New Survey Reveals Direct Mail and Mailing Lists Insights
A study conducted by Lob, a market leader in automation of Direct Mail printing and fulfillment, reveals a lot of priceless insights about where Direct Mail and therefore Consumer Mailing Lists are headed in 2023 and beyond.
The study evaluates both the side of businesses marketing to consumers as consumers themselves. We will soon post a special blog post dedicated to survey done among different age and generational groups of consumers, but for the rest of this blog post, looking at the importance of quality mailing lists to your direct mail success in 2023-2024 we will focus on consumers as a monolithic group.
Info-graphics Labeling
Through the rest of this post, we denominate consumers’ survey results in orange and marketers (businesses) survey results in pink.
Preferred Marketing Channel
Consumers are showing more and more affinity towards offline advertising, which is not a surprise given in the post-pandemic age of remote work, and at-home entertainment – we are all digitally-overloaded. Email, Messaging, Digital Ads & Videos ; we are bombarded by them and Direct Mail all of a sudden emerges as this subtle medium that quietly awaits in your mailbox, has forgotten effect of being tangible, in your hands experience and it’s simply not as likely to rub you the wrong way as opposed to one more unsolicited email.
It’s a pleasant surprise to find out consumers are welcoming direct mail by their favorite brands and in return businesses considering more and more use of this channel.
Of course the investment in Direct Mail campaigns heavily leans on the ability to rely on quality Mailing Lists that guarantee reaching the right person and the right time so that the ROI (Return on Investment) is maximized, as Direct Mail is not cheap.
The Personal Touch That Depends On Your Mailing List
Lob’s “State of Direct Mail 2023” study reveals that consumers these days want or expect that little extra effort of knowing them, from a brand which pretends to know what they need or want.
Consumers expect the messaging to be more personal and in response are more likely to act on the offer if they feel that connection is authentic and intentional.
In return you would expect more businesses to comply with that expectation and personalize more of their messaging but surprise surprise, only 12% personalize their campaigns.
Many a times, it is impossible to personalize a campaign because the underlying data (i.e. the Mailing List) does not contain personal information such as first name or last name – the basis to any cordial communications among humans.
This is why for over 5 decades Homeowners Marketing Services has only been providing New Homeowners data as not only we know it’s an audience with financial power and prowess but moreover their home buying information contains basic information that is simple and basic yet enough to establish a personal conversation such as introducing your brand on a personal name basis and making the conversation more heart to heart.
You don’t want to go too deep into personal information in a direct mail campaign just like you wouldn’t go up to strangers and tell them you know how old they are.. but saying “good morning Ms Jones and welcome to your new home” is inviting, respectful and a great start from which to continue to introducing yourself. It’s not different from any other human interaction, and this survey emphasizes why our New Homeowners Mailing List is such a good fit for businesses in the acquisition stage – when you are introducing yourself to a prospect you are hoping will become a customer.
Direct Mail Can Establish Relationships With a New Customer
Both consumers and businesses seem to agree that keeping touch with a customer over direct mail feels natural and appropriate.
Note it is known that acquisition by Direct Mail is more challenging, again for the reasons we have discussed previously – the lack of personal information in many of the available Mailing Lists out there.
This is again why our New Homeowners Mailing List is unique in this aspect and makes a super affordable way for upcoming and small businesses to reach new customers while not losing that feeling of “personal touch”.
Direct Mail Campaign – Effective Call to Action
The study shows that most consumers look positively on offers made via direct mail and are likely to take action and convert.
This should give a long pause to any business designing the mail piece and really make them be creative and curious about their potential customers in the one place where many don’t go the extra mile – the offer. Don’t just tell your brand’s story, but think carefully what offer you are making and whether it is appropriate for the stage of relationship you have with that audience (acquisition vs retention).
Always place yourself in their shoes, for example, for a new homeowner there are many known needs your product or service can be the solution for, but you have to frame it that way, coming from the place a new homeowner would consider; “hey, that’s what I wasn’t thinking about and I could use it”…
New Homeowners Mailing List – Our Answer to Your Challenge
With everything said above and the hard facts collected from the market place we feel confident that our New Homeowner Mailing List is a service every new and small business must try, at least try, in order to find new customers in your area of business.
Having served over 20,000 businesses in almost 60 years of operation, we have seen almost every type of small business there is; medical, pet clinics, restaurants and retail shops, home improvements, general contractors, home water systems, smart home and security systems, lawn services, pool services and anything in between.
We are certain our mailing list combined with either you own printer and stamps or better yet a print/fulfillment provider such as Lob or others, can be a great and affordable way for you to test different offers and reach the right person at the right time – a consumer who has just moved into your area of business and most likely (due to average move of over 5 miles) has to find a new vendor / provider for that service or product.
Reach out to us and have a conversation– see if we can be of help to your business. We guarantee we’ll work very hard to earn both your business and your trust.