Postcards for Your Business
Postcards are a great tool for marketing and an efficient way to get information in front of prospective customers. By using direct mail to market your business, you are investing in a tried and true marketing method.
Americans receive 605 emails each week on average, and only 15 pieces of physical mail. The average lifespan of a marketing email is 17 seconds, whereas direct mail lives on for 17 days. This means that a postcard sent directly to someone’s address sticks around 86,000 times longer than an email and has a much longer period to convince someone to use your services.
Why are postcards so effective?
Direct mail postcards have a unique combination of low cost, high return on investment (ROI), and a measurable impact on the potential customer that digital marketing does not.
Postcards are cost effective
Postcards cost less than other direct mail alternatives. Other direct mail options typically require an outer envelope, internal letter or brochure, and a reply envelope. Postcards are a unique format that allow you to send direct mail on one piece of paper that is clearly displayed without the customer having to open it.
Because of the simple reality of less materials used, postcards take less time for our team to design which contributes to the lower costs of postcard mailing campaigns. Postcards can be addressed and personalized via inkjet addressing systems which is the most cost effective way to address mail. They are also allowed to be the same size as the largest letters USPS will deliver while not requiring an envelope.
Postcards have high Return on Investment (ROI)
Because postcards offer a lower initial cost than other direct mail marketing methods and do not need to be opened by the receiver for them to be read, they outclass other forms of direct mail. A typical direct mail campaign is twice as effective as an online ad at generating ROI for your business. The Data & Marketing Association (DMA) found postcard response rates to be around 9% in 2018. While this number may not be impressive on it’s own, it is important to remember that measuring response rates of direct mail campaigns is much harder than a digital format. In a digital ad, the user’s response is counted when they click a link or ad banner.
To give context for why 9% is an impressive response rate, you can look at the statistics for email marketing. Email marketing has a click through rate of 3%, and a response rate of .6%. We are all bombarded by emails from companies that we often send directly to trash without opening. The USPS found that 98% of people check their mailbox daily and since postcards do not need to be opened to be read, they are scanned by nearly 100% of those who receive them. This means you are almost guaranteed to have your prospective customer’s attention for some period of time when you send them a postcard. Compared to email’s click through rate of 3%, this is staggering.
Postcards are high impact and “sticky”
As we mentioned, postcards stick around in a person’s life for an average of 17 days before being discarded. The likelihood of your postcard being scanned when it first arrives is almost 100%. Unlike email, your potential customers can interact with this piece of mail several more times over the next 2 weeks.
Postcards are the only type of mail, digital or physical, that do not need to be opened to be read. The receiving party does not have the option to ignore your brand entirely. If they are not interested, they may throw the mail away, but they will have read the message you were intending to get across. This builds brand awareness in an effective way, regardless of response rates.
Physical mail evokes emotion. The USPS reports that over half of the country look forward to receiving mail and indicate that it is a pleasure to get physical mail. Postcards have the benefit of being colorful in design and they can catch the attention of those who would not look twice at a plain letter design. Being able to clearly display your brand’s message in full color with eye catching designs is an attribute unique to postcards.
While postcards are scanned by almost 100% of those who receive them, DMA research indicates over 50% of postcards are read in full by at least one member of the household. Being able to claim that your marketing message will be read in full by 50% of households, is unparalleled in today’s marketing landscape. It is worth remembering that email has a click through rate of just 3%, and this statistic does not guarantee that your email was read in full.
