In today’s rapidly expanding technological age, social media and its influence is growing. From sharing Facebook updates to posting photos on Instagram to communicating with friends and followers on Twitter, social media is everywhere and isn’t going away anytime soon.

Despite the growing influence of social media, getting someone’s attention through a direct mail campaign is still effective. Up to 54 percent of customers say they prefer direct mail marketing and almost 80 percent of customers say they open direct mail immediately. In a neuromarketing research project, Canada Post found that recall was 70% higher among participants who were exposed to direct mail rather than a digital ad.

Direct mail is all about getting someone to trust in a product or service and up to 56 percent of customers think direct mail marketing is the most trustworthy form of marketing and 90 percent of millennials feel direct marketing is reliable.

With that in mind, here are several things to do to improve a direct mail campaign.

• Personalize it: In a direct mail campaign you’re trying to get someone’s attention, but adding a personal touch can make it even more effective. Maintaining a customer database will allow you to keep track of what a person is buying so that any direct mail they get is relevant to them. Relevant messages will resonate and trigger a purchase. If you can establish brand loyalty, that will keep a customer coming back.
• Maintain a database: Without a strong foundation, a direct mail campaign will flounder quickly. An accurate and up-to-date database can help you track previous purchases and will let you know what a person buys and how often they might buy a particular product. Knowing how a person shops allows for more opportunities to up-sell.
• Always test: Since the consumer market is always changing, not evolving with it is a mistake. A previous direct mail campaign might not make the same impact as the current one you might be working on. Up to 40 percent of customers have made a purchase in the last three months that was motivated by direct mail marketing, so nailing a direct mail campaign and learning what makes it effective can pay big dividends.
• Branch out: A direct mail campaign receives an average of 37 times more responses than email marketing. That being said, it’s important to use more than one medium in a marketing campaign. As of 2018, 51 percent of marketing and advertising budgets are being spent on mobile ads. The top three response-rate tracking methods are: online tracking such as personalized URLs (PURLs), telephone and codes or coupons. Since you’re ultimately trying to get a consumer to buy your product or service, using different mediums to get their attention can produce the results you’re looking for.

Printing services can help a direct mail marketing campaign in all of the steps listed above and can help you create eye-catching, personalized material. They can also help you gauge the market to see how effective your campaign is and customer response to eye-catching, personalized mail can ultimately help you build a strong customer database.

Likewise, direct mail processing companies can also help your campaign. Managing the whole thing can be a tedious process and direct mail processing companies are constantly adapting to the changes in the industry. Direct mail processing companies can offer services like letter mailing, marketing campaigns and invoice and statement mailing and can help you meet whatever deadlines you have.


With both printing services and direct mail processing at your disposal, your marketing campaign will have all the tools it needs to be successful.