By now you’ve heard the buzz about print and direct mail. They are not only alive and well; they’re on the rise! Consumers are inundated with digital messages, and direct mail gives you a chance to cut through the noise. It offers an opportunity to to connect with customers in a way that you can’t through a digital screen. With direct mail, customers can physically interact with your brand, and there’s no substitute for that.
But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s a few stats from the 2015 DMA Statistical Fact Book that might just make you a direct mail believer.
- $46 billion was spent on direct mail in 2014 by U.S. organizations—up from $44.8 billion in 2013.
- 82% of businesses expect to use the same amount of direct mail, or more, in the coming year.
- 3.7% is the average response rate with a house list for direct mail. All digital channels combined only achieve a 0.62% response rate.
- 42% of recipients read or scan direct mail pieces every day.
- 12.4% of Millennials (18-21-year-olds) respond to mail pieces, more than doubling since the previous year.
Postal Rate Reductions
On Sunday, April 10th, 2016, the 4.3% surcharge for postal products and services came to an end! That means postage rates have dropped for the first time in nearly 100 years across First-Class® Mail, Standard Mail® and Periodicals! So if you’ve been thinking about adding direct mail or expanding your existing campaigns now is a perfect time.
The 4.3% postal surcharge was added in January 2014 to help the USPS to continue to operate and make up for declining revenues since the US recession. Although many people, including Postmaster General and CEO Megan J. Brennan, caution against eliminating the surcharge, it’s great news for businesses and marketers.
This is especially true among the healthcare and education markets which send hundreds of thousands of direct mail pieces and letters per day or month. It doesn’t seem like much, but a 4.3% decrease in postal costs can help companies realize tremendous cost savings and have a positive impact on the economy overall.
Not convinced? Take a look at how the numbers stack up.
Last year at Shawmut, we mailed approximately 10 million pieces. That’s a whole lot of mail! Although we help clients execute a wide array of direct mail campaigns (dimensional, postcards, letters, and more!), we wanted to see what kind of postal savings customers can expect to see moving forward.
To keep it simple we assumed a standard 1 oz letter rate for each mail piece and ran the numbers for the 10 million mail pieces we sent in 2015:
As you can see 4.3% can make a big difference! But we know not every client will generate this volume of mail. In fact, some of our clients are trying direct mail for the first time or looking for ways to optimize limited budgets so they can reach as many people as possible with their direct mail piece. Whether large or small, Shawmut’s expert mailing team can help clients capitalize on these new savings opportunities and make the most of their direct mail campaign.
Ready to learn more? Get in touch and talk with one of our mailing experts today.
