LINDSAY LOVELL ABACUS CALL IT AS YOU SEE IT...
TIME TO BUST A FEW
DIRECT MAIL MYTHS
Lindsay Lovell, Senior Marketing Executive, Abacus
You may have noticed that direct mail is enjoying somewhat of a revival. I spend a lot of time reading industry press, browsing Twitter, following discussions on LinkedIn and so on, and I have been pleasantly surprised by the plethora of recent statistics and trends indicating that catalogues are once again becoming essential for many home shopping companies. However, I’m aware there are still some common objections to the use of direct mail, so I’ve set out to debunk four of them in the list below:
MYTH 1) DIRECT MAIL IS LESS RESPONSIVE AND HAS A LOWER RETURN. 17.9m people in the UK purchased from a mail order catalogue in the last 12 months, and a Mail Media Centre study in February 2011 found direct mail to be the most responsive channel for retail. In fact, almost a third of UK women have ordered something from direct mail (Mail Media Centre, September 2011). Even if the initial outlay of direct mail costs more than other channels, the return of such of a responsive medium will offset that difference. If you’re still uneasy about the cost, try the lower-cost option of postcard mailings before committing to a full catalogue.
MYTH 2) MY CUSTOMERS WILL GET ANNOYED IF I SEND THEM ‘JUNK MAIL’. All direct marketers know that by correctly targeting their communications, they can avoid being labelled as ‘junk mail’. Poor targeting affects direct marketing no matter what the channel. That aside, the fact is that post is generally well received. A recent Royal Mail survey found that over 81% of consumers are happy to receive relevant door drops from retail companies, so it follows that targeted and personalised direct mail would be even more well received.
MYTH 3) HARDLY ANY BUSINESSES STILL USE DIRECT MAIL. In September 2011, Direct Commerce magazine featured WalkTall, a home shopping company specialising in larger shoes for the taller man. Initially a catalogue company,WalkTall went solely (excuse the pun) online and suffered retention issues, which is surprising for such a niche retailer. Having recently returned to catalogues,WalkTall has enjoyed a 25% uplift in customer retention. It’s not the only business mailing catalogues either; Direct Commerce Catalogue Log has received more catalogues between January and October 2011 than in the equivalent time period last year. What’s more, Direct Commerce’s ‘because print works’ campaign has reported many catalogue success stories. Direct mail is definitely not dead.
MYTH 4) THE TREND FOR HOME SHOPPING IS MOVING ONLINE, SO CATALOGUES ARE BECOMING IRRELEVANT.
Direct Commerce magazine reported earlier this year that only a tenth of retail sales are actually done online, and a number of findings have suggested that visits to websites are driven by direct mail in the first place. A recent GI Insight found that just under half of UK consumers’ visits to websites are prompted by direct mail. Similarly, in September 2011 Econsultancy recommended online retailers consider investing in print, as amongst other reasons their multi-channel retail survey found 54.4% of consumers had used a catalogue before making a purchase in store or online. Even for pure e-commerce retailers, multi-channel is key – and a catalogue can help drive sales.
www.dmarket.co.uk
November 2011 47
CALL IT AS YOU SEE IT...
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