2. Credit card marketing and the role of mail
The new news about mail
Why use mail now
Our products and services
WHAT WE WOULD LIKE TO
TALK ABOUT TODAY
2
4. AFTER A FEW LEAN YEARS THE CREDIT CARD
As of September 2014:
59.7 million cards in issue – highest in 4 years
Card borrowing growing by 5.7% annually
Spending volume in September up 9% year on Year
Transaction value in September up 7% year on year
Key drivers appear to be:
Increases are fuelled by: the growth in the economy,
demographics, reward incentives and expanding target
bands to ‘marginal’ (near prime) consumers
Contactless payment driving incremental transactions,
(but lowering Average Transaction Value)
“But there are also a lot of lenders offering 0% rates and
interest-free period at the moment. It’s very striking that as
much as 42% of all lending on credit cards does not incur an
interest charge.
Richard Woolhouse, the BBA’s Chief Economist
Source: UKCA Monthly Statistics, September 2104
BBA Credit Card Market report, September 2014
MARKET IS ON THE UP
4
5. REFLECTED IN THE INCREASE IN MARKETING
As the market has recovered, marketing budgets
have risen in the last two years
Mail spend within the credit card category has
grown significantly
74% of the plastic card sector marketing budget
was spent on direct mail between Nov 13 – Oct 14.
An increase from 69% the previous year.
Card marketing was the third highest % spend of all
the FS sector
Source: Nielsen Ad Dynamix, November 2013 to October 2014
BUDGETS ESPECIALLY SPEND ON MAIL
56 53
69 74
18 22
11 913 16 9 5
11 5 5 6
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Nov 2010 -
Oct 2011
Nov 2011 -
Oct 2012
Nov 2012 -
Oct 2013
Nov 2013 -
Oct 2014
Door Drops
Radio
Cinema
Outdoor
Press
Internet
TV
Direct Mail
Credit card sector’s growing share of overall spend
Overall £104m £107m £114m £102m
Direct Mail £58m £56m £78m £75m
98
83
74
61
39 32
23
14 10 9 9 6 4
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
DM's % of advertising spend
5
6. THE NEED FOR CREDIT CAN OFTEN BE TRIGGERED
First timers
Going to uni/first in
the market for:
• 0% offers
• Student loans
• Payday loans
Starting out Settling down
Switchers /deal
seekers
Looking to settle
down and buy first
place
• Credit card
• Loans
Money managers
Young families
mortgages -
squeezed
• Reward
schemes
• Loans
• Insurance
Loyals
Paid off mortgage
kids left home
semi retired
• Premium
accounts
• Loyalty
schemes
Settled Empty nesters
Traditionalists
Retirees looking
for savings & or
pensions to go far
• Loyalty
schemes
Retired
First credit build/rebuild
Deal seekers
Loyalty/Reward
Pay day loans
BY A COMBINATION OF LIFESTAGE AND LIFE EVENTS
6
7. THIS IS REFLECTED IN THE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES
Consolidation with 0% interest, rewards based
cards for heavy transactors, or near prime
opportunities: different companies target different
customer groups
Pure play credit companies target the younger age
groups with 0% and switching offers, fuelling
growth in the near prime market
More loyalty and reward based providers tend to
target older audiences (45+)
Spend varies by company, with many of the bigger
players like Cap One, Barclaycard and MBNA
investing the majority of their media budget in mail
There is a strong role for targeted relevant mailings
to distinct age groups
EMPLOYED BY CREDIT CARD COMPANIES
Source: Nielsen Ad Dynamix, November 2013 to October 2014
75 72
53
41 38
27
14 14 10 7
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
% of direct mail to 25-34 year olds by provider
94
93
11
64
74
100
44
21
63
65
0 20 40 60 80 100
Barclaycard Services
Capital One
American Express
Mbna Europe Bank
Tesco Bank
Vanquis Bank
Natwest
Santander
Lloyds Bank Plc
Royal Bank Of Scotland
% of overall media spend on direct mail by card provider
7
8. LEADING TO A GROWTH IN TRIGGER BASED
Due to the fact that the majority (56%) of
the credit card customers pay in full
there is a need to reward spend
Companies need to offer added
