Is that a letter from Hogwarts? Unfortunately, no… Hey, but it still might be something interesting and enjoyable, like your favorite store notifying you about a big sale coming soon or a discount flyer from a local spa. When you receive these types of promotions in your mailbox, it means that these businesses went for an old but effective strategy of advertising called direct mail marketing. If you’re a business owner as well, we recommend taking this lesson and learning more about the practice that can greatly benefit your brand.
To assist you with finding information, we prepared a brief guide to direct mail campaigns, their peculiarities, tips on how to organize them, and more.
What is Direct Mail Marketing?
Let’s start by getting into the definition and the main terminology to answer the question “What is direct mail advertising?”. Here’s a complete definition and all related terms you need to know.
Direct Mail Advertising Definition
A direct mail marketing refers to a strategy of sending out tangible advertising materials, a.k.a. direct mailers, to prospective clients at their places of work or straight to their homes. It’s a type of direct marketing that enables companies to interact with prospects and consumers offline, usually by mail.
Professional marketers that use this strategy can send printed mailers, real mail, parcels, corporate merch, or other types of promotional mailers that we’re going to explore further in the article. Overall, it is a useful strategy for making a deep connection with leads, current clients, and prospects.
What is a Direct Mail in Marketing?
A direct mail is a promotional material in a physical form sent directly to customers through a postal service or a third-party mailing service that specializes in this type of advertisement. There are a lot of direct mail types and forms that marketers can use to promote brands, products, and services.
Direct Mail Types
Here we gathered the primary direct mail formats used in marketing so you can check and take notes for your direct mailing advertising.
Postcards
One of the most commonly used types of direct mail. It’s easy to use, low-cost, and useful for quick offers, announcements, or reminders. Postcards are ideal for brief, powerful statements that don’t overwhelm the audience because of their small size, which guarantees that they capture attention right away.
Letters
This format is considered to be more formal in direct mail advertising. Marketers often opt for letters for fundraising, special offers, or formal correspondence. They typically include specific information.
Brochures and Catalogs
These provide a detailed overview of goods and services. Brochures provide a summary of the products, while catalogs provide far more information. Retailers commonly use both types to introduce their assortments of products to the target audience.
Dimensional Mailers
Using distinctive shapes or packaging, these three-dimensional marketing mailers are meant to draw attention. They are called “dimensional” because instead of being a flat piece of paper, they have some 3D or pop-up elements. They work in high-impact campaigns and are frequently utilized with important customers or prospects.
Parcel
A parcel in direct mail marketing is a tangible package that is delivered to a target audience; it frequently includes samples or promotional materials to make the marketing experience more memorable and effective.
Flyers
A direct mail flyer is used extensively in local distribution campaigns or as inserts for promotional materials. Flyers and leaflets are considered low-cost, lightweight materials among marketers, which makes them favorable for businesses of different industries.
Newsletters
Printed newsletters are used to inform customers about company news, advancements, or industry information, enabling recurring communication and fostering brand loyalty.
Self-Mailers
Folded letters that don’t need an envelope are referred to as self-mailers. These can be booklets or trifold brochures. This is a rather simple and cost-effective way to run promotional campaigns.
Shared Envelope (Value Pack)
In the context of direct marketing, a value pack is an envelope or box that includes a range of coupons, exclusive deals, and marketing collateral from several companies. These packs are usually distributed within particular geographic areas or addressed to a targeted set of households to give users several savings options in a single handy package.
Direct Mail Advertising in 2024
Marketers still love direct mail marketing in 2024 because it’s a powerful tool to use for brand promotion and communication with clients. According to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), direct mail has an open rate of 80–90%, while average email open rates are 20–30%.
Other statistics also show that direct mail advertisement is effective for businesses when it comes to return on investment and other rates.
- The best ROI across all media is 112% for direct mail, followed by SMS (102%), email (93%), and sponsored search (88%).
- According to direct mail data from PostGrid, 70% of consumers believe that direct mail contacts are more intimate than internet ones.
- 35% of the respondents purchased after receiving direct mail items.
- After receiving an offline mail, 70% of consumers felt inspired to finish an online task.
Why Direct Mail Works in 2024
Even though this strategy might seem kind of old-fashioned at first glance, direct mail marketing works in 2024 just as good as its digital analog. Here are the reasons why it’s effective and why you should invest in this type of promotion.
