons they received by mail led to a purchase. Almost 40% of respondents said they had tried a new business for the first time because of information received via direct mail.
  • Nearly 70% of respondents said they renewed a relationship with a business because they received a direct mailing or promotional item.
  • Respondents stated that information received via direct mail often led to contribution to a non-profit organization for the first time.
The surveyors concluded that "direct mail induces consumers to touch the offer" recipients of mail are receiving, sorting, reading and using direct mail to make purchasing decisions.
 
In March 2009, Bredin Business Information (BBI) published the results of a survey of 50 small to medium business marketers and 741 principals of US-based businesses with fewer than 500 employees. Marketing to SMBs in 2009 revealed that 43.6% of the 741 businesses said they rely on direct mail, including letters and post cards, for information on products and services.