incentives to attract new credit card
customers and provide a differentiated
service to retain existing customers
As stated major life events have been
shown to drive credit card
ownership/usage
Increasingly consumers will expect more
targeted offers based on their individual
needs and lifestage
“35% of UK consumers are willing to provide more
data to businesses if it means they wouldn’t have to
waste their time with offers that aren’t relevant” –
SDL Survey, May 2014
COMMUNICATIONS
Source: GMI/Mintel, September 2013
Source: TGI, Kantar Media, July 2013 to June 2014
39%
49%
58%
61% 63%
66% 66%
69% 71% 71% 71% 72% 73% 74% 75%
79% 80% 82% 83% 85% 85%
89% 91%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Has Credit Card/Charge Card
8
9. THE MARKET DYNAMICS AND TARGETING
Source: Ebiquity, August 2014
Big growth in pre-authorised and personal targeted mail, as well as in loyalty and value added products/messaging
Pre-authorisation / Personalised Offers Loyalty / Value AddedO% Offers
STRATEGIES ARE REFLECTED IN THE DIFFERENT
MESSAGING APPROACHES
9
10. CASE STUDY - NEVER UNDERESTIMATE
Background:
Acquire new Platinum card customers.
The solution:
To make the pack stand-out and cut through the
usual financial jargon, it contained one word “yes”,
making applying a foregone conclusion.
Mailed to existing customers, pre-qualified, to upsell
to the Platinum card.
Results:
Response rates increased by 30%, conversion was
up by 42%.
Source: DMA, Silver Winner, Barclaycard, 2012
THE POWER OF SIMPLICITY: BARCLAYCARD
10
11. AN EFFECTIVE USE OF DATA TARGETING TO
Background:
At Bank of Scotland, communications to customers were
previously high volume, one-size-fits-all, which risked bombarding
customers with irrelevant communications.
Solution:
A sophisticated ‘decision and optimisation’ data model which
calculated the next best offer for every individual customer.
Results:
Significantly improved customer experience, speed to market,
efficiency and ROI. Cut costs and increased response rates by up
to 50%.
COMMUNICATE RELEVANT OFFERS
Source: DMA, Bronze Winner, Bank of Scotland, 2012
11
12. HALIFAX ‘NO BULL’: HOW TO LAUNCH A NEW
Source: DMA, Gold Winner, Halifax, 2010
Background:
Clarity was a new credit card with no charges.
The campaign needed to get Halifax branch staff fired up because there was no
commission to staff on the product.
Solution:
For staff - ‘live animal transport box’, with breathing holes (and bull’s eyes
peeping through), which contained Clive the Prize Bull (who didn’t charge).
There were 1,250 boxes in all, with Clarity information and a staff competition.
For prospects – mailed to over 500,000 people (260,000 warm, 250,000 cold).
Brochures and in-branch posters were developed with the same strong identity,
that looked Halifax but was distinct.
Results:
94,297 applications in just 8 weeks - a Halifax record. Since launch, results beat
every single target set. Over 59,000 cards were issued despite there being no TV
or billboard advertising. ROI for the campaign was at 4.2:1 at time of entry and
improving.
PRODUCT USING TARGETED AND CREATIVE MAIL
12
14. CONSUMERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO OPEN AND TRUST
Financial mailings have some of the highest open rates in the industry
Over 80% of people open statements or information updates
Mail is still the most trusted and authoritative media
Mail is seen as both personal and relevant
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Media Moments, Trinity McQueen, 2013
From Letterbox to Inbox: Building Customer Relationships, DMA, 2013
FINANCIAL MAIL
of best Financial
mail…
is often kept for
future reference
72%
14
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Values: Best Mail, Quadrangle, 2014
15. More than half (52%) would prefer to receive their
Welcome Pack by mail, almost three times as many as
would prefer email (18%). This suggests they see value
in having this content in a form they can use and keep.
