By properly using your database information, you’re able to sort and segment your audience based on their demographics and general interests.  From here you’re able to produce messages that are personalized and are, therefore, being sent to parties in your target audience who are most likely to be interested in your particular message and, ultimately, more likely to respond.

Personalized communication has also shown to have a higher read rate in addition to its higher response rate.  If you are still not convinced personalized direct mail marketing is integral to your marketing mix then check out a few statistics from splash.bluewaterdirect.com.

• Approximately 33 percent of people will go online as an immediate result of a message from a direct mail piece.  This fact alone, makes it more important to include new technologies such as pURLs and QR codes; making it easier for a recipient to visit your digital messages and increase engagement between brand and consumer.

• Sixty-three percent of people in the Blue Water study reportedly purchased a product or service based on a discount or promotional offer from a direct mail message.  This number was reportedly ‘presumed’ to increase when the offer was targeted toward the audience’s specific interests and created based off of the recipient’s past purchases.

• Direct mail open rates have increased in the last few years, while email open rates have declined.  According to Print is Big, the exact percentages of email open rates has decreased by 52 percent, while direct mail views has increased by 14 percent.

How are you using direct mail and personalized direct mail in your marketing mix?

Timothy Freeman

President

Print & Graphic Communications Association