February 23, 2005

Direct mail is still the most effective way to reach consumers, according to a study done by Vertis.

Surveying adult credit card holders in January 2005, targeted marketing firm Vertis found that exactly 53% say they were made aware of the last card they applied for from a direct mail piece, whereas only 5% say the same for the Internet and 4% say the same for TV.

These numbers vary slightly for households making between $30,000 and $50,000 per year, the most notable difference being that only 9% of lower-income households say they were in a store where the retailer's card was being offered whereas 11% of all card-holding adults say they learned about the last card they applied for at the store offering the credit.

Indeed credit card offers are the most popular form of financial service-related direct mail, read by 66% of US adults, while 61% say they read mail about additional credit card services. Mail about investment or retirement gets less readers, cited by 46% of adults and just 40% of lower-income households making under $30,000 annually.

Vertis also found that 50% of men ages 18 to 34 who read direct mail have read the mailings they've received from financial institutions and/or credit card companies — up from just 30% in 2003. Though fewer women than men read financial direct mail, the readership for the medium among female direct mail readers has risen too — from 34% in 2003 to a current 37%.

Though Vertis finds direct mail more successful than the Internet in making people aware of offers, direct mail can be an important medium for sending people online.

According to a survey of marketing executives at manufacturing firms, from SVM E-Business Solutions, 44% used printed direct mail in 2004 to drive traffic to their company's Web site. More manufacturing marketers cited direct mail than e-mail to customers or e-mail to prospects.

Of course, it is important to note that every industry is different. What's more, it is harder to send readers to a very specific Web page on a site with direct mail, rather than the simple homepage URL.

Source: eMarketer