Mail is also preferred for sales messaging such as new
financial product offers
Consumers are slightly more willing to have email for
product messages. This may suggest they find a lack of
personal relevance in these sales communications.
Email allows them to more quickly assess interest and
delete if not valuable.
FINANCIAL CONSUMERS CONTINUE TO PREFER MAIL
FOR MARKETING MESSAGES THEY FIND VALUABLE
Prefer to
receive by
mail
Prefer to
receive by
email
Welcome pack 52% 18%
Information about new
products and services
44% 29%
Offers for new/other
financial products
43% 32%
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and Digital Part 2, Quadrangle, 2014.
(Which channel would you prefer to receive…? Base: All (n=2,375)) 15
16. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
New Card
Activation
New Pin Number
Annual Statements
Welcome Packs
Changing Ts & Cs
Monthly statement
Information about
new products and
services
Responding to
complaints
Offers for other
financial products
Notifications e.g.
account over the
limit
DM
Email
Portal
Channel I would prefer to receive by message
SHOWED A CLEAR PREFERENCE FOR MAIL
THAT HAS CLEAR PERSONAL IMPORTANCE
Consumers want mail for key information
and account details they need and use
16
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and Digital Part 2, Quadrangle, 2014.
(Which channel would you prefer to receive…? Base: All (n=2,375))
17. CREDIT CARD HOLDERS RESPOND TO MAIL
82% have
opened all or most
of their post in the
past year
118 index definitely
agree that they check for
vouchers, offers or other
promotions when they
look through their post
53% like to receive
loyalty rewards
through the post
83% who tried a
new product or
service after
receiving direct mail
are credit card
holders
84% who bought or
ordered something
after receiving direct
mail are credit card
holders
Source: TGI, Kantar Media, January to June 2014
IPA Touchpoints 5, 2014
80% of those who
like advertising mail
from companies who
reward their loyalty are
credit card holders
17
18. It’s been proven to be the most emotionally engaging media
People still enjoy receiving it
It has increasing standout in a digital world
It is highly valued by people
It is omnipresent in people houses
It helps uplift other channels and create value
NEW NEWS ABOUT MAIL
18
22. DEVELOPED IN 8 STRANDS
Ethnography
Post ethnography survey
Multisensory Communications: review of academic literature
Tactility
Values: Best Mail
Mail and Digital 1 & 2
Neuroscience
ROI/Effectiveness metrics
22
25. MAIL GETS OPENED – AT HIGH RATES
Statement, bill or information update
Brochure from a company they have ordered from before
Letter – promotion or special offer
Letter – about a product/service they don’t have
Leaflet without an address about a product/service
Leaflet without an address about a promotion/offer
Brochure from a company not ordered from before
83%
71%
69%
60%
59%
54%
54%
OPEN
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Ethnographic Quant, Trinity McQueen, 2014 25
26. MAIL’S JOURNEY ISN’T OVER WHEN
Adults read their mail on average for 22 minutes a day.
IT HITS THE DOORMAT
1.15PM: Collects mail and brings it into the
home with other bags and belongings
1.30PM: Opens mail whilst doing other jobs
2.15PM: Opens parcel
2.30PM: Uses laptop to get details on a piece
of mail received
5.30PM: Uses laptop again to get further
details on the piece of mail from earlier
8.30PM: Brings catalogue into lounge to read
26
Source: IPA Touchpoints 5, 2014 (Data based on Monday – Saturday morning)
Royal Mail MarketReach, Media Moments, Trinity McQueen, 2013
27. PEOPLE GIVE MAIL TIME
Mail is kept for extended periods, creating a constant presence in the home.
17 daysfor mail
38 daysfor door drops
45 daysfor bills and statements
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Ethnographic Quant, Trinity McQueen, 2014 27
28. AND SPACE
80% of adults kept some mail that
companies had sent them in the last four
weeks.