- Memorability
The feeling of a human touch is what makes direct mail more memorable. A thoughtfully composed message can evoke emotions and help with establishing what feels like a more personal connection with your audience. Contrasting to generic messages, it works especially well when you add personalization to your mail, e.g. address a receiver by their name if you know it.
- Tangible Results
Direct mail marketing has a response rate that is 30 times higher than that of email, the most effective digital channel. As part of an integrated campaign, it can increase ROI by 20%.
- Uniqueness
Even though this strategy is effective, in the digital era, far fewer businesses allocate funds for direct marketing. The rarity of businesses using direct mail makes it beneficial for you, allowing you to stand out from the crowd.
- GDPR Compliant
Direct mail does not require customers’ express permission, unlike emails, which must adhere to GDPR norms and regulations and request permission from the recipient. In order to deliver the mail to the customers, you must take their legitimate interests into account.
- Limitless Creativity
As we mentioned, a direct mail isn’t just a piece of paper; it can have various forms with intricate designs and creative messages. There are countless ways to amuse and excite recipients when they receive direct mail.
Direct Mailing Marketing vs Digital Marketing in 2024
Direct mail marketing is still effective in 2024 because it appeals to clients’ human sense of connection, making it seem less spammy and more distinctive. However, because delivery and feedback times are slower, direct mail marketing is more costly and labor-intensive than digital methods.
Comparing direct mail with email, it’s safe to say that the latter is still a more popular method in 2024 because of affordable prices and speedy worldwide audience outreach. Using email marketing services from professional providers like Flowium enables brands to segment their consumers and provide customized messages that have a high conversion rate because of advanced tracking and customization.
Since both marketing funnels are crucial parts of an omnichannel marketing strategy, we recommend using them as complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
Direct Mail Marketing Pricing
The type of mail piece, the intricacy of the design and printing, the caliber of the mailing list, and postal costs are some of the variables that will affect the average cost of direct mail marketing in 2024. This is an overview in general:
- Postcards and Flyers
When printing, postage, and distribution are taken into account, the prices of these are usually the lowest, ranging from $0.50 to $1.00 per piece. Because of bulk discounts, the total cost might be reduced for larger campaigns.
- Letters
Usually more elegant and personalized, letters can cost anything from $1 to $3 for each piece, especially if you add personalized embellishments or bespoke envelopes.
- Brochures and Catalogs
Depending on the paper quality, printing, and finishing options, brochures and catalogs can cost anywhere from $2.00 to $10.00 per item, with more intricate designs and larger sizes.
- Mailing List
Depending on the quality of the list and whether it is intended for commercial or consumer audiences, the cost of buying or renting a mailing list can range from $0.05 to $0.35 per contact. If businesses have their own client lists, they can use them to reduce this expense.
- Postage
The weight and size of the mail item determine the postage cost. In the United States, standard postage can cost anywhere from $0.66 to $1.50 per item. For non-personalized mailings, there are also alternatives for bulk sending reductions through businesses like Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM), which can drastically lower expenses per piece.
- Additional Costs
If you are operating a highly targeted campaign that calls for segmentation or variable data printing, personalization, data processing, and connection with other channels (such as digital marketing) may raise the overall cost. Although they come at a higher cost, premium design and customization choices like die-cutting or unique coatings can improve the campaign’s attractiveness and efficacy.
A direct mail campaign cost might vary greatly, but we can assess average prices by looking at the costs of services offered by third-party mailing services like PoscardMania. Here’s their pricing for different types of direct mails and campaign volumes.
Benefits of Direct Mailing
As a result of implementing the strategy and carrying out your promotions through direct mails, you can receive the substantial advantages of direct mail marketing.
- Impactful Campaigns
Compared to digital promotions, direct mail in physical form can’t simply be ignored. There’s no magical button allowing to clean mailboxes by deleting all the unread messages, and no spam folders. Even if your receivers check their mailboxes rarely, sooner or later they’ll need to go through it, increasing the probability of response and conversion.
- Targeted Marketing
Direct mail advertising is a very powerful tool for reaching a specific audience since it enables firms to target particular demographics or geographic areas. Businesses can improve their chances of turning prospects into customers by customizing their message for the target audience.
