Brand owners are being told not to waste their marketing budgets on personally addressed direct mailshots if they want to target consumers who share flats or homes with others, instead they should opt for highly targeted door-drops to get the message home.
According to “The Seven Life Stages of Mail” report, published by Royal Mail MarketReach, so-called “Sharers” display relatively low response rates to addressed mail, but have comparatively high response rate to unaddressed mail.
The study adds: “Sharers interact with mail, but are still reluctant to take responsibility for it. They are much less likely than the norm to say that they are the person who usually opens the mail, checks statements, pays bills, or files material, but they are far more likely to say they take turns undertaking these tasks.”
Then again, Sharers report receiving low levels of addressed mail as many utilities companies send material addressed to the landlord or only one of the room mates, so they see few bills or statements.
“They may have asked their parents to hold on to any addressed mail sent to them at home, and only inform the senders that they have moved address some time afterwards. It will take time for them to register to vote or for local services, much less participate in a census. So they may still be overlooked by many organisations.”
According to TGI, Sharers index highly on spending a lot on clothes, wanting to go to trendy places to eat and drink, wanting to stand out in a crowd and being more influenced by friends. In fact, 57.1% of them (index 187) agree with the statement “I often compare what I do with others in my social circle”. But they may lack the resources: 30% say they find it difficult or very difficult on their present income, the study shows.
Although more than one in five Sharers bought or ordered something as a result of addressed direct mail in the last 12 months (21.7%), this is the lowest penetration of any of our groups.
The study concludes with a number of key recommendations for those companies wanting to target this particular group of consumers.
– Create personalisation that stands out on the doormat. Sharers have a strong sense of identity, and often live in multi-occupant accommodation. Visual, personalised mail is most likely to stand out and be opened.
– Reflect the life they want to live. Sharers are more conscious of social status, tend to be social and open to new experiences that reflect well on them. Creative, well designed, mail that matches these characteristics is more likely to cut through and build brand equity.
– Consider door drops. As young adults, Sharers are only beginning to show up on databases. But they respond to unaddressed mail, which can be used effectively for multi-person households and, if they have a response mechanism, to build profiles.
A full copy of the “Seven Life Stages of Mail” report is available free to download from here>
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