Digital vs. direct mail in 2010

DM News article "Digital Shines in 2010" predicts the continued rise of digital spending as a share of total marketing dollars. Two interesting takeaways from a direct mail perspective:

#1) Digital is stealing share away from direct mail

"Just like in the old days, direct marketing used to be the safe haven because it provides quick, measurable results. Online has assumed that safe haven role now," said Adam Smith, futures director at GroupM.

#2) Digital is more measurable than direct mail

"If we send a direct mailer, it's an absolute impression, but is it as trackable? Will the consumer, for example, type Overstock.com/directmailer? It's fuzzy. Some people do and others don't," [Stormy Simon, SVP of marketing and customer care for Overstock.com] explained. "But I do know that when I spend on online marketing, I'm able to say 'I spent a penny and I got a penny [back].'"

The hallmark of direct mail has always been accountability. Digital is beating it at it's own game. The challenge to direct mail is to prove ROI superiority if it is to hold onto a significant portion of advertising expenditures.

See full article here: http://www.dmnews.com/digital-shines-in-2010-forecasts/article/159509/

Comments

[Jeff Veesenmeyer]

A recent Household Diary Study showed that 18% of people who receive direct mail don't read it. That's the equivalent of clicking the delete button for e-mail. That means 82% of direct mail recipients do read or scan their direct mail...which is the equivalent of clicking on and opening an e-mail.

The average click and open rate for e-mail is about 5%. I believe that direct mail still provides a level of branding, involvement and shelf life that e-mail can't match.

Jeff

[Chris DeMartine]

I agree Jeff. To be honest, I personally never used to pay much attention to direct mail offers, but with the proliferation of email marketing my attitude has changed and I've responded to a few postal offers this year (mostly ordering from catalogs). It's not likely that my purchase behavior was attributed to the direct mail channel since I ordered online without referencing the mailed catalog -- how many others do the same thing? The multi-channel analytics have some catching up to do (I think).

[Jane]

I don't know about anyone else - but I LIVE on my computer 8-10 hours/day - nearly all of it either in research or in email correspondence. Although only one lady's experience and therefore hardly a trend...I must say I now look forward to mail delivery (again) and opening traditional envelopes and reading traditional postcards. Beyond the visual impact - it's tactile and it's (now) DIFFERENT! I own a business that needs to make decisions on which medium to use, and based on this personal experience, I continue to use at least color postcard mailings in my mix. This is backed up by a duplicate digital mailing to both the same as well as wider audience. - Jane

[Marc Zazeela]

Many people get loads of unsolicited email messages. Many are of a marketing nature. In my own experience, I usually delete 95% of them without reading and would imagine that the same is true of most people. Direct mail is much less threatening and can lay on the kitchen counter for days, but eventually it gets opened.

The internet boom of the 90's proved that digital marketing alone does not work as evidenced by the huge number of dot.com failures.

The brick and mortar businesses have begun to realize that while digital is much cheaper, they also need direct mail to drive people to their websites. In the current economic climate, it is easy to choose digital because of it's lower cost, but what is the long term effect?

[Beatriz Mallory]

I agree with Jane's comment to a degree. Receiving a "tactile" offer by postal mail may actually be differentiating now. I find that the creative of these mailings unfortunately hails back to direct mail's heyday. Which is to say they are dated when compared to the (literal) flash of the electronic marketing environment. We have a generation that has been acculturated to direct response methods via the imagery and immediacy of broadcast and online narrowcast. Response triggers they've become accustomed to are not native to traditional direct mail structures. The fun will be in designing "integrated marketing strategies" that are truly media-agnostic, delivering tight creative briefs, and seeing how today's savvy direct marketing creatives execute against them.

[Rachel Jensen]

Re Jane's comment: "Direct mail is much less threatening and can lay on the kitchen counter for days, but eventually it gets opened."

True in some cases. Also true that an email not immediately opened or clicked through can sit in an in-box where it's accessible when it's convenient for the subscriber. I have good intentions about those envelopes & postcards but they're more likely to get filed in the "when I have time" pile and eventually get tossed. Unopened and unread. Email sends are measurable - I can see who got my message, the links they responded to, how many times they opened it and how long it remained in their in-box. Not everyone who receives an offer is ready to buy and an email is easy to drag to a folder for future reference. Conversion isn't always immediate - keep the prospect engaged and intrigued with a relevant message that has a measurable result. And that message doesn't require a 2:00 a.m. press check or a gajillion dollars for postage!

[hispanic Internet advertising]

I could say that direct mail is still in today. It's true that Direct mail is much less threatening.

Daniel