Combine 39 Blog
Breaking Through the Digital White Noise with Direct Mail
How do you break through the white noise to ensure what you’re promoting is being seen and generating interest?
Throw it back old school with direct mail!
Happy New Year everyone! I’m sure your 2022 marketing plans have been or are being formed without the slightest hitch, overthinking, or doubt, right?! 😊 I’m also sure that your marketing plan, whether it’s for your own purpose to promote your business or for a client, includes digital. It’s a given, the trackability, traceability, and society’s overall dependence on technology that makes digital a requirement in getting messaging in front of potential customers.
According to Compu-Mail:
- On average, Americans receive 605 emails and 16.8 pieces of mail every week.
- For roughly every 36 emails you receive on average, you get 1 piece of mail in your mailbox.
- The average lifespan of an email is 17 seconds, compared to direct mail’s average lifespan of 17 days.
- 73% of American consumers say they prefer being contacted by brands via direct mail because they can read it whenever they want.
- 58% of the mail American households receive is marketing mail.
- 59% of US respondents say they enjoy getting mail from brands about new products.
- 60% of catalog recipients visit the website of the company that mailed them the catalog.
- Up to 90% of direct mail gets opened, compared to only 20-30% of emails.
- Prospects are 15% more likely to respond to an oversized mail piece if they have never done business with you.
- Per USPS, 98% of people check their mail daily and Americans spend upwards of 30 minutes with their mail on a single occasion.
- 68% of marketing respondents said combining digital and direct mail increased website visits.
- 60% of marketing respondents said combining digital and direct mail increased ROI.
Those are staggering statistics and statistics you, as a marketer, can’t ignore.
“But how am I going to digitally track the actual effectiveness of a direct mail campaign?”
There are multiple ways to track the effectiveness of this tactic.
QR Codes – an easy-to-implement, *usually* free way to encourage website or landing page visits is through adding a QR code to your direct mail piece. A UTM code can be embedded to create a tie back to your Google Analytics campaign.
Vanity URL – use a unique domain name specifically for your harder-to-track campaign tactics like direct mail or print ads. The vanity URL will need to redirect to your original site content and as always, create the UTM using your original domain name. With the redirect in place and tracking URL created, your site traffic will be associated with the direct mail campaign!
Coupon/Gift Offering – According to Valassis, 88% of consumers surveyed use coupons they’ve received in the mail. Tie that to this very interesting nugget of information from Forbes, “U.S. advertisers spend $167 per person on direct mail to earn $2,095 worth of goods sold. That’s a 1,300% return on their investment.” Incorporating a coupon code, or again, a landing page if you’re offering a gift, leads to the ability to track the overall success of your campaign!
There are a variety of tools in our marketing toolbox which allow for you to track campaigns. Here at Gate 39 Media, our personal favorite is HubSpot. HubSpot allows you to build marketing campaigns, landing pages, create tracking codes, build marketing automation flows, track the sales funnel and create contact forms – plus more! These HubSpot tools allow every tactical component from digital ads to traditional direct mail to be tracked, quantified, and evaluated for effectiveness throughout the campaign duration.
Final Thoughts – don’t discount direct mail! Use it in conjunction with your digital tactics to drive and quantify business success and marketing ROI.
Discover how Gate 39 Media supports agribusinesses clients through inbound marketing and custom agricultural technology solutions. Contact Gate 39 Media or set up a call to learn more.
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