Study: Women Read Snail Mail, not E-mail

A simple email message is not the best way to target female consumer. A new study indicates that more women are reading and responding to direct mail than email.

by Kristina Knight

The study finds that 63% of consumers, who received a direct mail message in 2006, responded to the message. That is an increase of 9% over 2005 numbers.

The Vertis Communications Consumer Focus 2007 also indicates that 85% of women will read a direct marketing mailing. Conversely only 53% of women read email marketing messages.

"We find some types of technology such as e-mail marketing to be most effective when they are used in conjunction with traditional methods of grabbing consumers’ attention,” said Jim Litwin, vice president of market insights at Vertis Communications in a prepared statement.

For email marketing, consumers are more likely to respond if there is an offer included in the message - a coupon code for the online store front or a shortcode from a text message. Short text or email messages are also the preferred follow up to an offer.

The study also indicates that users are willing to give their credit card information over the Internet more than when responding to a direct marketing mailing. 42% of adults say they are very or somewhat comfortable doing this; in 2003 only 32% were comfortable giving out information over the Internet.