Mail attention, engagement and conversion soar in Q4

The humble mailshot has come to the rescue of the embattled retail industry, delivering significant commercial returns during the run-up to the festive season and beyond, with 40% of website visits prompted by mail converted into online purchases.

That is according to the latest Jicmail report for Q4 2023, based on data captured from a panel of a thousand households every month, which also shows that 6.5% of mail (including direct mail, business mail, partially addressed mail and door drops) prompted a purchase in the crucial Christmas trading period; half of these purchases were transacted online.

Mail continues to play a vital role in driving consumer action throughout the digital path-to-purchase: 8.4% of mail prompted a website visit in Q4, 4.8% an account look-up and 3.3% an online purchase.

This purchase rate reflects a healthy 40% conversion rate from site visit to purchase, and at a time when performance marketing is struggling to make an impact, the role of mail in driving vital customer acquisitions calls for a significant reappraisal of the channel.

Additional digital actions now tracked by Jicmail reveal that mail prompts online searches (2.6% of mail), emails to advertisers (1.1%) and app download and usage (1%).

Mail’s role in driving sales in bricks-and-mortar retail stores should not be forgotten, however, the report claims, with 2.3% of mail prompting an in-store purchase in Q4.

Real-life brand experiences still play a highly important role for consumers in an increasingly digital world (even direct to consumers digital brands such as Asos and Deliveroo opened up physical stores last year), and mail is equally adept at driving consumers to these experiences in the real-world as it is online.

In the second half of 2023, just under a quarter of direct mail was used for cold acquisition purposes. By comparison, 88% of door drops reached new prospects as opposed to existing customers.

While mail attention has stabilised on a quarterly basis, it still recorded growth year on year. The average piece of business mail is interacted with for well over two and half minutes across a 28 day period, compared to one minute for the average door drop. However, as noted in last year’s The Time We Spend With Mail study, door drops are the most attention efficient mail channel.

When it comes to the mail users, Tesco, FarmFoods and the NHS continue to command a disproportionately large share of attention compared to their share of mail volumes. They have been joined by Cotton Traders in Q4, which accounted for 7% of direct mail volumes, yet 10% of time spent with mail (out of the top ten mail advertisers).

Jicmail director of data leadership and learning Ian Gibbs said: “The challenges faced by the British high street in Q4 have been well documented of late. For those advertisers who invested budget in mail, however, the channel did its bit – driving both in store and online purchases at a time when it’s getting harder and harder to stimulate immediate response from performance marketing activity.

“A 40% conversion rate from site visit to purchase is the type of performance that should catch the attention of digital growth marketers.”

Jicmail engagement director Mark Cross added: “This latest set of results across the critical trading period of the year, continues to demonstrate the value to be unlocked from including mail in the mix.

“A triple win of high attention, high engagement and high conversion to transaction with rich interactions physically and online.”