- Measurable Outcomes
By putting phone numbers or unique QR codes on the mailers, direct mail advertising enables companies to monitor the effectiveness of their campaigns. In this manner, companies assess the success of their initiatives and make any necessary improvements.
- High Return on Investment
When done right, direct mail advertising can yield a high ROI. By focusing on the correct audience and developing an engaging message, businesses can boost sales and achieve a noteworthy response rate.
- Works for CBD/hemp/THC
Since this sector falls under strict regulations, its businesses have limited opportunities for promotion. Except for a few SMS marketing platforms, email and SMS marketing providers won’t work due to compliance issues. CBD, hemp, and THC segments can all rely on direct mail marketing, but there are significant legal and regulatory factors to take into account. State and federal regulations must be followed while running direct mail campaigns for these products, particularly when it comes to advertising claims. A successful campaign also depends on identifying clients in legal jurisdictions and collaborating with compliance mailing services.
Drawbacks of Direct Mailings
Naturally, just like any other marketing channel, direct mailing has drawbacks that you need to be aware of before implementing the strategy. Here’s the list of those that business owners and marketers should find solutions to if they want successful campaigns.
- Higher Costs
Compared to other digital marketing methods, direct mail is typically more expensive because it requires more money for direct mail printing, design, and delivery.
- Longer Lead Time
Direct mailings require time to prepare and deliver, which adds to the execution and response timeframes.
- Lower Targeting Precision
Direct mail can reach highly targeted groups, but it lacks the levels of segmentation and personalization that digital channels like email marketing can offer.
- Response Uncertainty
It can be challenging to monitor the efficacy of direct mail marketing. In email marketing, the tracking, analytics, and reporting are carried out by email marketing platforms, and each email has a tracking pixel that allows measuring campaign results fast and easy. While in direct mail advertising, marketers need to add special elements to enable response.
- Smaller Outreach
Unlike digital marketing, direct mail is geographically restricted and does not allow one to reach a large audience in other nations.
How to Do Direct Mail Marketing
Organizing the implementation of this strategy can be difficult without the help of expert direct mail marketing companies. To assist you with the task, we’ll share some useful tips for direct mail marketing.
- Define your target demographic
It’s critical to establish your target demographic prior to launching a direct mail advertising campaign. This will assist in figuring out the best way to contact them.
- Create a captivating direct mail campaign
The direct mail piece’s message needs to be succinct, clear, and powerful. It ought to highlight the advantages of the given good or service and provide an obvious call to action. The design should also have a polished and striking appearance. Make it in line with the company’s branding with top-notch photos and graphics.
- Customize the message
Adding a personal touch to the direct mail piece might make it more effective. This might be accomplished by mentioning the recipient by name or attending to their particular requirements or worries. 52% of receivers expect direct mails to be personalized.
- Send a follow-up
Getting in touch with the receiver again can help you get more chances of engagement. You can accomplish this by sending out a follow-up direct mail piece, calling, or emailing.
- Combine with digital marketing
Statistics show that the response rate can be improved by over 60%, website visits by over 60%, and leads by over 50% when digital and direct mail are coordinated.
RFM Segmentation
We already defined that launching a direct mail campaign can be costly, so you need to think thoroughly about distributing resources and segmenting your list. To do direct mail advertising correctly and profitably for your business, we highly recommend adding RFM segmentation to your strategy. RFM segmentation stands for Recency, Frequency, and Monetary segmentation. Customers are grouped according to the frequency, number, and recentness of their purchases. Direct mail marketers can use this strategy to pinpoint their most important clients and customize messages for various clientele groups. Marketers can boost response rates and enhance total return on investment by focusing on particular groups according to their purchasing patterns. RFM segmentation also makes it possible to send more individualized messages, which may increase client loyalty and retention.
DIY Direct Mail
Small businesses with limited resources or small contact lists have another excellent option for direct advertising, which is Do It Yourself direct mail. All you need to have is a promotional idea, creativity, and materials for creating the mail. The necessary investments are also not costly at all—paper, envelopes, markers or pens, postmarks, etc. Handmade promotions always feel more personal and sincere, which helps to create more trustworthiness for your relationships and emotional connection with your business. Our CEO, Andriy Boychuk, has used this effective method to connect with people on his contact list. This is a great way to show your clients your genuine intentions and effort. Not only that, but the process of creating these promotions can turn out fun quality time with your family.