‘The Holding area’ where it is kept
before being dealt with
‘The Pile’ for mail that has been read
and will be revisited
‘The Display area’ for useful or
important items (local information,
time limited offers)
Display Area
Pile
Holding area
28
Source: TGI, Kantar Media, 2014
Royal Mail MarketReach, Media Moments, Trinity McQueen, 2013
29. MAIL GETS DISPLAYED
39% of people have a dedicated display area for mail in the home
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Ethnographic Quant, Trinity McQueen, 2014 29
30. MAIL IS SHARED
An average of 23% of mail is shared within a household.
Brochure from a company I have ordered from before
Statement, bill or information update
Letter – about a product/service they don’t have
Brochure from a company not ordered from before
Leaflet without an address about a promotion/offer
Letter – promotion or special offer
29%
24%
25%
23%
22%
21%
SHARE
Average of 23%
of mail shared
within a household
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Ethnographic Quant, Trinity McQueen, 2014 30
31. MAIL OFFERS A LESS CLUTTERED
ENVIRONMENT THAN DIGITAL
70%
“I feel that I
receive too
many
emails”*
Mail stands out due to the proliferation
of digital messages
3%
3%
22%
72%
48%
18%
19%
15%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
More than 10
7 to 10
4 to 6
1 to 3
How many items do you receive in a
day?
Email
Mail
51%
of emails are
deleted within
two
seconds**
31
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and Digital Part 1, Quadrangle, 2013
*Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and
Digital Part 1, Quadrangle, 2013
**Source: Litmus Email Analytics, 2013
32. INCREASINGLY MAIL IS DRIVING PEOPLE’S
43%
download
something
54%
engaged in
social media
87%
influenced to
make online
purchases
92%
driven to online
or digital activity
86%
connected with
business
DIGITAL BEHAVIOUR
As a direct
result of
receiving
mail
32
Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and Digital Part 2, Quadrangle, 2014
Question asked(S4Q1): How often have you done each of the following online as a direct result of receiving mail from a business or organisation. Base: All (n=2,375)
33. MAIL IN THE HEART
CREATING AN EMOTIONAL
RESPONSE
33
36. TOUCH CREATES A POWERFUL
When people can both see and
touch something, they value it
24% more highly than if they
can only see it.
Over a third of people say that
the physical properties of mail
influence how they feel about
the sender.
EMOTIONAL RESPONSE
+22% +24%
2.75 2.73
3.36 3.38
0
1
2
3
4
5
Psychological ownership Valuation
VISION ONLY VISION AND TOUCH
36
Participants were asked to subjectively grade ownership and value on a 7 point scale.
Source: Peck, Joann, and Suzanne B. Shu. The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership. Journal of Consumer Research, 2009; IPA Touchpoints 5, 2014
37. PEOPLE FEEL VALUED AND HAVE A
BETTER IMPRESSION OF THE BRAND
The emotional impact of mail versus email
I am more likely to take it seriously
It gives me a better impression of that company
It makes me feel more valued
63%
57%
55%
18%
17%
25%
(% True of Mail vs. True of Email)
MAIL EMAIL
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and Digital Part 1, Quadrangle, 2013 37
38. MAIL IN THE HEAD
HOW MAIL IMPACTS THE BRAIN
38
41. THE BRAIN RESPONDS MORE STRONGLY
Mail had a much more powerful overall impact on the key measures of the
neuroscience study than email or TV.
TO MAIL THAN TO TV OR EMAIL
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Neuro-Insight 2013
168
202
172
127
165
130
105
113
100
0
50
100
150
200
250
Engagement Emotional Intensity Long-term Memory Encoding
Indexvs.'Normal'restingbrain
MAIL EMAIL TV
41
42. IN A MULTI MEDIA CAMPAIGN
SEQUENCING MAIL LAST MAXIMISES IMPACT
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Neuro-Insight, 2013
Mail after TV and email
100 100 100
112
101
106
126
121
110
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
Engagment Emotional Intensity Long-term Memory
Encoding
Indexvs.responsefromfirstexposure
MAIL SEEN FIRST MAIL SEEN SECOND MAIL SEEN THIRD
Engagement
42
44. MAIL DELIVERS ROI
Mail ROI showed a strong channel performance in BrandScience cases
Revenue Return on Investment of clients using direct mail
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach BrandScience, 2014
0
2
4
6
8
£
RROI (Revenue ROI)
44
45. Total ROI increased 12% when mail was included in the mix.
MEDIA MULTIPLIER EFFECT
MAIL CREATES A MEASURABLE
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, BrandScience 2014; advertiser cases including mail versus cases without mail.
