By now, you are aware that direct mail marketing is not dead, and running a direct mail campaign alongside your social media and email marketing campaigns, not to mention the paid searches, would be the best way for you to boost your marketing revenue.
Direct mail marketing, though regarded as an outdated marketing strategy by many people today, is an effective strategy since it allows you to create a personalized marketing experience with your audience, customers often find it easier, it makes them feel valued, and it boosts a higher ROI, clickthrough rates, and even better response rates.
Before we look at the cost of direct marketing, here are the other specifics you should be aware of:
A 2016 study by The Data & Marketing Association reported that with the use of direct mail marketing, the customer response rates went up by as much as 43%, while the prospects’ response rate increased by a whopping 190% in 2016, compared to 2015.
The Direct Marketing Association further indicates that the direct mail marketing response rates were 37% higher than the response rates from email marketing campaigns in their 2015 report.
Further reports on the effects of direct mail on ROI showed that direct mail recorded a median ROI of 29%. This ROI placed direct marketing on the third spot, right behind email marketing and social media marketing campaigns. At 29%, direct mail marketing was only 1% behind social media marketing.
It’s also clear that the incorporation of direct mail marketing to your other digital marketing strategies, including Facebook ads, Instagram ads, SEO, and paid search campaigns would increase the success of your marketing campaigns significantly.
The other piece of statistic you need to be aware of is the one indicating that the use of direct mail marketing is effective in reaching your target audience, and its effects on your audience is better than most other marketing strategies like social media marketing thanks to the personalization that’s created and build from direct mail.
According to Navistone, 73% of consumers said that they preferred snail mail to other advertising methods, as reported by the International Communications Research, while 40% of customers in different industries reported that they tried a new business after getting mail.
So, how much does direct mail marketing cost?
Since the cost of marketing is the biggest factor that determines the marketing strategies marketers and companies employ, and also how far they can stretch their resources, it’s important for you to be aware of the cost of direct mail marketing before you settle on this strategy. In essence, you need measurable objectives, and you also need to determine the best time to use this strategy – when launching a product or as a means of boosting your brand awareness.
That said, it’s also important to state that it will not give you a specific figure on the cost of direct mail marketing since there are several factors that come into play when it comes to the determination of the total cost of this marketing strategy.
These factors include:
- The cost of copywriting
- Design cost
- Mailing list creation and selection costs (you could lower this cost by integrating your direct mail automation tools with a CRM.
- Design print
- Mail Service and the Postage rate
Keep in mind that the costs will also depend on the number of recipients you are marketing to, your budget, the products you are selling, and your target audience.