Direct Mail Engages…Even with Millennials!

Although Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends will be delivering its Annual State of Marketing Communications Survey to clients next week, we just couldn’t wait to share one data point—direct mail still drives engagement! After surveying 4,000 consumer respondents in North America and Western Europe, we found that direct mail was second only to e-mail in terms of frequency of engagement. In fact, nearly 80% of consumers reported often or sometimes engaging with direct mail communications.

Consumer Engagement with Marketing Messages by Channel 

Direct Mail is Still Compelling!

Cutting this data by demographics also uncovered some very interesting findings. As shown in the Figure below, it was the Millennial demographic that was most likely to engage often with direct mail. Even today’s digital natives consider direct mail to be a compelling channel. When the responses to this question were cut by country, Italian respondents were the most likely to engage often with direct mail, followed by Americans.

Millennials and Italians are Most Likely to Engage Often with Direct Mail

Consumers who identified themselves as Early Adopters of new technologies—meaning that they liked to be among the first to try out the latest innovations—were the most likely to engage often with direct mail. Although nearly 35% of Early Adopters reported engaging often with direct mail, the same was true for only 12% of Late Adopters. This might seem counterintuitive at first, but Millennials grew up surrounded by screens (tablets, smartphones, TVs, PCs, etc.) and “information overload.” With a compelling message, direct mail can provide a break from digital noise, and Millennials are listening! 

Direct Mail Delivers Meaningful, Engaging Marketing Messages

When we compare direct mail with overall digital marketing communications, we see an even stronger case for engagement with offline messages. The Figure below outlines the share of consumers who review at least half of the messages they receive. For all of the consumer segments shown, direct mail messages were more likely to be reviewed than digital marketing messages.

Share of Consumers Who Review At Least Half of their Messages by Channel

Even with this strong engagement with print, our research shows that consumers have a slight preference for being marketed to via digital channels rather than direct mail. That shouldn’t discourage a marketer from using print, though, because the lower communication volume that direct mail represents creates a greater opportunity for engagement.

Beyond engagement frequency, the duration of engagement says a lot about the value and meaningfulness of a communication. Our research confirms that the overall engagement duration is longer for direct mail pieces than it is for e-mail marketing messages, even among Millennials. Consumers across the board—including Millennials—reported most commonly spending a few minutes reviewing each direct mail message that they received. On the other hand, Millennials typically reviewed each e-mail marketing message for less than a minute. Defying assumptions about their nature as digital natives, Millennials spend more time engaging with print than they do with digital messaging—direct mail actually gets noticed in today’s digital age! 

The Bottom Line

Although direct mail remains a vital component of the overall customer communications mix, it must be timely and relevant to capture attention. Furthermore—and this is a must for pretty much all of today’s marketing communications—direct mail should also help facilitate a fluid cross-channel conversation. Direct mail enables more meaningful marketing communications because consumers are more likely to engage with each piece that they receive. It might seem strange, but direct mail can also be used to reach Millennials and tech-savvy consumers who choose not to engage with digital marketing campaigns. While direct mail won’t be a fit for every marketing campaign and will certainly not succeed in isolation, it can be an effective way to cut through the clutter and attract attention in the digital age.

 

Authors

Pat Nolan is a Research Analyst for the Customer Communications advisory service at Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends, with a focus on marketing communications and multi-channel campaign technology. Within this role, Mr. Nolan supports the annual research process, consulting initiatives, and reports on market developments.

Matt Swain is Group Director at Keypoint Intelligence - InfoTrends with global responsibility for Business Development and Customer Communications advisory services. In this role, he provides strategic direction and support for research initiatives, market forecasts, content planning and execution, client interaction, and consulting engagements within his services. Having spent more than a decade in these markets, he brings valuable market perspective to his clients and audiences around the world.

The research cited in this article was extracted from Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends’ Customer Communications Advisory Service. To obtain more information about our services or the data points in this article, please contact sales@keypointintelligence.com