4.22
4.63
5…
4.73
4.93
6.31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Total Comms TV Print
RROI
RROI-NO MAIL RROI-WITH MAIL
45
46. MAIL DELIVERS NEW AUDIENCES
Adding mail to the mix opens up new responsive audiences. When mail is
added to the schedule
versus email on its own
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, Mail and Digital Part 1, Quadrangle, 2013 46
47. INCLUDING MAIL DELIVERED TOP-RANKING
Campaigns that included mail
were:
27% more likely to deliver top-
ranking sales performance
40% more likely to deliver top-
ranking acquisition levels
SALES AND ACQUISITION PERFORMANCE
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, IPA Databank Meta-Analysis, Peter Field, 2013
+27% +40%
45%
30%
57%
42%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Sale Acquisition
%Clientslistingtopperforming
improvements
RROI - NO MAIL RROI - WITH MAIL
47
48. WITH MAIL IN THE MIX, MARKET
SHARE GREW 3x MORE EFFICIENTLY
Mail included in multi-channel campaigns drove market share growth with
3x the efficiency versus non-mail advertisers.
2.9xMarket share growth
for all clients
3.4xMarket share growth
for service sector
48
Comparing market share growth per 10 Extra Share of Voice points (ESOV) shows the increase in efficiency of advertising plans including mail.
Source: Royal Mail MarketReach, IPA Databank Meta-Analysis, Peter Field, 2013
50. EDF USED TARGETING AND CHARM TO
MAKE CONSUMERS FEEL ZINGY ABOUT ENERGY
Background:
EDF Energy was facing many challenges. Operating in a low interest commodity
category, the industry had the lowest amount of switching since records began. When
EDF Energy stopped face to face selling, they lost their largest acquisition channel. They
therefore needed to maximise the potential of other channels.
Solution:
EDF wanted to reach people who had not switched from their competitors and shake
them up. But a new angle was required to engage the audiences.
EDF had launched a new ATL brand positioning ‘Feel Better Energy’ with the brand
character ‘Zingy’. This offered the perfect opportunity for a radical change in direct
marketing.
Launching its biggest ever direct campaign, EDF used Zingy to persuade people to open
and engage with the new brand messages. Direct mail , door drops, inserts and direct
response print were deployed to convert awareness into action.
Sources: AIS London, IPA
Effectiveness Bronze Award 2014,
Marketing Week Engage Award Gold
2013,
50
51. EDF REACHED KEY AUDIENCES AND
Results:
This was the most successful campaign EDF Energy had ever run, giving
them a new route to a previously unresponsive audience.
EDF reached their 2012 year-end sales objective three months early. The
campaign achieved a record breaking 43,000 calls and19,500 direct sales,
exceeding sales targets by 30%.
Short term incremental gross profit showed that every £1 spent on the
campaign generated £2.36. Cost of sale was 23% lower than target,
making direct marketing a feasible acquisition channel for the first time.
EDF won c.25% of all market switchers making EDF the fastest growing
B2C energy supplier in the UK. 55% of sales came from customers who
had never switched before. 73% of consumers who responded to the
direct campaign said they wouldn’t have switched if they hadn’t received
the direct marketing.
The long life of mail was proved by the fact the it was still generating calls
three months later.
CHANGED BEHAVIOUR
Sources: AIS London, IPA Effectiveness
Bronze Award 2014, Marketing Week
Engage Award Gold 2013,
51
53. Background:
Home improvement projects are irregular and unpredictable. Part of
Homebase’s marketing strategy was to promote everything and discount on a
frequent basis. The direct marketing strategy had been built around regular
high volume event mailings with blanket discounts
Solution:
Homebase found patterns in shopping behaviours in both transactional and
non-transactional data, identifying customer needs close to ‘Share of Project’
spending opportunities.
