Marketing Strategies: Email or Snail Mail?

The two most common marketing strategies are direct mail and email marketing. The debate is always about which option is a better solution for your business. If you are trying to increase your marketing efforts, you will come across the bridge to decide which solution will work better for you? The answer really depends on your business and the industry it is in.

Whenever you make a decision you should always look at data and statistics. It’s available out there but you have to do some digging that’s all.

I want to provide the background of direct mail and email marketing as well as the pros and cons of these two marketing strategies. But first, let’s go into depth of what direct mail and email marketing is.

Email Marketing – business practice of sending an email to people on a list in the hopes of selling them a product or service
Direct Mail Marketing – communications sent to potential customers selling a product or service via postal mail

Statistics

Direct mail has been proven to have the highest response rate. However, email marketing has the highest Return on Investment (ROI).

Response Rate for Direct Mail is 3.4%, more than 30 times the 0.12% response rate for email. (Direct Marketing Association’s Annual Response Rate Report).
ROI for Email is 28.5% compared to 7% for direct mail (DMA).

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Email Marketing

Pros

Economical: cheap, no mailing costs
Quick & Fast: within seconds
Good Testing Medium: able to test a small group of recipients and obtain results instantaneously
Accessible: able to download attachments

Cons

Poor Environment: Spam Mail
Short Message Attention Span: people only want facts, simple and straightforward. People don’t want to read emails, they scan emails.
Creativity Limited: pixels on screen
Great Email Lists are hard to find. You are much better growing your email marketing list organically, which takes time. Get people to opt-in to your mailing list via your website or social media pages.

Direct Mail Marketing

Pros

Good Environment: better response rate than junk email
Able to tell Whole Story: longer, captivating messages
Emotion Use: you can inspire, frighten, cajole, convince, make cogent arguments, and motivate
Tangible: Provide more marketing pieces

Cons

Expensive: design, printing, postage, and direct mail costs
Longer Time: Takes up to 10 days for the recipient to receive the mail. People move and the mail system takes time to catch up
Not for Testing: High cost of mail means one shot get it right.

The biggest disadvantage for direct mail marketing is its cost.

Is Email Marketing Or Direct Mail Right For You?

Answering some of these questions will help you decide whether direct mail or email marketing is right for you.

Is your communication time-sensitive?
Do you have a tight or big budget?
How much explanation is required?
Do you have a good list for one or either?

Email marketing may be more effective than direct mail for certain businesses than others. Same can be said for vice-versa. But these are not the only type of channels to reach to your target market. Optimize your reach. Do not limit yourself with just direct marketing, expand your marketing efforts with digital platforms as well to reach a spectrum of your target market.