In today’s consumer market printed messages don’t have to battle for the consumer’s attention as much as digital messages are required to do, which is one of the reasons why print media messages have seen an increase in read and response rates over the past decade.

Additionally, print is still more exciting.  In fact, a Print in the Mix study found that about 60 percent of people enjoy receiving product and service information via direct mail.  This statistic remains true across all demographic ages, including the 18 to 34 audience. The study also found that a little over 50 percent of people agreed that they “pay more attention to direct mail messages over digital marketing messages.”

One of the main reasons that people were hesitant to choose print over digital messaging option is simply because they felt the need to “reduce paper consumption.”  As we’ve discuss in the past, the paper industry is one of the industries that is not only maintaining our current forest coverage, but also increasing the number of trees today than there were one hundred years ago.  It is because of digital companies’ “Think before you print” marketing campaigns that people are wrongly informed that by reducing their paper consumption, that they’re ‘helping the environment.’

When asked if it was important that a direct mail piece be personalized, 31 percent felt that it was ‘very important.’  Conversely, only five percent of the people involved in the study felt it was ‘not important’ for a direct mail piece to be personalized to their interests.

Finally, while mailboxes are checked everyday and over 80 percent of direct mail messages are read, the Print in the Mix study found that over 75 percent of people in the study responded that they do not have enough time to read some branded emails.  Print and direct mail marketing are powerful forms of communication between a brand and its consumers and, as this study shows, it is increasingly important to ensure you are sending relevant and personalized messages to your brand’s target market.

Timothy Freeman

President

Print & Graphic Communications Association