Marketers Overestimate The Power of Digital

Consumer Attitudes

October 3, 2012 -- Most consumers are not keen to new forms of direct marketing, such as mobile and social media, and would rather communicate with brands through established direct mail and email channels, a new study finds.

The latest Marketing-GAP report by UK’s fast.MAP compares marketers’ perceptions with consumer reality. The marketing insight firm surveyed 1,140 UK consumers who are both “mail and internet responsive” to marketing offers.

According to Marketing-GAP, fewer than 2% of people are “happy” to get marketing messages via text and social media. It states marketers continue to “massively overestimate” the popularity of these channels.

Additiional direct mail-related findings of the eighth annual survey:
 

• Eight out of 10 open direct mail. The percentage of consumers surveyed who open direct mail is 80%, a little above 2010 levels. A third (34%) state they open all direct mail, 45% only open messages from companies they use and 20% say they don’t open direct mailings.

• Marketers underestimate the number of people who open mail. This year, marketers thought 24% of households would open all mail --- 8% less than what consumers reported.

• The top reasons consumers open their direct mail:  it is from a known company/brand (55%), it is personalized (51%) and an interest in the product or service being promoted (44%).  Marketers correctly identified the top five mail-opening criteria, but significantly underestimate the importance of a personal address while over-estimating the importance of criteria such as the package, its design, the look of the envelope and color.
  
   

• SMS and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, doubled in popularity over the past year--from 1% to 2%--as a means to receive marketing messages. Regardless, these numbers remain proportionally low compared to traditional means. While approximately 3 in 10 people “are happy to receive” marketing information by mail and email, overall fewer than 1 in 50 welcome contacts via the newer digital media, such as SMS and social media.

• One in 5 throw away unopened direct mailings.  Top reasons stated:

  • 55% are not interested in the product

  • Not interested in the company (49%)

  • Object to being marketed to (44%).

• In the past year, there has been a leap, from 23% to 32%, in those who do not open mail not addressed to them. Design and color was only noted by 2% and 4%, respectively, as a reason for not opening a marketing piece.

• When asked why consumers throw away unopened direct mailings, marketers overestimate by more than 300% the importance of lack of time (40% v. 11% as reported by consumers surveyed), by 600% the design; (17% v. 2%) and by 300% the envelope’s color (13% v. 4%).  Marketers estimations of two of the three most important reasons for disposal – “no interest in product” and “object to being sent marketing” – are more accurate, within 6% and 3% respectively.

• The top mailings immediately opened: grocery stores (40%), travel/holiday (24%), credit card offers (23%).

 
The report states: "Marketers again and again prove themselves to be deaf to consumer demands and preferences by overestimating, frequently by hundreds of per cent, people’s desire to be contacted via mobile call, social media and Twitter. In fact, a sure way to alienate customers and prospects is to only provide information and offers via these routes. Only a minority can imagine a purely virtual retail world where real shops no longer exist and most think such a world would be a worse place.”
 

About:  Conducted in August 2012. fast.Map partnered with The Institute of Promotional Marketing and The Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing (IDM). The research was sponsored by the Royal Mail. The consumer panel comprised 1,140 adults recruited from the 30,000 fast.MAP wholly-owned, closed panel whose profile echoes that of the UK’s population profile in age and gender.  Only people who are both mail and internet responsive were selected for the panel. The marketers panel comprised 353 marketers, drawn from the fast.MAP marketing professionals' panel and the IPM and IDM’s membership.

Source: fast.map, 2012 fast.Map Marketing GAP report, accessed October 10, 2012.