Direct mail messages have been statistically shown to leave a more lasting impression on a consumer’s brain compared to other forms of marketing such as digital media, according to a Forbes.com article “Direct Mail: Alive & Kicking.”  The study suggests that it is because of direct mail’s ability to be held in the person’s hand and requires the use of more of their senses that it is becomes a more memorable form of communication.

In addition to direct mail’s ability to leave a lasting impression, direct mail has also shown an increase in response rates over the past year.  The most recent DMNews direct mail marketing study reported that both B2B and B2C direct mail pieces had a 4.4 percent response rate and that this response rate increase when house lists and personalized messages were factored in to the report.

One of the projected reasons for direct mail marketings’ success over the past year is the simple fact that the channel of communication is much less cluttered than digital communication channels such as email.  Since the average person will receive over 3,000 messages from brands every day, it’s not surprising that some message just get lost in the clutter.

Because new types of communication can be instant —  it also means communication can be constant — from email, to text messages to digital and mobile ads, consumers are seeing more branded message than ever before.  The average person is constantly connected to the world via their cell phone, iPads, lap tops and tablets.  Each of these digital devices enable a person to constantly receive messages.  Print is a break from the digital clutter — possibly one of the reasons that the number of people who read their direct mail has increased by 14 percent over the past decade and why email open rates have decrease — across all industries — by over 50 percent.

Finally, People like to receive mail. It’s as simple as that.  In a recent study, over 60 percent of people surveyed said they liked to receive direct mail from companies and organizations they were interested in or have done business with in the past.

Print is alive, print is powerful and print drives consumer response.

Timothy Freeman

President

Print & Graphic Communications Association