Don’t get us wrong—we love email. Like every marketing channel, email has an important place in the marketing mix. But with the pressure that marketers often experience to go all digital, it’s important to remind ourselves of some of the unique benefits offered by direct mail.
- Direct mail doesn’t require an opt-in.
Before you can send a marketing email, you need to get the recipient’s permission. If people don’t want to receive your emails, they can block them. If they have opted in and later change their minds, they can simply opt back out. Direct mail doesn’t have these restrictions.
- Direct mail doesn’t land in the spam folder.
Direct mail doesn’t have spam restrictions. If you send direct mailers to accurate physical addresses, your target audience will receive them.
- In a B2B environment when the recipient moves onto a new job, direct mail still finds a target.
When your contact leaves the company for a new position, their email addresses are no longer valid and your marketing emails will bounce. However, direct mail still ends up on the desk of the next person to take their job. Not only does your message still find a target, but you have just introduced yourself to a new contact.
Both direct mail and email are powerful marketing tools, but they are not replacements for one another. Each has a role to play and offers benefits unique to that channel. Use direct mail and email individually, or better yet, create an integrated campaign in which they work together. But don’t think of either as a replacement for the other.
Want to learn more about the differences between direct mail and email? Give us a call!
