You've Got Mail: Who's Reading and Responding to Direct Mail?
It’s no surprise that Baby Boomers trust printed advertising over digital advertising, even despite their generation being large online shoppers.1 Conversely, it’s easy to assume that the younger generations’ preference would be for shorter form content in digital mediums. Research, however, is beginning to show cross-generational trends that favor print.
A 2016 article by Nick Romano, CEO of Prinova indicates that based on a study by InfoTrends and Prinova, direct mail still resonates with every age group and the response rates for direct mail remain high for all demographics, including Millennials.
Romano further states that per another study fielded by Experian, despite their hyper-wired digital connectedness, Millennials as a group report that the last time they responded to a direct mail campaign was within 2.4 months. That’s less than the average response time for all respondents. Similarly, Millennials open the direct mail they receive at the same high rate of 66% as recipients overall.2
of people under 30 look forward to checking the mail each day. (Source: 2015 Gallup Poll)
of households usually read, scan, or read some of their direct mail advertising materials. (Source: The Household Diary Study 2016, USPS®, Table A8-15)
Using direct mail as part of an omnichannel marketing strategy can further improve response rates. Studies show campaigns that paired direct mail with digital ads saw 118% higher response rates than those that only used direct mail (source: Merkle). Plus, the DMA reports that direct mail can lift response rates for other channels by 450%.
All this data points to the fact that when it comes to today’s hybrid marketing landscape – it’s not an ‘OR’ world but rather an ‘AND’ world where the combination of digital and print provide the most comprehensive and effective solutions when working seamlessly together. Print in its many forms will remain a critical element of the overall mix for many different segments and markets, working together with digital, to offer the best of both technologies and drive the highest rates of return.