As the use of email marketing has expanded, Direct Mail has, in comparison, appeared technologically antiquated, expensive, slow, and time consuming. The reality is that there is somewhat of a pendulum swing in favor of Direct Mail. Here is why:
Direct mail must stand-out either by physical appearance, message or offer. It has a few seconds to draw the attention of a recipient wading through a pile of mail. The inside (or back) of the piece should capitalize on the ephemeral attention generated at first glance to deepen the level of interest and trigger the desired direct response. Keep in mind that the Web has changed people’s perception regarding what constitutes attractive lay-outs, graphics, and design. There are now ways to make Direct Mail multimedia (sound chips), to display ‘moving’ images with simple holograms, etc. Standard design principles in terms of readability, presence of images, font, eye movement across the piece, etc remain as important as always.
Direct Mail may be seen as old-school but it has the tremendous advantage of putting a physical object in the customer’s hands. While digital commerce struggles to overcome the obstacle presented by selling through a purely visual experience, Direct Mail provides a tactile experience. Among many tricks it can: give away a proxy for the product, something memorable associated with the offering (tchotshk), or sometimes a sample of the product itself (perfume…) to be experienced in a privileged moment of exclusive attention.
Direct Mail can be very a powerful tool indeed but it clearly is not as scalable as a digital campaign. Production costs and mailing costs can make it an expensive proposition. Sending free samples, giveaway items can dramatically scale costs. These costs obviously need to be weighed against the unique effectiveness of such campaigns.
The Web has created a generalized expectation of quick gratification which spills over to printed campaigns. Fortunately, Direct Mail has the ability to give something to the recipient on the spot. That moment is an important bridge towards taking the actions desired by the marketer.
Although the basics of Direct Mail have not changed: an interesting physical piece of mail is sent to prospects to elicit a certain response, new technologies have come along that re-invigorate this tried and true marketing method. One of the latest ones is QR codes. They allow a customer to be taken from the printed piece to a web location by using a mobile smart device equipped with a camera and an internet connection. With this technology, the marketer benefits from the physical attributes of printed mail while leveraging the power of online experiences for reinforcement of the message, persuasion, and better conversion.
Direct Mail evolved from mass mailings to pieces that included the recipient’s name (the old mail merge). Technology now allows much more extensive personalization of printed material. Specialized print shops will have the experience to suggest personalization options that match the marketer’s segmentation strategy and objectives. PURLs (personal URLs) are another way to personalize the interaction with the prospect. When coupled with a QR code, PURLs take the visitor directly to an optimized page without the need to type a web address creating a continuous experience from print to digital.
One of the traditional shortcomings of printed campaigns has been the difficulty to assess the correlation with incremental sales. One way is to include a discount code in the mail piece and count the number of times it was used at time of checkout. But marrying the print medium with the digital medium opens the door to a much greater level of tracking and to more opportunities to test, learn, and optimize how different elements contribute to achieving the campaign’s objectives.