Direct mail remains a powerful tool in the marketing arsenal, especially in the UK where it continues to deliver impressive results. Unlike digital channels, direct mail offers a tangible, personal touch that can significantly enhance engagement and response rates, but careful planning is essential to increase the chances of a successful campaign – “Right Person, Right Time, Right Message”.

Targeting the right audience is crucial for the success of any direct mail campaign. Direct mail allows for precise targeting based on demographics, purchasing history, and other relevant data, including triggers such as moving home and having a baby.

Personalisation: Direct mail can be highly personalised, increasing the likelihood of engagement. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), personalised direct mail has a response rate of 4.9%, compared to 1% for email – that’s a significant difference!

Targeted Reach: With accurate data, direct mail can reach the exact audience you want. For instance, 79% of consumers act on direct mail immediately, and 56% of consumers find printed marketing to be the most trustworthy (Source: bakergoodchild).

Timing is everything in marketing, and direct mail is no exception. Sending your mail at the right time can significantly boost response rates.

Seasonal Campaigns: Aligning your direct mail campaigns with seasonal events or holidays can increase relevance and engagement. For example, holiday-themed mailings often see higher response rates.

Customer Journey: Direct mail can be timed to coincide with key moments in the customer journey, such as post-purchase follow-ups or reminders for upcoming renewals. This ensures your message is received when it is most relevant.

Crafting the right message is essential to capture attention and drive action. Direct mail offers the flexibility to create visually appealing and compelling content.

High Engagement: Direct mail has a 35% higher brand recall than social media, making it a powerful tool for brand awareness (see “Direct Mail Effectiveness Statistics” below).

Tangible Impact: Unlike digital ads that can be easily ignored, direct mail is a physical item that recipients can hold, making it more memorable. According to JICMAIL, 95% of direct mail is engaged with and has some form of physical interaction.

Ensuring your data is clean and up-to-date is critical for the success of your direct mail campaigns. This involves removing duplicates, updating addresses, and screening against suppression lists, including:

Mailing Preference Service (MPS): The MPS allows individuals to opt out of unsolicited advertising mail. Screening your data against the MPS ensures you respect consumer preferences and avoid sending mail to those who have opted out, as well as complying with best practice.

Gone Aways: Approximately 1.5 million UK households move each year and screening your data against gone away suppression files, such as Re-mover, helps you avoid sending mail to outdated addresses, avoiding wastage, saving money and preventing fraud.

Deceased Records: Screening your data against deceased registers, such as the National Deceased Register, prevents the distress of sending mail to deceased individuals and helps to prevent fraud.

In-house Stop Lists: Many businesses have a list of individuals who have asked not to be contacted and it is essential that organisations apply these correctly to avoid unnecessary annoyance and inconvenience.

Duplicates: Removing duplicate records ensures each recipient only receives one piece of mail, reducing waste and improving the efficiency of your campaign.

The facts speak for themselves; Direct Mail outperforms almost all other forms of marketing:

Response Rates and Engagement

High Engagement: Direct mail boasts an average engagement rate of 95% (Source: Uprinting.com).

Higher Response Rates: Direct mail response rates are 5 to 9 times higher than any other advertising channel (Source: Uprinting.com).

Open Rates: Direct mail has an open rate of 80-90%, compared to email’s 20-30% (Source MarketReach).

Immediate Action: 71% of people read direct mail the day it is delivered (Source: MarketReach).

Longevity: Direct mail is kept in a recipient’s home for an average of 17 days (Source: MarketReach).

Return on Investment (ROI)

High ROI: Direct mail receives the highest ROI of 112% across all mediums, followed by SMS (102%), email (93%), and paid search (88%) (Source: Uprinting.com).

Cost-Effective: For every £1 spent on direct mail, businesses can expect an average return of £14 (Source: Sappipapers.com).

Consumer Preferences

Preferred Channel: 73% of UK consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail (Source: MarketReach).

Memorability: Direct mail is 49% more memorable and 33% more engaging than email marketing (Source: MarketReach).

Personal Touch: 70% of consumers feel direct mail is more personal than online interactions (Source: MarketReach).

Participating in cooperative mailings, where postage costs are shared across multiple brands, can significantly reduce the overall expense of direct mail campaigns. By pooling resources, businesses can take advantage of bulk mailing discounts offered by postal services, which are often much lower than individual rates. This collaborative approach not only lowers the cost per piece but also allows smaller brands to benefit from the economies of scale typically reserved for larger mailers.

Additionally, cooperative mailings can increase the reach and impact of each campaign, as the combined effort can attract more attention and engagement from recipients. This strategy ensures that direct mail remains a cost-effective and efficient marketing channel for businesses of all sizes.

Royal Mail offers significant postage discounts for non-personalised mailings, making it an attractive option for businesses looking to maximize their marketing budget. By leveraging these discounts, companies can reduce their postage costs while still achieving wide coverage and high visibility.

Direct mail continues to be a valuable marketing channel in the UK, offering measurable and impactful results. By focusing on the right person, right time, and right message, and ensuring your data is clean and accurate, businesses can maximise their return on investment and build stronger connections with their audience.

by Martin Jaggard – Director at The Ark