Direct Mail Advertising Examples
Let’s look at some direct mail examples from brands that successfully employ this strategy for advertising.
Direct Mail Promotions from Andersen Windows
Andersen Windows is a wonderful direct mail example of how to stand out in people’s mailboxes while employing direct mail. They made a mailer that mimics a window audit report, complete with highlights, handwritten text, and even checks and circles, giving the impression that it was authored by someone. This method is effective because it is customized, making recipients feel as though their windows were examined by someone. They also provide a 25% discount offer on doors and windows, which further increases engagement with pertinent and targeted messaging.
Creative Direct Mail with Real Money
This example of direct mail shows a very creative strategy of getting receivers to open it immediately. The reason is that the sender decided to make a part of the envelope transparent, so people can see money inside. Yes, they put real money together with promotions. Even though it’s only two bucks, it piques interest and makes clients want to see what’s inside.
Loyalty Program Promotions through Direct Mail Marketing
Here are a few direct mail advertising examples of how well-known brands accomplish their loyalty program promotions. The first is Hilton’s reward offer. As you can see, they begin by inspiring you with their ideas by demonstrating the lifestyle you can lead. With 80,000 points just for joining up and a free night incentive, this offer is great. Due to the substantial money generated by this program, Hilton makes major investments in it.
Another example comes from the well-known shop Gap. They highlighted 5X points profits in a direct mail letter. With the biggest offer—5X points—being the most noticeable, it appears that they are split-testing the mailer’s font.
Direct Mail Flyers from Kohl’s
One of the most effective ways to attract new clients by direct mail marketing is sending them mail flyers. To catch the receiver’s eye for sure, these promotions need to include some sort of incentive. Usually, businesses use flyers to notify customers and prospects about active sales and offered discounts. Some of them can even be used as a coupon that you need to show at the store to get a discount.
Of course, you also need to add creative imagery to your offer, like Kohl’s did in this direct mailer example. The company used a mailing flyer to inform the audience about their upcoming back-to-school sale while also showcasing related products.
Postcards from Things Remembered
As part of its client re-engagement effort, Things Remembered, a retail business that specializes in personalized gifts and keepsakes, issued a postcard. The timing of this direct mail postcards promotion aligned with the holiday season, when shoppers are looking for unusual and frequently personalized presents.
Direct Mail Letter from AT&T Mobility
AT&T Mobility LLC is an American telecommunications firm that is often referred to as AT&T Wireless. As part of their client acquisition strategy, AT&T Mobility sends out a direct mail letter offering its streaming service.
Dimensional Mailer from Lindenmeyr Munroe
These invites, which were customized for each recipient using variable data, were sent by Lindenmeyr Munroe to welcome back customers to their neighborhood store after initial lockdowns due to the epidemic. Pop-up cards can be intricate, but this dimensional mailer example is straightforward and reasonably priced.
Parcel from Seasons
One of the best direct mail strategies comes from a company called Seasons. For their loyal and recurring customers, the company sends direct mailers in the form of parcels packed with samples of their products, like a cool set of different oil flavors. You can use this example for your rewards customers, and send the sampler set completely for free, just as a gesture of appreciation.
Self-Mailer Direct Mail Campaign by DSW
Leading supplier of branded shoes and accessories, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse has a variety of shoes and accessories for men, women, and children. The brand celebrated the birthdays of VIP loyalty club members by sending them direct mail postcards in this example of direct mail campaign. A $5 birthday discount offer and a QR code for easy shopping redemption are included in the postcard.
Direct Mail Brochure Example for Fashion Brands
Here’s a direct mail marketing example from Victoria’s Secret of how fashion brands can use this strategy. It’s an excellent way to connect with individuals who have unsubscribed from your emails or never registered for SMS, but you still have their address and may send it to them without any restrictions. In this regard, Victoria’s Secret excels. They offer lookbooks, new product displays, and—most importantly—expiring coupons that you must tear off and spend in-store to create a tangible, physical experience. Another excellent illustration comes from Macy’s. Like this extra 25% off offer, they send out a lot of direct mail. Despite its simplicity, it is visually appealing due to its vibrant purple color scheme.
Best Direct Mail Marketing Vendors
The best way to organize direct advertising is to use services from reliable direct mail marketing providers. Modern companies offer a comprehensive set of features and creative solutions to make your promotions interesting and effective. Here are some of the top vendors that Flowium recognizes and partners with.
