Who is most likely to open today’s direct mail? You may be surprised by the answer....

No matter the content - video, web, audio, messaging - we expect instant access and responses. The numbers of devices and software to support these fast on-line services are growing year on year. The market is enormous.

With this background it may surprise you to learn that the age group most likely to open direct mail is.....18 to 24 year olds!

Why?

Well perhaps it’s because nobody expects them to be interested in a piece of mail delivered through the letter box. Surely an 18-24 year old would rather receive an instant, on-line message.

But it seems they enjoy receiving and opening a piece of direct mail.  

Old rules still apply. For any direct mail piece to be successful it should be targeted, personalised, customised, creative and most important of all - relevant.

So there is another enormous market for marketers – an off-line market using direct mail to 18-24 year olds.

Of course complement direct mail with a digital channel and the response will be always be greater.

Thanks to my old friend and work colleague Adam McIntyre of Royal Mail for his insight.

2 great reasons to use direct mail and 98 reasons why you can’t rely on direct mail…

The 2 great reasons to use direct mail are….2%.

That’s the average response rate of a direct mail campaign. This is according to the Direct Mail Association (DMA), who know a thing or two about direct mail campaigns.

The 98 reasons why you can’t rely on direct mail is the inverse of the 2% which is a whopping great 98% failure rate!

I hear you asking what business would be happy with a 98% failure rate. Well the vast majority of companies in the UK for a start.

Time and time again marketing departments churn out direct mail campaigns and get their 2% response rate - of course many don’t even achieve this. Add a good creative and maybe crank it up to a 4% or even a 5% response rate. Companies win awards for such response rates …but even at 5% it’s still a 95% failure rate.

So how can you increase response rates?

Add a digital channel to the traditional mail channel. With cross media, response rates of 35% and higher can be achieved.

Interestingly if you only use email as your channel to market you again limit your response. The key is to mix traditional and digital.

If you want to know more about the type of responses companies get when they use cross media to deliver their marketing message then contact me

Many thanks (and a big nod) to my good friend Kevin O’Donnell of Xerox for his inspiration and more!

QR Codes explained

I did three talks in Edinburgh this week on QR Codes.

I started with some real basic stuff. Explaining what QR Codes are, how to create them and how to use them. I then went on to discuss the amazing marketing opportunities they present.

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Here's a simple example of a QR Code....

It looks like a box of small, random, black and white squares!

And that's exactly what it is apart from the "random" bit. That little grid of squares can hold up to 7,000 characters. When that data is combined with a smartphone, a barcode reader app (free) and a web connection - a whole new world of marketing opportunities appear.

I also talked about how the 30% error correction inherent in QR Codes - and yes I know how techy that sounds - not only makes it incredibly robust but also allows creative and innovative designs.

Shape the corners, add colour, add images, warp the shape, incorporate logos and icons.

  My personal favourite is still Time magazine.........












There are some pitfalls to watch out for when implementing QR Codes as part of a marketing campaign, e.g. remember the size of a smartphone screen when building those web landing pages.

My talk was part of a wider integrated marketing communications seminar I organised along with my work colleagues at Elevate Digital and our partners at Xerox, Royal Mail, fatBuzz and XMPie.

Full houses and 9/10 feedback.

A good week all round.