Consumers respond to direct mail

Consumers may complain about the amount of mail filling up their mailboxes, but a recent study commissioned by Pitney Bowes found that most actually prefer direct mailings to unsolicited email communications.

by Kristina Knight

According to the study, 73% of people preferred direct mail for new product information and offers than email (18%). Direct mailings were also preferred by 70% of consumers for communications with businesses with which they are not currently working.

Stacy DeWalt, vice president, Vertical Market Development and Marketing, Pitney Bowes Management Services (PBMS) said, "We continue to find that mail is the most effective marketing tool businesses can use when communicating with their customers."

And it isn't only product information or offers that consumers prefer to receive via traditional mail. Monthly correspondence such as bills, bank statements and financial reports are also preferred via mail (83%) than email (10%). These numbers are identical to results from a similar study in 2004.

Why traditional mail? Consumers say mail is less intrusive (45%), more convenient (42%) and less high pressured (30%).

However, marketers should not count out the impact of email offers. Researchers have found that culling email lists to drop non-responsive and bouncing email addresses will increase ROI. In addition, optimizing landing pages with the right kind of copy - short for emotion-based purchases and long for thought out buys - will greatly increase the ability of email messages to reach the target market.