IgnitePOST
Best For: Ecommerce and SaaS
A handwritten mail service called IgnitePOST helps companies build stronger bonds with their clients and potential clients. They accomplish this by fusing robotics and software to send actual pen and ink letters with varying penmanship that is identical to human handwriting. The company claims its clients have an unprecedented response rate with more genuine communication, which is 30 times higher than email and 10 times better than direct mail. IgnitePOST also offers simple tools for creating, sending, and monitoring campaigns. With the variety of integration techniques they provide, from Klaviyo and Shopify to white-labeling and Zapier, these solutions can be integrated into your current marketing or CRM systems.
To gain more perspective on the service and the company’s approach, listen to our podcast with the CEO of IgnitePost.
PostPilot
Best For: Ecommerce and DTC Brands
Sending automatic, personalized postcards is easy with PostPilot. This solution makes consumer segmentation and ROI tracking as easy as starting an email campaign by automatically integrating with Shopify. If your goal is to add to email engagement and avoid dealing with soaring CPCs/CACs—use PostPilot to cut through the digital clutter and boost retention and revenue. You can also reach potential clients who haven’t given you their contact information by using PostPilot to send direct mail to anonymous online visitors by comparing their IP addresses with physical addresses.
We can confirm that this direct mail marketing vendor is one of the best to organize direct promotions since we collaborated with the company many times. Our partnership has helped many clients achieve outstanding results in marketing.
Yellow Letter HQ
Best For: Real Estate and Professional Services
A direct mail advertising company called Yellow Letter HQ. specializes in direct mail marketing for real estate investors. Their services are made to be quick, economical, and effective with the goal of delivering a campaign turnaround that will have your phone ringing. They provide a range of marketing materials, from professional to handwritten, from mailing lists to postcards, to cater to the unique requirements of mortgage brokers and real estate investors. Additionally, they offer low pricing, a quick and easy approach, and transparent updates regarding the status of your postal order. Their products, which include various kinds of letters and envelopes, are all designed to boost response rates and draw attention to your message.
PostcardMania
Best For: Small Businesses
Leading the way in postcard marketing innovation is PostcardMania, a full-service direct mail postcard marketing company. Graphic design, printing, mailing list acquisition, mailing services, and EDDM bulk mailers are among the services offered by the company. Websites, e-mail marketing, PPC, landing pages (a particular type of web page used to capture leads), and video production (particularly for websites) have been added to our menu of goods and services. We also keep adding goods and services that improve the return on investment for our clients who use postcard marketing.
USPS EDDM
The USPS provides a service called Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) that allows companies to reach out to prospective clients across a whole ZIP code or postal route. Compared to first-class or regular bulk mailing, this economical approach guarantees that your message reaches a large audience at lower postage prices. This lessens the necessity of building or purchasing a mailing list. EDDM assists in putting into practice a focused strategy to advertise special deals, build brand awareness, or promote your neighborhood business.
Direct Mail Book Marketing Recommendation
There are many books on direct mail advertising that you can find on the Internet but not all of them can be really useful and bring inspiration for your promotions. “The Direct Mail Solution”, written by Craig Simpson, and Dan S. Kennedy, is a special recommendation from our CEO, Andriy, who was greatly impressed by the quality of material and creative ideas in this book. It offers marketers a thorough manual for developing successful direct mail programs that increase leads and revenue. It also provides doable tactics that can increase the return on investment of direct mail campaigns, such as list building and creating effective messaging. This resource offers ideas that connect classic marketing with contemporary strategies for marketers hoping to capitalize on the power of physical mail. You can easily find the book on Amazon and read it to gain more insight and useful information into this segment of marketing.
Final Thoughts
When trying to reach their target demographic, businesses can find great success with direct mail marketing. Now you know that a lot of businesses use this strategy in 2024 to boost sales and foster customer loyalty. Given its many advantages like better response rates, elevated brand recognition, and tailored messaging, we also advise adding this practice to your promotional arsenal to enhance the effects of your email marketing strategy.
On our blog, you can find more interesting articles about major funnels of omnichannel marketing including email and SMS marketing, social media promotions, and more. Check out our previous posts to be more all-rounded in the sphere of marketing.
