Really? You mean people actually still send out mailings in this Internet Age?

While we are channel-neutral at Verdi, it never ceases to amaze us how well DM continues to perform. With its high CPM, direct mail makes no sense at all for low-cost or ubiquitous products that everybody buys – like packaged goods. But it really performs well for high-ticket products or services targeted to a relatively select group of buyers.

It also comes in handy to reach those well-targeted prospects who don’t yet know that they need your product. Those people who aren’t already shopping for it online.

Direct Mail is a study in contrasts. In fact, it can be downright counter-intuitive. Many techniques that work best in the worlds of branding and online simply don’t work in direct mail – and vice versa.

So if everybody hates “junk” mail, why do they still open it?

One word: Relevance.

If it’s targeted correctly, it gets opened. I personally don’t care about a new credit card offer or pizza coupons, but when I get those REI catalogs, I’m all eyes and ears. Meanwhile my neighbor hates the outdoors, but he keeps his eye out every Wednesday for those pizza coupons.

It also helps if your DM has a compelling design – along with about 20 other attributes that Verdi uses to maximize reader engagement. Remember that 100% of all mail is opened over the wastebasket, so we only get about 1-1.5 seconds to engage.

If you’d like to learn more about this topic, we’re happy to oblige. Just drop us a note on our Contact page.

We’ve written multiple articles and taught classes on this topic, and we have quantitative data showing “what works best” from a variety of campaigns spanning several markets and industries. We’re also happy to advise on any approaches you may be considering. And we won’t charge you, because we figure, “the more you know, the better we look.”