Here it is in 2019 (yes, I updated this post) and consumers sill anticipate receiving their mail. As a veteran direct marketing maven & lecturer, I always talk about the Mail Moment, that special time when consumers do nothing but look at their mail. Let’s face it, most of us still open our mail with “hopeful anticipation” and Direct Mail is the only medium that offers consumers an undivided experience.
Add to that USPS Informed Delivery and it’s not just anticipation. It’s knowing what direct mail will hit our household that day!
According to Bruce Beigel of the Winterbury Group, “You don’t become ‘blind’ to direct mail as you do with banner marketing”. There are just way too many bursts of intrusive marketing hitting us in the face every day and in every way. In fact, 70% to 80% of consumers polled say they open most of their mail. This includes what they label “junk,” according to data in the DMA’s statistical fact book. And, 38.4% to 62.8% of household heads—a median of 45.4%—report reading direct mail “immediately” according to the U.S. Postal Service.
Bottom line, marketers who don’t think that consumers still anticipate receiving their mail and“dis” the direct mail channel are really missing the boat.