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Direct Marketing
The USPS Household Diary Study: Mail Use & Attitudes in FY 2008 — Advertising Mail
Conducted by NuStats on behalf of the United States Postal Service (USPS)
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Contrary to the image that direct mail is “junk mail” and is tossed without consideration -- a majority of households report paying attention to the advertising they receive.
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Date Released: August 2009
Type of Promotional Material/Activity Tested:
Advertising mail delivered to households by the US Postal Service
Sample Population:
5,312 households returned acceptable completed diaries (out of 7,992 households recruited to receive a diary package representing a completion rate of 66.5%). The sample design involved a systematic sample stratified by urban/rural location and census region, ensuring even coverage across the US. The sample was continuously fielded throughout all 52 weeks of the year.
Methodology:
The Household Diary Study is a continuously fielded study that uses a two-stage survey design: Stage 1 is an interviewer-mediated household recruitment interview. Stage 2 is a self-completed seven-day household diary of household mail received and sent.
Metrics:
The household recruitment interview collects information on household and personal demographics, recall of mail sent and received, adoption and use of communications technologies, bill payment behavior, and attitudes towards advertising. The mail diary covers collects information on the number of mail pieces received and sent, industry source, mail characteristics, and attitudes regarding mail received.
Top-Line Results:
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Advertising mail represented 63% of all mail received by households in 2008. US households each receive 16.4 pieces of advertising mail a week (down from 16.7 pieces in 2007). Standard mail accounts for 83% of total advertising mail. Direct mail’s share of total advertising spending has been on a strong upward trend for most of the past 17 years. Since 1999, the direct mail share has risen steadily reaching 22% in 2008. Direct mail has maintained its large ad share even with the introduction of new, fast-growing ad markets such as the Internet.
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Household behavior toward reading advertising mail is largely independent of how much advertising mail the household receives. For example, among households that receive zero to seven pieces of advertising mail per week, 44% usually read all or some of the mail and 17% usually do not read any. Among households that receive 18 or more pieces per week, 47% usually read all or some, and 15% usually do not read any. While households don't appear "turned of" to high volumes of direct mailings -- the percentage of households that usually read all advertising does decrease as the number of pieces increases.
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The amount of advertising mail received is closely tied to income, education, and age. Households with incomes over $100,000 and with a head of household age 55 and older received the greatest number of advertising mail pieces at 27.8 pieces per week.
Advertising Mail Received by Income and Age of Household Head
(Pieces per Household per week)
| Household Income |
Under 34 |
35 to 54 |
Over 55 |
Average |
| Under $35K |
7.6 |
9.5 |
12.2 |
10.4 |
| $35K to $65K |
10.7 |
14.3 |
17.7 |
14.6 |
| $65K to $100K |
14.8 |
18.4 |
21.5 |
18.4 |
| Over $100K |
19.2 |
24.5 |
27.8 |
24.9 |
| Average |
11.9 |
17.1 |
18.0 |
16.4 |
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Despite the attention paid to online and e-mail advertising, households with Internet access receive more advertising mail than those without access. This is reflective of household characteristics such as income and education -- Internet access is closely tied to income and education. Households with broadband access average 18.4 pieces of direct mail a week; dial-up households average 15.8 pieces a week, and homes without Internet access average 11.1 pieces of direct mail per week.
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The survey shows that not all advertising is treated equally. Catalogs attract much more attention than credit card advertising – 48% of households read catalogs while 19% discard them without reading them. On the other hand, only 28% of households read credit card advertising while 46% discard them without reading.
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When asked about their intended response to advertising mail, 27% say they will respond or might respond to standard class mailings (e.g., catalogs) and 20% say they will or might respond to first-class mailings (e.g., credit card offers).
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The higher the income, the higher the average number of responses to advertising mail. For example, households with incomes above $150,000 report they intend to respond to 2.7 pieces of advertising mail per week, and they may respond to another 3.6 pieces per week. Other high-income households also indicate they will respond to more than one piece of advertising mail per week, as do some of the lower income households.
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Take-Away:
This study, performed annually since 1987 by the US Postal Service, provides a consistent look at households' attitudes towards mail received, such as advertising mail. Contrary to the image that direct mail is “junk mail” and is tossed without consideration -- a majority of respondents report paying attention to the advertising they receive, either reading it or scanning it. In addition, one of three households says they made one or more purchases thanks to the advertising mail they received (as reported elsewhere in the study, not the chapter summarized here -- see our fast fact).
Complexity rating of original source: 1
(Complex statistical analysis scale: 1= none, 2= moderate, 3 = difficult)
Link to The Household Diary Study: Mail Use & Attitudes in FY 2008 at USPS.
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