Direct Mail Promotions Catch the Eye
Direct Mail
March 21, 2012 -- Marketing research firm Ask Your Target Market (AYTM) recently undertook a survey examining the effectiveness of direct mail -- Are customers more likely to look at their mail than they are at emails? Make purchases based on offers received?
Surveying 400 U.S. adults online panel participants, they found:
- Nearly one in five (17%) respondents receive advertisements or special offers from businesses via direct mail every day. One third (33%) say they receive this type of mail fairly often, 33% receive direct mailings sometimes, and 17% say they rarely or never get direct mailings.
- Of those who receive direct mail from businesses:
- 6% say they always read the printed mailings
- 23% say they read it more often than not
- 33% say they read it about half the time
- 35% state they rarely read it
- 4% don’t ever read mail from businesses.
- When it comes to making purchases:
- 21% say they are more likely to purchase based on direct mail promotions rather than email offers
- 13% are more likely to make purchases based on email offers rather than direct mail offers
- 38% said it makes no difference – they are just as likely to make purchases based on direct mail offers as they are to do so based on email promotions
- 28% claim they never make purchases based on direct mail or email messages.
- Of those who indicated they make purchases based on direct mail, coupons and exclusive deals overwhelmingly catch the consumer's attention.
Source: AYTM
As stated by AYTM's Anne Pilon, “Electronic communication may be a cheaper, easier option for many businesses, but it seems that some Americans might still respond well to receiving direct mail instead.”
Source: AYTM, Direct Mail Survey: Some Customers Still Prefer Mail to Email, March 21, 2012.
