So where do you find quality NZ context research on the role of direct mail in today’s media mix?

Ahhhhhh… you don’t.  There’s just about nothing. Why that’s so is a question for another time.

But every now and then a gem gets published – and the research by Lob and Comperemedia each year on the state of direct marketing is in my view a real gem.
It’s based on surveys with 250 North American companies with 1,000+ employees – looking at current use cases, use of data, response rates, conversions and ROI, and it covers a broad variety of industry sectors – all of which is explained in the report.

If you read nothing else, page 7 is worthy – the executive summary.

So how is this relevant to the NZ context?  As CEO of Marketing Impact, I can assure you that we are (as are others) creating and processing campaigns, journeys and automation for clients every day that takes an integrated multi-channel approach – and we’re doing this for a broad range of industry sectors from the public sector, utility, retail financial services, automotive and health to name a few.

As a result, I’m very comfortable to assert that 5 of their 6 key findings are directly relevant here.  As for finding 03 on marketers increasing their investment in direct mail, I’m not sure this is a material scale trend just yet. Although I feel it’s coming.

With increasing focus on permission-based personalised messaging, many organisations are starting to work on the opportunity that’s right in front of them – direct mail messaging to existing customers where digital permission to communicate is either not there or is murky.  At last, these organisations are engaging with existing customers that were otherwise being left out of “direct” sales and marketing messaging.

This is literally a golden ROI opportunity that’s sitting right under our bottom-line growth noses.

Ask around in your organisation and ask “What’s the % permission we have to send emails to our customers?”. 75% is not unusual.  Then do some headline math to work out what you’re missing out on.

Direct mail isn’t, of course, useful for every organisation – but if you’ve got an estimated annual customer revenue of $300 or more… it’s worth a serious look, deploying automation software integrating mail, email, SMS into journey workflows that best meet both customer and your business development needs.

Happy to take any questions or chat through any aspects of this report.

Source: Alan Hard, Co-Chair, Marketing Association For Purpose Special Interest Group, CEO Marketing Impact