6 Things You can do to Save Your Direct Mail Future

What does the future hold for Direct Mail Marketing?

Dozens of “smart consultants” will tell you to focus your campaigns on email, YouTube videos, and X tweets, you can still rely on Direct Mail as a viable – and valuable – campaign medium.

Before we look to the future though, let’s look at today.

Canada Post, the national mail carrier in Canada, studied how effective Direct Mail is on consumers’ buying process.

They found:

· The reader’s brain’s cognitive effort to read and understand a Direct Mail message is 21% better than what it takes to process an email.

· Direct Mail arouses greater brand recall than email.

· Email is less likely to influence the reader’s behaviour than Direct Mail.

· Direct Mail is 20% more likely to influence the consumer’s buying response than email.

The research also finds that Direct Mail has a greater effect on the brain’s triggers to act.

Direct Mail is more effective than email at bridging the gap between your message and the action you ask of your prospect.

So, Where Is This Leading Us? The Future of Direct Mail

Today, Direct Mail marketing enjoys an upsurge because businesses are more aware of the superior return on investment (ROI) that Direct Mail delivers.

Direct Mail campaigns are, on average, 9% more effective than email campaigns.

That translates to more prospects who want to visit your website and engage with your offers.

And there are positive trends that you can adopt to your Direct Mail marketing campaigns in the next 2 to 3 years that will dramatically improve the response rates and sales generated by Direct Mail.

Here are 6 things you can do to help you step into a brighter future…

1) Eco-Friendly Sustainability

Sustainable Direct Mail campaigns will continue to rise through to the end of this year.

Compostable or recyclable materials help you reduce your carbon footprint.

For example, mail more postcards.

Postcards do not require an excessive amount of paper and are a great example of promotional direct mail marketing that is sustainable.

For the future of Direct Mail, postcards add simplicity as only one item is composted or recycled. Your Direct Mail message should include instructions for sustainable disposal.

This shows your prospects and customers that you are not contributing to the problem but rather helping to solve it.

Your direct mail campaign can also be eco-friendly by opting for environmentally friendly paper stocks for your bigger packages.

2) Personalize Your Message & Your Brand

Generic Direct Mail content is so 2002.

Your consumer or business campaign must be more personalized, both in terms of your message to the reader and in the message of your brand.

Readers see an impersonal Direct Mail piece as spam or junk.

Modern consumers like to educate themselves before buying a product or service. Also, generic content does not pique interest.

Personalize your Direct Mail pieces based on name, age, gender, location, and more if you have the customer information handy.

If you do not have the data you need, there are many reputable businesses that offer appending services.

Make your offers and graphics appealing to your ideal customer to capture their attention.

Remember to use your brands identity – colors, logos, fonts, images – to satisfy the reader’s natural question, “Who are you?”

You want your target audience to be able to appreciate who you are, and what solutions you offer, as quickly as possible when they see you in their mailbox.

3) Streamline Mail = Higher Response Rates

Today, and into the future, consumers of your offers demand speed and efficiency.

They want quick and easy ways to respond, and therefore it is vital you give them options that best serve their needs.

Yes, include a URL, or PURL (Personal URL), a phone number, and an email address…

BUT do not forget the simple Order Form and BRE (Business Reply Envelope.)

Provide your prospects with a self-addressed or a prepaid envelope for those who respond to business offers.

If your product is written material – like a book or report – offer both a downloadable version and a printed version that can be ordered through a response coupon.

Digital connectors like Quick Response (QR) codes, web links, and similar digital connectors may be available for business reply mail by 2025.

4) A Future with Augmented Reality

You can enhance your Direct Mail piece with dynamic Augmented Reality.

Add functionalities so that your readers can scan them with a smartphone.

That will release the content through Augmented Reality, including animation or videos, which appear as if something is moving on the mail piece.

Imagine your reader actually seeing your product in action right off the printed page on their phone!

5) Add Inclusive Offers or Discounts

It takes more than just a great product to close a sale.

Obviously, you need create a special promotion that will drive readers to make that purchase.

Inclusive offers include:

· Offers Coupons

· Sale Promotions or Special Discounts

· BOGO or Limited Period Offers

· New or Lost Leads or Customer Offers

· Re-engagement or Loyalty Rewards

These offers inspire your prospects and customers to visit your website, peek a little into your brand, and explore your products or services.

This helps you connect more, with higher returns for your efforts, well into the future of your Direct Mail campaigns.

6) Voice-Activated CTAs

“Hey Google…”

“Alexa…”

1 in 4 in North America use a smart speaker like Google Assistant or Alexa.

Imagine that you give your reader the power and ease to read your sales letter, then in the CTA direct them to “Just ask Google or Alexa.”

How simply you will add orders, increase subscriptions, and produce response rates that will make your CMO pleased as punch!

That simple addition of a phrase or unique words to your mail items will boost response.

When the customer says the words or phrase to Alexa or Google, it triggers a vocal response using the phone’s speakers.

The future of Direct Mail is indeed bright.

But only if you move with the times and use all the technology available to you to enhance your promotions and make your prospects and customers enjoy the moment they open their mailbox and see your mail piece.

Peter T. Britton,

Resultant

PTB@novuscom.net