Choice, control, cut-through: Why brands need to pay attention to mail
Brands need to look beyond the screen in their marketing, to create the ad recall and purchase intent that drives growth.
Brands today have a problem. Driving long-term brand growth hinges on the ability to build memory structures and maximise mental availability among buyers, so they remember your brand when a buying situation arises. But we can’t remember things we haven’t paid attention to, and in today’s busy, fragmented media landscape, consumers are getting very good at tuning advertising out.
That means so-called ‘vanity metrics’, like impressions and viewability, no longer stand up as reliable indicators of an ad’s impact – especially as brands come under growing pressure to prove ROI.
Multiple studies by acclaimed media researchers indicate that attention may be the best predictor of positive commercial outcomes for brands. To date, much of the conversation around attention has focused on screen-based media, such as video and digital channels. But mail is often the unsung hero of the advertising industry, quietly driving impact while other channels attract the spotlight.
High-attention media
Recent research from Teads, Lumen and Dynata demonstrates a correlation between longer visual dwell times and uplifts in both ad recall and brand choice, revealing that when an ad is viewed for at least five seconds, it drives significant gains in both consideration and purchase intent. Exposures of over 10 seconds are even more effective.
According to the latest figures from JICMAIL (the industry currency providing audience measurement data for door drops and direct mail), mail captures the average person’s attention for between 60 and 175 seconds. By comparison, TVision estimates a 30-second TV ad attracts an average of 13.8 seconds of attention, and Lumen Research says a Facebook in-feed ad garners just 1.6 seconds.
What’s more, mail is one of the most cost-efficient channels for capturing attention. JICMAIL’s recent ‘Attention Study’, validated by PwC, calculated the cost of acquiring one minute of consumer attention across various media, and found direct mail was over 40% more efficient than social display ads. Door drops were nearly 65% more efficient, even outperforming 30-second TV ads.
According to Marketreach commercial director Philip Ricketts, mail has a number of features that work in its favour when it comes to attention. “Mail, unlike lots of other media, is tactile. It’s a physically received item and puts a brands’ message directly into their audiences’ hands. That triggers different senses and creates different neurological responses, and there are benefits of that in the customer experience. So consumers engage with it more,” he explains.
Another is the control mail gives consumers to decide how and when they engage with a brand’s message. As Ricketts explains: “We are seeing more and more ways in which consumers are trying to limit their exposure to advertising, whether that’s installing ad blockers on browsers or buying ad-free TV subscriptions. Consumers are taking greater control, so to reach them and deliver a message that resonates is increasingly difficult for brands. With mail, you’re naturally in control of how and when you read it, and people even create routines around that.”
Research has also shown that mail typically punches above its weight when it comes to exposure. Consumers often keep pieces of mail in their homes for extended periods and look at them multiple times. According to JICMAIL, the average piece of direct mail is interacted with 4.8 times and has a lifespan in the home of 7.3 days.
In a world of generally low public interest in advertising, with most messages ignored or forgotten, research from Marketreach written in partnership with WARC (conducted prior to JICMAIL’s most recent data) reveals that mail is often the only communication recipients remember from a brand. This owes partly to the fact it generally gets a consumer’s undivided attention, unlike screen-based media for example. A study saw 65% of respondents who received mail unable to recall other communications from the same brand.
Click here to download Marketreach’s report, ‘The Attention Advantage’
Mail and the marketing funnel
Cunard exploited the physicality of mail to create excitement around the newest addition to its fleet of cruise ships, the Queen Anne, prior to her maiden voyage in May 2024. Targeting loyal customers, Cunard allowed its recipients a ‘first touch’ of the ship’s luxurious on-board experience, sending them a mailing containing four teal-and-gold cards showcasing the ship’s unique architectural features, as well as a 16-page brochure with details on forthcoming cruises and instructions on how to book.
Cunard’s investment richly paid off. As the mail landed on customers’ doormats, the company enjoyed its busiest booking day in a decade and sold out berths for the Queen Anne’s first voyage within 24 hours.
Cunard’s campaign exemplifies mail’s power to drive bottom-of-funnel conversions. But its attention-capturing capabilities can grow brands at the top of the funnel too.
“As the world of media has become more and more complicated, as an industry we now like to pigeonhole media channels as doing certain things. But in reality, every single touchpoint with a consumer is an opportunity to reinforce or build that brand,” Ricketts says.
“We have worked with thousands of online businesses, for example, that have built their brands through digital and used mail to reinforce that, extend their reach, and build their brands in an offline channel.”
Mail can also provide an opportunity to deliver longer and more complex messages than other channels, or to help maintain consumer engagement during periods of low interest or low engagement.
Every single touchpoint with a consumer is an opportunity to reinforce or build that brand.
Philip Ricketts, Marketreach
Marketreach’s research reinforces mail’s role across the entire funnel. The average piece of mail persuaded 16% of recipients to consider the featured brand, it found, with 9% saying it prompted an action signalling purchase intent, such as visiting a website or shop. Mail can also ‘seal the deal’, with 5% of items leading to a transaction on average.
Specsavers’s audiology department has capitalised on this, using door drops to engage with customers at different points in their hearing-loss journey and encourage them to take positive action. The retailer’s aim was to raise awareness of both the problem of hearing loss and its audiology service, and it worked. Analysis by Whistl found door drops delivered a 16% uplift in appointments versus control areas, and the overall campaign led to a 15% improvement in brand consideration, as well as a 10% uplift in purchase intent.
Diversity in media
No one channel can be the holy grail for marketers. Customer journeys today aren’t linear and they’re only growing in complexity, so a diverse media plan is essential. What’s certain, though, is that brands need to earn attention in order to grow. And as Marketreach’s research shows, mail is highly effective at generating meaningful and undivided attention in a cost-efficient way.
Brands need to grasp the opportunity to be more disruptive and cut through the plethora of marketing messages that consumers are faced with today. And as Ricketts says, diversity in media is also about giving consumers choice. “Different consumers prefer to receive different types of information in different ways. Perhaps you prefer to do your banking online, but to receive your annual statement in the post. Providing that choice ensures better engagement with your message,” he says.
“Brands need to think about their marketing objectives and which channels can help achieve them. For some, that might mean using mail where they’ve never used it before.”
Five tips to maximise mail’s impact
Understanding mail’s ability to capture attention and drive full-funnel impact is only half the battle. The message and creative execution must both be on point too. Marketreach commercial director Philip Ricketts suggests five top tips for brands looking to unlock the channel’s full potential.
1. Demonstrate a consumer benefit
Any piece of mail needs to be clear on the opportunity it presents and how it resolves a consumer need.
2. Create a sense of urgency
Consumers are busy. Their lives are more complicated than ever before. To cut through with their mail campaigns, brands need to be able to communicate importance and deliver a compelling call-to-action.
3. Reward your audience
“You’ve got to think about how you reward consumers for paying attention to your mail,” Ricketts explains. How that’s done might depend on the category and the context, but by and large, marketers should invest in content that engages, informs or entertains. Brands might also want to consider digital add-ons to their mail campaign to drive interactivity.
4. Keep it simple
Brands should combine eye-catching designs with communications that are clear and simple, making it easy for time-poor consumers to navigate around their core message.
5. Stay consistent
Consistency across all channels is key, whether that’s how a brand uses its distinctive assets or the messaging it delivers. “If a consumer receives a letter from a brand and then visits its website, their experience needs to look and feel joined up,” Ricketts says.
Click here to download Marketreach’s report, ‘The Attention Advantage’