Direct Mail vs. Email Marketing: Which Strategy Should You Choose | Taradel

When creating a marketing plan, you always try to find the most effective methods. Coming up with an impeccable plan is challenging, to say the least. Therefore, many marketers find it impossible to employ a successful marketing campaign on the first try. It requires time and marketing efforts to find the golden mean.

You must have read about numerous marketing campaigns that worked for other companies. This might have left you wondering whether the same approach can be applied to your firm.

We have to break it to you that there is no one-fits-all strategy, but it doesn't mean your business won't benefit from two of the most effective strategies out there - email and direct marketing approaches.

Let's explore if they suit your business model and whether it is best to give preference to one of them or instead use both.

Direct Mail vs. Email Marketing: Differences and Similarities

The most significant distinction between email and direct mail marketing is the form of delivery. Email marketing is done online by sending promotional and informational emails. In contrast, direct mail campaigns are based on distributing direct mail pieces to physical addresses.

The way people engage with received emails and mail also varies. Most people open an electronic mail and examine the offer - this is also a decisive moment of whether the offer has intrigued the lead or will potentially be discarded. On the contrary, a direct mail piece is a physical material that can be stuck to the fridge, left on a dinner table, and reread any time later.

A few similarities explain why direct mail and email marketing usually work in tandem. Both strategies target the audience directly, engaging and encouraging them to visit a website, order a service, or purchase a product.

In addition, both direct mail and email marketing offer advanced customization. Since tracking isn't an issue with either of the strategies, they can be further optimized to meet the current demand.

Email marketing is a strategy that utilizes current technologies, while direct mail is generally - and mistakenly - considered an old-school strategy. This has resulted in the idea that brochures and leaflets are outdated, and most receivers throw them away. However, this only happens when a direct mail campaign is poorly employed.

Direct Mail vs. Email Marketing: Which One Do You Need?

• Average $35.41 for Every $1 Spent with Online Marketing vs. $4 with Direct Mail Campaign
  Probably one of the vital factors of campaign effectiveness is the ROI. Visibly, email marketing has a higher ROI than direct mail. So, there is a significantly bigger income when email marketing is used.
  
  However, success is only guaranteed when you distribute promotional emails at the right time and frequency and to valid email addresses. It isn't hard to collect email addresses - but those should be to your target audience, who can potentially benefit from your services or products.
  
  Having said that, ROI isn't the only stepping stone that should be considered.

• Response Rates of Direct Mail is 4.4% vs. 0.12% of Email Marketing
  Direct mail may be thought to be overtaken by digital marketing efforts - however, it sometimes brings in more income than other methods. And this is proven by a shocking average response rate of 4.4% compared to email marketing reaching as little as 0.12%.
  
  If you want your customers to remember your brand, make sure to prepare catchy physical materials to distribute around the neighborhood.
  
  Email marketing loses this battle, as digital advertisements tend to leave a weaker impression on readers.

• Brand Recall Is Better with Direct Mail than Email Marketing
  When flooded with emails daily, consumers' memory tends to disregard most of the digital ads seen online. Hence, only 44% can recall a brand right after seeing another ad posted by it.
  
  In contrast, 75% can recall a brand name after receiving direct mail.

• Abandoned Cart Emails Result in Finished Order
  Customers tend to leave their orders half-finished either because they lost their interest in a product or postponed buying it until another time.
  
  Abandoned cart emails help motivate customers to finalize the order or can offer an additional coupon or a deal for added encouragement. One study shows that three consecutive emails result in 69% more orders than a single email.
  
  Sending mail takes time, and it would otherwise be impossible to achieve the same result with direct mail.

• Direct Mail Is More Welcomed than Emails
  Email marketing isn't necessarily spammy, but it can annoy some customers. The previously-though outdated direct mail is a returning trend in today's marketing.
  
  A booming 73% of American consumers give their preference to direct mail over email marketing. This is because direct mail brochures or postcards require less cognitive effort to process the information. Mail can also be read anytime later at people's convenience, it doesn't require an immediate response.

• Email Marketing Reaches a Bigger Audience Than Direct Mail
  Both marketing strategies are effective in their environment. However, it's impossible to dispute that email marketing can simultaneously reach out to a bigger pool of potential customers. Therefore, it still remains a powerful tool in the hands of marketers, and they are well aware of that.
  
  On the other hand, local businesses that offer services in a limited area have a significant advantage, along with the smaller competition with direct mail. They can add a personalized touch to their mail materials and get a better response rate than if they were to use email marketing.
  
  Moreover, local businesses can integrate both strategies in a single campaign for a more profitable outcome.

• Direct Mail Is Well Perceived By At Least Three Generations
  This might surprise, but direct mail has the upper hand among Gen X, Millennials, and the youngest Gen Z generations.
  
  According to a study by USPS, 70% of Gen X are excited to receive physical mail. It was tracked that 90% of Millennials actively engage with promotional mail.
  
  
  Gen Z is the latest generation born into the world of technological advances and innovations. You would think they are giving their preferences to digital-only promotions; however, 33% are inclined to purchase after receiving direct mail.
  
  The youngest generation also engages with digitally enhanced mail - precisely those with QR codes, PURLs, and others.

• Welcome Emails Matter
  One of the digital elements that direct mail lacks is a welcome message. Welcome emails are standard after registering to a website. They feature an average open rate of 82% compared to a 21% rate of opening a regular email.
  
  Often, this is a chance to strike an undeniable deal and continue ongoing customer engagement over a long period.

Implementing Email and Direct Mail Marketing Campaigns Simultaneously

Traditionally, marketers stick with one of the marketing channels or employ a few but separately. This is supported by a presumption that channels are easier to optimize this way. However, it couldn't be farther from the truth.

Technologies have advanced and reached the point when launching multi-channel marketing campaigns isn't an impossible task. On the contrary, marketers only encourage this strategy, especially when merging email and direct mail marketing. Both marketing strategies are no longer treated as two different branches.

We've established that email marketing is an effective method of reaching out to a vast audience at once. Combined with direct marketing, your campaign will yield more results thanks to the direct approach's personalized touch.

Both teams must work together to ensure the campaign goes smoothly and your audience receives a clear message. Otherwise, two teams may have different ideas that may confuse potential customers.

To make direct mail appealing, it can be integrated with online technologies flawlessly. Additionally, direct mail can be greatly personalized in many ways, including interacting with personalized URLs, QR codes, promos, and referral bonuses. These add-ons to your campaign will let you track results easier, too.

Taradel offers services of direct and email marketing campaigns that work interchangeably. This way, you leave the headache of sending emails and direct mail and enjoy the increased ROI in no time.

Boost Sales with Either or Both Strategies

Both marketing methods are potent strategies. Email marketing will skyrocket your visibility, but direct mail will earn you a high response rate. The two marketing tactics have a decent ROI, allowing you to profit some money while you are battling to earn the loyalty of your customers.

You can always pick a single channel to experiment with, but the result won't be the same as with multiple channels.

The multi-channel approach will accompany your customers on their purchasing journey and lead them to the checkout section. The way it is done is when a customer abandons a cart, they are sent an email with a gentle reminder. Upon no reaction, a customer can receive mail within a week. As a result, your offers stay top of mind during the buyer's journey.

Accordingly, you will have more influence on your target audience when you integrate direct mail into an email marketing campaign.

Taradel offers direct mail and email campaigns with different volumes and prices to suit your marketing budget. Plan your marketing campaign right away with Taradel.