Consumers remember physical mail better than digital mail. The physicality of the mailpiece creates a deeper level of engagement, which registers as a more impactful and memorable experience.
Digital channels, however, can provide a level of immediacy through one-click links, but these typically only work when someone is already interested in the product being marketed.
Subtle Advertising Techniques for the Win
Many agree that more subtle advertising techniques, such as snail mail, are more effective when it comes to advertising. This is because the ad can get into the viewer's thought process in an almost imperceptible way. The ad will stay in the back of their minds and will re-emerge later.
When it comes to immediate and direct advertising, people become annoyed more quickly. People are so used to being marketed to that they have a short fuse for becoming annoyed with advertising, and as soon as they are annoyed, it will create a mental wall that makes them resistant to the product.
Supplementing your Marketing Arsenal
Recent research examining the place of direct mail in the digital age has found that direct mail can still be a very powerful tool. This research demonstrated that advertising campaigns with a mix of direct and digital mail are the most effective in expanding the reach of the message.
It was found that when using both direct and digital mail marketing, people had a 10 percent greater recall of brand and brand information than with either one of these methods on their own.
The two methods are so compelling when used in tandem because direct mail is more engaging and catches consumers in a different, more positive, frame of mind. On the other hand, opening digital marketing mail - when it actually makes it to their inbox and then actually gets opened - can be seen as an interruption.
Direct Mail is More Trustworthy
Whether accurate or not, researchers have found that direct mail is perceived as more trustworthy and transparent. There is a sense that the message is more local, and people feel better about businesses with a brick-and-mortar location they know.
Moreover, people are more likely to open direct mail than digital mail. Digital mail might also sit around in the house for all residents to see. This makes for much higher rates of reaching consumers when the spouse or child of the intended recipient picks up the piece and reads it as well.
More Accurate Targeted Mail
Direct mail can also target particular communities and neighborhoods more easily than digital mail. ZIP Codes - and even particular mail carrier routes - can be isolated for a neighborhood, and the mail can be sent there and nowhere else in the town, for instance, if appropriate.
Direct mail is an incredibly important and highly effective component of any marketing campaign. Call Anchor Software today and find out how their solutions can make this process a breeze.
