You know direct mail – you receive it, you use it, and it’s more effective than ever. But why? Why in our era of feature-rich, multimedia, permission-based marketing does direct mail still endure? Why do marketers know in their gut that direct mail is irreplaceable? When we sit down and spell it out, the not-so-obvious answers become obvious.
1. Direct mail is proven. Research shows that typical direct mail response rates are between 3 and 5 percent. Though this seems small, it is still a statistically reliable number for expected response rates and it could be very successful depending on the product or service being sold. For instance, a high-ticket item like a $10K window installation may only require one sale to pay for the entire mailing and then some. In this case, even a 0.5 percent response rate could be very profitable. The key is to determine your desired response rate at the onset so that you can calculate the proper investment and expected ROI.