Nigel Farage might be struggling to shake off allegations that he is dishonest – in fact, 73% of Brits describe him as “sleazy” according to YouGuv – but his Reform party is providing a major shot in the arm to the mail industry.
So says Jicmail’s Q2 2026 study, which reveals the May local elections provided a significant boost to mail volumes during the period, while at the same time key commercial sectors continued to demonstrate how the mail channel was crucial to driving both in-store and online activity.
In Q2 2026, political party direct mail volumes on Jicmail’s 1,100-strong panel of UK households, increased by a factor of x6 year on year, while door drop volumes increased by a factor of x3.
Reform accounted for over a quarter of the volume from the top ten parties measured in the local elections and commanded a disproportionately high share of attention. While Reform accounted for 27% of political volumes on the panel, it accounted for 29% of all time spent with the top ten parties’ mailings, ultimately converting this effectiveness into a strong local election performance.
However, Q2’s story was not all about the local elections. Supermarkets in particular showed strong confidence in the mail channel with both direct mail and door drop panel volumes growing accordingly.
With the proportion of mail driving a purchase increasing from 5% to 6% year on year, it is clear why the channel is so integral to the marketing plans of some of the UK’s largest advertisers and growth engines of the UK economy, the report states.
While the long-term trend for mail effectiveness has been to drive increased levels of digital effectiveness for brands, Q2 actually saw advertisers generate increased footfall to bricks-and-mortar locations. The share of mail-driven purchases transacted in-store increased from 34% to 41% year on year, with supermarkets again playing a big role here.
Jicmail claims that part of mail’s appeal as a “Super Touchpoint” channel for physical retailers is its robust geo-targeting capabilities – helping drive footfall in specific catchment areas, delivering local service information and personalising offers according to geography.
Aside from mail’s role in driving physical consumer activity, the channel also continues to help consumers discover brands digitally. Some 9.5% of all mail items prompted a website visit in Q2, with a host of different mail content types being used to drive digital engagement.
QR codes have been found to be a universal driver of website visits across direct mail, door drops and business mail. A door drop featuring a QR code is 87% more likely than the average mail item to prompt a website visits, while that figure stands at 60% for direct mail.
Jicmail director of data leadership and learning Ian Gibbs said: “While the periodic boosts to mail activity from the political sector are welcome, what’s really encouraging to see is that supermarkets – one of the largest sectors and drivers of UK economic growth – are showing strong confidence in the channel. They are being rewarded with high mail engagement and attention which they are effectively converting into both in-store footfall and near-record levels of digital traffic.”
Jicmail engagement director Mark Cross added: “Our latest data suggest that as all retailers gear up for the golden quarter, leveraging mail to create timely customer experiences in-home, in-store or digitally with personalised or local content supported by the smart use of QR codes, will unlock competitive advantage this season.”
Picture credit: @NigelFarageOfficial
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