What makes snail mail so much better?
In a world where everything’s moving too quickly to keep up, sometimes it pays to slow people down. Consumers have been inundated with digital offers, ads, and notifications to the point where they don’t really value them. They’re so abundant and so cheap (read: free) that they’re not worth anything.
In this world, email offers are often deleted faster than you can say “but wait, there’s more!” Direct mail, on the other hand, lacks the speed of email and it forces consumers to slow down and consider what’s being said.
Here’s are 4 reasons that direct mail beats email:
1. Direct mail is more memorable
People spend longer looking at print advertisements like postcards than they do at their digital counterparts, and they recall more of what they saw, according to research by the U.S. Postal Service. Perhaps this is because in an age where everything digital is cheap, printed pieces denote quality.
This increased recollection with print is invaluable because when it takes up to 7 touches for prospects to remember your business and email requires twice as many touches, postcards get the same thing done in half the time.
2. Your messages actually get through
Email spam was a considerable problem as far back as 2003 when the CAN-SPAM law was enacted to give consumers a right to unsubscribe. Since then, spam has not only grown but consent-based email has risen exponentially: Virtually everyone on Earth, from your dentist to your dry cleaner wants to send you offers that you didn’t know you’d “opted” into. The result is catastrophic email clutter.
Direct mail on the other hand shows up in far more limited quantities and as a result, garners a far greater deal of attention. The U.S. Postal Service reports that 98% of people check their mail daily and more than half of people prefer direct mail over email according to an Epsilon study.
3. Direct mail allows for creativity
When it comes to email, you’re limited to two options: plain text or HTML images. Be careful, however, because if your HTML isn’t coded properly or there’s too much of it, providers like Google’s Gmail might flag it as spam and it’ll never make it through. How much is too much? You’d have to pay your email provider to find out.
Direct mail on the other hand is an utterly blank canvas where you can place large, attractive photographs and have room for multiple offers. This gives more people reasons to act and the USPS found that 23% of direct mail recipients visited a store as a result. Could the same be said for email?
4. Direct mail allows you to convey emotion
The key to converting customers is to convey emotion and when you can use bright colors, beautiful designs, and over-sized calls to action, you can use psychology. You can also personalize the postcards to address people by first name and together, these changes can drive 20% more sales opportunities.
Are you surprised we’re done already? This list goes on, but suffice it to say, direct mail is more memorable, gets through, and performs better than email. Isn’t it lucky then that you can create it just as easily through our web-to-print platform?
Get your campaign out the door in the next 20 minutes and be done for the week!