They identified 10 project trigger identifiers and then analysed the length and
shape of the sales curves to quantify the purchasing opportunity. For each,
they created a personalised communication plan.
Responding quickly enough to be relevant was critical. Homebase was able to
get direct mail delivered within six days and email in two. Dynamic templates
made the communication truly personalised, delivering the right message at the
right time to increase customer value.
HOMEBASE USED DATA PATTERNS TO DELIVER
Sources: DMA Best Multi-channel CRM programme Gold Award 2014, DMA Data Strategy Silver Award 2013, Marketing
Week Engage Award Winner CRM/Loyalty and Direct Marketing 2014, Homebase and MRM Meteorite
PERSONALISED CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR DIY-ERS
53
54. Solution:
The programme used highly responsive direct mail, magazines, emails, at till
communications and inspiring shareable content to increase customer value,
using a hierarchy to determine customer inclusion to suit their interest or
project.
Results:
The strategy has been transformational. The evolved CRM programme has
delivered incremental sales four times greater than three years ago - ROI up
350% to 4.3:1. It also smashed its profit target by +48% creating a
demonstrably more engaged and valuable customer in terms of both total
spend and activity – mail response increased from an average of 9% to a
maximum of 46%, up 500%, ATV increased by 13.5% and repeat visits up 6%.
TARGETING AND PERSONALISATION COMBINED
Sources: DMA Best Multi-channel CRM programme Gold Award 2014, DMA Data Strategy Silver Award 2013, Marketing
Week Engage Award Winner CRM/Loyalty and Direct Marketing 2014, Homebase and MRM Meteorite
WITH FAST REPONSE DELIVERED DRAMATIC GROWTH
54
55. IN SUMMARY
Mail brings a brand into the home where it is kept, displayed, and/or shared
Its tactile qualities have powerful emotional and rational impact that can be identified
and proven
Mail makes your message more memorable
Mail drives successful return on investment
When used in integrated campaigns, it can provide a measurable media multiplier effect
Mail delivers top-ranking sales and acquisition growth and efficient market share growth
The newly transformed Royal Mail is a credible, motivated and connected partner to you and your
marketing agencies.
Media and
Data
Planning
Bespoke
Research
and Insight
Data
Provision
Distribution
55
57. BIG DATA IS DRIVING MORE 121 DIRECT
Data is driving more 121 and personalised interactions.
Trigger based communications based on actual and future behaviour change.
There is a strong role for highly targeted personals mail in this space.
Less short termism and more longer term ROI.
COMMUNICATION
57
58. ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY MEANS
USB film content
Augmented Reality: Online / offline
integration
VideoPaks
Sensory Mailings: Taste & smell
increases tangibility
Interactive print
Digital templating: cheaper, faster
& more personalised
QUICKER, CHEAPER & MORE IMMERSIVE MAILINGS
58
59. NEW DEVELOPMENTS FOR MAIL
Barcode
A new barcode standard for
machine readable
Business, Advertising and
Publishing Mail
Technology
Sorting machines that
read the new barcode
and collect mail data
Reporting
Mail Analytics that reports
on volume, compliance,
predicted delivery and
overall performance
Ultimately generating more efficiency, greater transparency and
measurement for your mail campaigns
59
60. WHAT WE COULD DO FOR YOU
Work with you to increase the performance of your DR channels
• Best case for mail
• Test matrix
• ROI
• Contextualise within
the media mix
• Addressed/
unaddressed mail
1. Review your
competitive set.
2. Understand the key
dynamics of your
sector,
3. Unearth powerful
insights in relation to
Mail and how Mail can
address your business
issues.
• Acquisition
• Loyalty
• Retention
Understand the key
issue
Sector experts gather
insight
Recommendation
60
Mail flows through the household – it is passed around, discussed and displayed in more ways and for longer than previously thought.
