After several years dominated by pandemics and remote work, it should come as no surprise to anyone that digital fatigue is starting to set in. Microsoft released a study earlier this year reporting that Teams — the digital meeting platform many businesses have turned to as a replacement for in-person meetings — has seen an increase of 252% in weekly meeting times since February 2020. Digital marketing is just getting lost in the crowd right now, with consumers pulling away from connecting with brands on yet another platform that requires the use of a screen. This is a great time to put direct mail back on the minds of customers struggling to stay relevant in this day and age, and the numbers support it. According to the Direct Mail Advertising Global Market Report 2022, the average response rate of the direct mail is around 2.7% to 4.4%, while the email has around 0.6%.

Deborah Corn is the founder of the Print Media Centr (www.printmediacentr.com), providing strategy, intel, and insight for printing and marketing professionals and print enthusiasts around the world. Every mailer can be an Oscar-worthy experience, not just a printed thing that shows up in a mailbox and ends up in a pile. The moment it is picked up becomes showtime, with the audience standing in their kitchen or sitting at their desk, deciding in seconds whether to give you their attention or move on. There is a psychological reason those first seconds matter so much. It is known as the threshold effect. It describes the moment when someone crosses from one state of awareness into another, when distractions fall away and attention resets. On the other side of that threshold, people are more present and more open to what comes next. When a strategically crafted mailing invites someone to touch it, unfold it, explore it, or notice a detail they did not expect, their attention resets. Curiosity takes over. The recipient moves from mail sorter to an engaged audience member. What happens next determines whether the performance earns applause or closes on opening night. Thinking like a director, rather than just a sender, alters how mail is perceived. Directors concentrate on the audience’s experience at every moment. This same approach is relevant to direct mail. Read the full article here: Direct Mail is a Performance

“Direct marketing has evolved from a linear process to a delicate science of understanding how each channel plays a unique role in the customer journey,” says Stefanie Cortes, Director of Strategic Analysis, Direct Marketing, RRD. “As marketers continue to feel the pressure to deliver and prove ROI, it’s critical we provide our clients with verifiable methodologies that match messaging and touchpoint strategies to the individual preferences of their target audiences." With the direct mail channel being core to the DMG offering, this specialized group has developed a simplified three-phase approach — identify, create, deploy — that fuses audience insights and creative expertise with intentional delivery strategies to meet the needs of performance-minded marketers: *Identify, understand and prioritize the right audience *Create messaging and design that drives awareness and response *Deploy coordinated direct marketing campaigns via scheduled, automated or complete journeys