Public perception of direct mail is on the rise. So says a consumer direct mail benchmarking study, which reveals that almost half of consumers (48 per cent) now think direct mail is a good way for a business to connect with them. This has increased by seven per cent since 2014.
The UK report carried out by data specialists, Wilmington Millennium, also found that 44 per cent of consumers ranked direct mail and door drops as their preferred form of direct marketing, pipping email to the post with 42 per cent. Pop ups received the lowest seal of approval, being the preferred medium for only 2.7 per cent of people.
Despite the continued efforts of some media including The Daily Mail, WatchDog and Rip Off Britain to discredit the industry, the improvement of consumer perception is thought to be as a result of more responsible direct marketing practices reducing the number of wrongly addressed mailings and tighter targeting resulting in more relevant offers being sent.
However, despite this, consumers remained vocal about the sectors they believe could improve both their targeting and creativity.
Financial services were considered to be the worst offenders at sending irrelevant offers or wrongly addressed mailings (30 per cent) and unsurprisingly, given the recent bad press, charities with 28 per cent were the second most unpopular. Utilities were the third most complained about sector (24 per cent). Estate agents and local councils also came under fire particularly in terms of irrelevant door drops.
The travel (6 per cent) and retail (11 per cent) sectors respectively have the best reputation amongst consumers in terms of effective use of direct mail as a marketing channel.
Karen Pritchard (pictured), product director of Mortascreen, a Wilmington Millennium Company, said: “2015 was a bumper year for the direct mail industry as mail volumes were on the rise and spend also increased making DM one of the UK’s largest media channels.
“There was a danger that increased volume would result in increased consumer disgruntlement, but it seems that the industry is practising more responsible marketing meaning that perception of the channel is getting better.
“With volume expected to continue along the growth trajectory, this adds up to 2016 being another positive year for direct mailers; data issues not withstanding.”
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Trained as a journalist from the age of 18 and enjoying a long career in regional newspaper reporting and editing, Sally Hooton joined DMI (Direct Marketing International) magazine as editor in 2001. DMI then morphed into The GMA, taking her with it!
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