And rather than being opened and read on the doormat, we saw that participants interact with their mail, fitting it in around their daily life, even revisiting mail later in the day.
The IPA Touchpoints survey shows that on average adults read their mail for 22 minutes a day. This compares to magazines, read on average 14 minutes per day. However, with magazines, attention is split between editorial and advertising. With mail, 100% of attention is on the advertising content itself.
People not only spend time reading advertising mail, they can take their time with it; we’ve seen that they typically keep it around the house for more than two weeks.
In fact, many advertisers report that results from mail come in for 3-6 months or even more.
So mail not only gives brands more time in customers' hands, it gives them more time in their homes.
Mail can be a constant presence for a considerable time
Recent data from Kantar Media’s TGI study shows that 80% of adults kept some mail that companies had been sent to them in the last four weeks.
But people not only give mail time in the home, they also give it a specific space.
Data from IPA Touchpoints 5 confirms that 69% of people have a specific place in the house where they store advertising mail such as coupons, catalogues, brochures and vouchers – all of which helps to keep your message in the household longer.
Those display areas are particularly important – keeping your message visible, like a poster space in the home.
We noticed how mail was used as functional decoration, occupying a designated space in a room.
The follow-up survey supported this, with 39% of people saying they had a dedicated display area for mail, which was usually the kitchen (51% of people who have a dedicated area).
So mail doesn’t just deliver the message, it quite literally nails it to the wall.
By thinking creatively about ways to encourage people to display your mail, it can become visible to everyone in the household.
Mail not only moves around the home, it also moves from person to person.
An average of 23% of all mail gets passed around other people in the home or household, extending the reach of your message beyond the named recipient. And this increases to 29% when it’s a brochure from a company which the recipient has bought from before.
Sharing is, understandably, more common in shared households.
But since the inhabitants of shared households tend to be younger, this has particular implications for the audience for mail.
For example, according to IPA Touchpoints 5, there is evidence to suggest that 15-34 year olds are:
42% more likely to find mail memorable than the UK population as a whole
71% more likely to trust the advertising mail they receive
So, if a mail piece is a conversation starter, it might not only get additional people seeing it, it can potentially get your brand talked about over and over again.
Behavioural marketing experts have investigated the importance of touch in human psychology.
Multisensory stimulation seems to alter the way the brain processes messages – often making processing quicker.
Physical contact results in what psychologists call the ‘endowment effect’ – a sense of ownership over an item which makes people value it more highly.
Scientific experiments have shown that people value something they can see and touch 24% more highly than something they can only see.
Meaning that the physical nature of mail gives it a sense of importance as well as influencing how they feel about the sender.
A 2013 article in Scientific American showed that there is still a strong preference for reading on paper, driven by the physical properties of mail.
And this preference for reading on paper does in fact translate into a preference for advertising mail over email communication.
For example, we discovered that 63% of people say that they are more likely to take mail seriously, compared to just 18% of people for email.
But not only does mail give a better impression of the company than email (55% vs 25%), people also feel more valued when they receive mail rather than email (57% vs 17%).
.
So why are people’s brains reacting in such a uniformly positive way to advertising presented in a physical medium?
Well, it could be that stimulating more than one sense speeds up the brain’s ability to process information. For example, in learning experiments performance is consistently better when vision is accompanied by sound, when compared to just vision alone.
And the same applies to touch because it appears that the tactile effects of mail do something similar by making the absorption of messages easier, potentially making them more memorable.
In Kantar Media’s TGI survey, 80% of respondents say that they can remember seeing or reading some advertising mail sent to them in the last four weeks. And when we asked about advertising mail that the respondents found useful or interesting, 60% said that it helped to keep the sender’s brand top of mind.
Mail delivers a stronger brain response, on these measures, than tv or email.
This response to mail is also universal. Whilst different indicators are stronger for different age groups, the overall effect remains strong regardless of age.
Mail creates a stronger brain response than tv or email.
