Types of direct mail

Ready to really connect with your customers? Direct mail campaigns are a tangible, personalised way of engaging with a targeted audience. And they have a great track record when it comes to boosting brand awareness and sales.

What is direct mail?

Direct mail is a cost-effective form of advertising that is sent directly to a named person. It’s a powerful method of marketing as it - quite literally - puts your message into the hands of your customers. And this tangible approach pays off, leading to higher engagement and a marked increase in commercial activity.

A direct mail campaign can be planned to integrate with or support a digital campaign. By sending a mass mailing to customers who have shared first-party data and specifically opted to receive communications from you, you can target specific customer profiles with personalised messaging and useful incentives that will inspire action.

Why use direct mail?

The stats don’t lie. Direct mail marketing is notoriously effective.

Royal Mail’s Marketreach analysts discovered that 95% of direct mail is engaged with and, once it lands, it’s looked at an average of 4.2 times. Up to 45% of direct mail stays around the house for a month or more, meaning there’s plenty of time for your messaging to sink in and connect with your customers, inspiring further engagement.

In fact, 31% of direct mailings lead to commercial activity, such as buying goods, visiting your website or visiting a store in person.

And there are many other benefits to direct mail, too:

- Flexible formats

- Easy to adapt to your audience

- Builds relationships with your customers

- Improves brand awareness

- Compelling way to offer incentives or discounts

- Easy to personalise

- Drives marketing activity

- Boosts activity across other marketing channels

- Makes customers feel valued

- Achieves greater cut-through than digital channels.

70% of customers say direct mail makes them feel valued.

Direct mail is engaged with 4.2 times (on average)

31% of direct mail leads to commercial activity

Types of direct mail

Direct marketing mail can be produced in a wide range of formats and these have the potential to be highly personalised, to connect with your customers on a useful and personal level.

Some common types of direct mail include:

Letters and envelopes

The most traditional form of direct mail is the humble letter. As they’re contained within an envelope, letters often appear more professional or serious than other forms of marketing. To hold your audience’s attention, the messaging needs to be personal, relevant and to the point. Envelopes can also be branded and customised to increase the incentive to open them.

Postcards

These are one of the simplest and most cost-effective types of direct mail marketing. Unlike letters, postcards don’t need to be opened up - the message is clear on arrival, whether you’re promoting an offer or showcasing your business. As space is limited, the messaging needs to be clear and highly focused on both sides of the card.

Catalogues

Looking to show off a range of products? Catalogues are still around for a reason. This age-old method of marketing is just as relevant as ever and can be used to offer discounts and promotions to return customers as well as increase brand awareness and audience loyalty. While they can be expensive to produce and post, catalogues continue to have a high engagement rate, making them worthwhile.

Mailpacks

All-in-one mailing packages combine various types of mail in one pack. While direct mailpacks can be a more expensive marketing approach, by including letters, catalogues and postcards in a single mailing, you have scope to promote different aspects of your business and reach out to your audience in varying, personalised ways.

One-piece mailers

Self-mailers are a simple marketing method that keeps costs down. They consist of a sheet of paper that is folded down, often into a booklet or leaflet. Rather than using an envelope, the marketing is contained with an adhesive strip that’s easy to open. One-piece mailers offer more space than a postcard but aren’t as formal as a letter and, with bold artwork, can really help your business to stand out.

But that’s not all. There are plenty of other types of direct mail that we often print and produce for businesses, such as:

● Large letters

● EasyMailers

● Leaflets

● Pop-up mailers

● Newsletters.

How can direct mail be more effective?

Wondering why direct mail works? In our digital world, tangible print makes a real impact. By sending well-considered mailers to a precisely-targeted audience, you have the chance to engage with your customers on a personal level, meaning they are more likely to interact with your brand and remember you in the future.

While direct mailing campaigns can bring great rewards by themselves, when combined with other forms of marketing, they truly come into their own.

There are various ways to enhance direct mail marketing:

- Link it back to a bespoke landing page online

- Offer incentives and offers that will encourage customers to go online or visit a shop

- Follow up the mailing with another piece of direct mail, an email or a phone call

- Include limited, time-sensitive discounts and promotions

- Add in social media links to increase your digital presence

- Include case studies, online ratings or customer testimonials

- Share statistics to support your claims.

15 reasons why direct mail isn’t dead

How can I make direct mail work for my customers?

Rather than sending out direct mailings en mass to everyone on your customer database, the Eight Days team can help you to identify those who will be most likely to respond to a particular call to action.

This approach not only makes huge postage savings, but it guarantees a higher ROI, especially if the campaign is useful and relevant to the audience you’re targeting.

It’s always worth bearing in mind the needs of your audience before creating a mailer and considering the type of format or finish they are most likely to respond to.

“Did you know that the finishing, format, message and targeting of your direct mail can all have a huge impact on your ROI? For example, even with the right messaging, a beautiful brochure with a high gloss finish could have a negative impact when it lands with a member of the senior silver market. You might not realise that the shiny finish can make readability difficult for them to engage with and enjoy. Thankfully, our experts have lots of tips and tricks to improve your response and conversion rates - and get you the best bang for your buck.”

- Karena Taylor, Marketing and Solutions Specialist, Eight Days A Week Print Solutions

How can Eight Days A Week help you send direct mail?

Our team are experts when it comes to direct mail campaigns and can offer guidance at every stage, from design to print and postage. (In fact, we’ve won awards for our innovative direct mailers.)

If you’re looking for an easy way to get started, we have a range of direct mail print templates available on our site.

When you’re ready to nail down your mailing list, we can help you segment your data so you target the customers who are most likely to benefit from the mailing and engage.

We can oversee print management to ensure your job looks at its best, as well as printing and packing your job from our Nottingham printers.

We’re able to offer hand enclosing and machine enclosing, depending on the job. To keep things as sustainable as possible, we can paper wrap brochures, catalogues and mailpacks, rather than relying on plastic packaging.

Thanks to our Royal Mail direct mail partnership, we are also able to secure substantial postage savings for our customers before mailing. And, ahead of time, we can offer a bespoke direct mail service, where we’ll go through your plans to ensure you create a mailing in a format that will see you enjoy the largest cost savings and return on investment.

“A top tip for anyone creating a direct mail piece would be to always consider paper and postage optimisation. Here at Eight Days, it’s part and parcel of our service to advise on pagination, formats, and the weight of materials to keep costs down and make the most of your budget. Depending on the printing press or machine used, you could get extra pages and content in your mail pack for next to no additional cost. Combined with the postal solutions we can supply, this is where our experts come into their own. We’ll always advise on optimising your mailing to get the best results…because we only succeed when you do.”

- Lance Hill, Managing Director, Eight Days A Week Print Solutions