Direct Mail Postcards – Tried & True

We talk a lot in these articles about ways you can maximize the effectiveness of your direct mail postcard campaigns. But what we haven’t looked at in a while is why direct mail postcards continue to be one of the best ways to market your business – any kind of business. If you’re new to these articles, or if you’re just curious about how and why and what for, the statistic below should help introduce you to the benefits of direct mail postcards over other options, namely email.

I leaned a little bit on smallbizgenius.net for these bullets, but I’ve provided commentary on them which I think is more applicable to the way we connect, the way we understand and utilize postcards to truly advantageous effect. These Five Stats of Direct Mail are part of a much larger, 25-item, list that goes into areas we don’t need to cover (e.g., the percentage of abandoned email addresses).

42.2% of direct mail recipients either read or scan the email they get – Imagine yourself at your desk or on your phone and you get an email from someone you don’t know or have never patronized. How many of us, without a moment’s hesitation swipe one way or the other and immediately delete that email? With direct mail postcards, there is a significantly higher chance that the target will at the very least skim what you’ve sent them. All you need is an opportunity to impress…
Direct mail recipients purchase 28% more items and spend 28% more money than people who don’t get that same piece of direct mail – One great example of why this happens is because ‘you’ve done the thinking for the reader’. They might remember they needed to buy something for the house or they might not. But for the recipient of the direct mail postcard, maybe…just maybe…you’ve triggered that thought and it’s moved them to get more information from you, or hopefully call you up and schedule service or make a purchase. The person who doesn’t get your postcard will probably move on to the next thing that pops into their head, taking your potential sale with them.
Direct mail offers a 29% return on investment – I think this is subjective, based on what you’re selling, what you’re mailing out, to whom, and the postal rates for the class of postage, etc. But it is almost impossible to argue that direct mail postcards’ ROIs far outperform email and long-form letters.
73% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail because they can read it whenever they want – Like I’ve argued in the past, nobody is going to print out an email and tag it on their fridge door. It feels extra, it takes too much effort. When the hard part is done for the target, they can stick your postcard under their favorite magnet and look at it every time they go for some OJ or a late-night snack. Making it as easy and convenient as possible for your product or service to live rent-free in your reader’s head is your objective.
The response rate for direct mail is up to nine times higher than that of email – Again, consider the ease with which you can instantly eliminate an email from your inbox. Because there is more effort involved in understanding what they’ve pulled from their mailbox, there is a higher likelihood that your reader will positively respond to what you’re offering. That’s nine postcards read and evaluated against one email. Consider that.

Although we support the creation of a well-rounded and multi-prong marketing effort, it all starts with a well-positioned, carefully crafted direct mail postcard campaign. If you look at the effectiveness and cost of the other, secondary, options at your disposal the numbers will ring true. You just can’t beat postcards for what they can do for you or your business.

Give Opportunity Knocks a call. Our Success Coaches can help you create the perfect message, starting you well on the way to achieving your campaign goals and objectives! We know why businesses continue to use direct mail postcards – and soon you will, too!