Direct Mail Discrimination: It's a Problem

The internet has created a virtual Pandora's box for marketing- allowing companies to reach customers through more mediums than ever before. However, at some point this revolution lead to the popular misconception that the younger generation of consumers have no interest in offers presented via direct mail. For shame we say. For it seems that direct mail has the unique ability to cut through the marketing noise of offers targeted to youths and generate....(wait for it).... a response.

Don't believe us? Well my marketing mavens, numbers don't lie. A recent study of the response to standard mail pieces by age of head of house hold (completed by the DMA in 2011 none the less) shows that of those respondents aged 22-24 more than 18% say they will respond to direct mail. But the real kicker is that this is a 12.8% increase over previous years- meaning not only is direct mail working, but it is working better than ever and growing in popularity amongst younger consumers. And its not just youngsters looking to respond to mail, studies have registered that a wide range of consumer demographics are becoming more and more likely to respond to multiple formats of direct mail- including everything from post cards to catalogs.



If that is not enough to inspire you to dust off your old direct mail strategy, then perhaps the fact that direct mail still has a higher ROI and cost per lead than more "modern" forms of marketing do. DMA studies have shown that the average cost per lead generated by direct mail is around $47.00, where email delivers a slightly higher cost per lead at $53.85, where the average lead generated from paid search campaigns cost around $99.47

So the moral of the story is this: don't discriminate with your direct mail! Aside from being cost effective and tangible, direct mail now more than ever maintains the ability to illicit response from customers within any demographic.