Direct mail and door drops are driving more interactions than at any time since lockdown according to research by industry body JicMail.
Its report on consumer behaviours in Q2 finds that 9.2% of the marketing that lands on the doormat drove an interaction with the advertiser – the highest since Q2 in 2020 at start of lockdown and close to the record high of 9.4% achieved during that first lockdown.
The Nielsen circulation data, endorsed by JicMail, reported a 4% year on year increase in direct mail and door drops for the first half of the year.
And in another link to the Covid period, the QR code (rarely seen before this period) drove the downloading of a brand’s app during the second three months of the year for 8% of those that had looked for their account details online. These are a company’s existing customers with print playing a role to strengthening the relationship between brand and customer. The printed promotion is also effective at delivering new customers and sales. JicMail reckons that there was a 15% increase in the number of purchases that could be attributed to print, even if half of the deals were completed online.
The big direct mail users in the period included the NHS, Tesco and HMRC while Checkattrade and Farmfoods were heavy users of door drops with these two commanding two-thirds of the time spent across the top ten users of this channel.
Mail continues to be sticky, having a life span of 7.6 days on average for direct mail, 6.0 days for door drops, 8.7 days for business mail and 6.6 days for partially addressed mail. Business mail commands most attention with 186 seconds during its stay ahead of direct mail which grabs 145 seconds of attention on average from each recipient.
The findings have been celebrate JicMail’s director data leadership and learning Ian Gibbs and its engagement director Mark Cross.
Gibbs says: “The last time we saw mail engagement and digital effectiveness at similar levels, the nation was locked down at home and highly responsive to in-home advertising. Now five years later mail is still proving to be a highly engaging medium among consumers.”
Cross comments: “Since lockdown, consumers have witnessed another rise in ad saturation across digital touchpoints and devices, and in response have been granting advertisers at best, fleeting attention. Meantime the steady incremental impact of mail that prompts undivided levels of attention in the home, up to 80 times more from an item of mail than from an in feed ad in social, is increasingly cutting through, and amongst other effects, enriching digital experiences. These consistent results suggest that If you want a better digital experience, send mail!”
