Covid-19 has changed consumer behaviour – perhaps forever. People are spending more time at home and this trend is set to continue. The way we consume media and the way brands build trust and drive customer action has also changed. It has never been more important for brands to build deeper, more engaging relationships with their customers. The latest insights, from Royal Mail Market Reach and JICMAIL, reveals the vital role physical mail is playing in a disrupted media landscape. During the initial lockdown, a record 96% of all mail was engaged with. Frequency of exposure to mail was at its highest ever recorded by JICMAIL and mail-driven online behaviour has increased by 70%*. The free guide is packed full of insight, stats, infographics, useful content, resources and tips on how to deliver effective and measurable direct mail campaigns to drive ROI for your business.

"Porch pirates" are everywhere, but are most active in one particular U.S. state. As measured by the average number of monthly searches per 100,000 people for relevant Google Keyword Planner key terms related to stolen mail, including phrases such as “Amazon delivery stolen”  and “DHL lost my package,” Alaska has the most stolen packages with 76.70 average monthly searches per 100,000 people, 58% higher than the nation's average of 48.27.  The other non-contiguous U.S. state, Hawaii comes in second with an average relevant monthly search volume of 75.25 per 100,000 people; “Porch pirates’ is the fourth most searched-for term, coming after "USPS lost my package" in first, "USPS lost mail" in second, and "USPS lost my package claim" in third.  On the opposite side of the U.S. map, Vermont ranks third in porch piracy with an average monthly search volume of 74.91 per 100,000 people. In Vermont, “USPS report lost package” is the most popular search term after “Amazon package stolen,” “porch pirates,” “USPS lost mail,”  and “USPS lost my package.”

Traditional search-engine volume and traffic to publisher sites is estimated to fall 25% in two years, with search marketing losing share to generative artificial intelligence (GAI) chatbots from Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI as well as other virtual agents, according to research published Monday. Alan Antin, vice president and analyst at Gartner, believes GAI tools will become the "substitute answer engines, replacing user queries that previously may have been executed in traditional search engines," forcing companies to rethink marketing channels and strategies. Organic and paid search remain vital channels for technology marketers seeking to reach awareness and demand-generation goals, according to data released in November 2023, but search and content generation is about to undergo massive changes.