In a multimedia campaign, how can we get mail to work the most effectively with other media channels like tv and email?
We found that placing mail last, after TV and email, generated the maximum effect in our Neuro-Insight research.
So, we have seen the role mail plays in people’s homes and how it impacts positively on the heads and hearts of consumers.
What our research also shows is that mail is highly effective at delivering return on investment (ROI), performing not just in terms of sales and direct response, but also on incremental reach, efficient growth of market share, brand switching and cost per new customer acquisition.
But mail also helps in getting new audiences to engage and respond so it can make a
significant difference when integrated into multi-channel communications planning.
We believe it is important to demonstrate the impact mail has on the full range of
marketing and communications measures and to see how these lead to tangible
business results.
We commissioned BrandScience to conduct a meta-analysis of advertiser econometric models – 401 cases (56 of which used direct mail and 42 of which used door drops), each representing one year with an average of 3 campaigns per year.
They discovered that mail’s ROI performance is strong and that it is similar to television and above that achieved by most other media channels covered in the analysis.
Door drops also deliver excellent performance – around the same level as OOH (out of home / posters).
Of the 56 cases using direct mail, we found that mail and door drops did well versus other channels, and that both deserved to be included/considered in their own right.
When mail was included in an integrated plan, total communications revenue ROI jumped from £4.22 to £4.73 – a 12% increase.
The inclusion of mail particularly showed increased revenue ROI from campaigns using TV and print. This is in line with the neuroscience research where we saw a strong interaction between mail and TV.
Adding mail to the mix also delivers new responsive audiences. This is not just from media multiplier theory.
Royal Mail consumer research shows us that different people like to be communicated with through different channels at different points in the customer journey. In our Mail & Email research for example, we found that 68% of people prefer companies to use some communication by mail.
With mail added to the mix, in our Digital and Mail: Part 1 research, we could identify that 13% more consumers visited the sender’s website, 21% more consumers made purchases and 35% more consumers redeemed coupons or vouchers .
The BrandScience analysis focused on ROI, but we also wanted to confirm that mail delivered on other commercial measures.
Peter Field, an independent marketing effectiveness consultant, analysed the IPA Effectiveness Awards case studies data and compared the metrics between campaigns that used mail and those that did not.
The analysis of the IPA Effectiveness Awards databank identified that campaigns that included mail were 27% more likely to deliver top-ranking sales performance and 40% more likely to deliver top-ranking acquisition levels, than campaigns that didn’t.
Furthermore the results of this analysis showed that where mail was included it drove market share growth with 3 x the efficiency of those that did not include mail.
A brand spending the same amount of money on two campaigns, would therefore experience three times the amount of market share growth from one that included mail than one that did not.
The Salvation Army, working with Mike Colling & Company (MC&C), increased investment in both mail and door drops over 5 years.
By integrating mail with digital and broadcast media, and by accurately attributing results and understanding the roles each channel plays in the media mix, MC&C increased The Salvation Army’s net income and profitability.
MC&C were awarded silver at the IPA Effectiveness Awards 2014, to follow their DMA Gold for Media Strategy in 2011.
All headlines appear in uppercase and are always out of the blue text boxes, up to a maximum of 2 lines. Single headline master is available in the theme.
The Salvation Army, working with Mike Colling & Company (MC&C), increased investment in both mail and door drops over 5 years.
By integrating mail with digital and broadcast media, and by accurately attributing results and understanding the roles each channel plays in the media mix, MC&C increased The Salvation Army’s net income and profitability.
MC&C were awarded silver at the IPA Effectiveness Awards 2014, to follow their DMA Gold for Media Strategy in 2011.
Title master allows for up to a maximum of 3 lines of title copy red, blue and orange. If less than 3 lines are required the unused text boxes should be deleted. All additional info copy dates etc are in black.
Title master allows for up to a maximum of 3 lines of title copy red, blue and orange. If less than 3 lines are required the unused text boxes should be deleted. All additional info copy dates etc are in black.
Red is always the colour used to sign off as Royal Mail.