Study hails 'staying power' of mail

Direct mail’s “staying power” has been confirmed in new findings from Royal Mail’s “Private Life of Mail” study, which shows mailshots can remain in the home for nearly three weeks.
Having unveiled the Mailmen campaign a fortnight ago – fronted by adland figures – Publicis Chemistry is now embarking on the next phase, a direct mail initiative targeting over 9,000 marketers and agencies. It features a blueprint to demonstrate how mail can get brands noticed in the home.
The study, which involved observing more than 800 hours of video footage, reveals that mail is filtered, handled, shared, discussed, kept and filed away for longer than previously thought. In addition, it found that door drops remain in the home for an average of 38 days.
Four in ten people (39%) have a dedicated display area for mail in the home, with 51% of those saying this is in their kitchen, 31% in the living room and 18% displayed it in the hallway.
In shared households, the research found that 35% of direct mail is passed on to others. Since people living in shared households tend to be younger, this has particular implications for mail. The IPA Touchpoints research (2014) found that 15- to 34-year-olds are 42% more likely to find mail memorable; 27% more likely to welcome it; 71% more likely to trust direct mail they receive; and 21% more likely to have switched a supplier as a result of mail than the UK population as a whole.
The research shows that mail helps keep brands top of mind. Multi-media campaigns including mail were 27% more likely to deliver top-ranking sales performance and 40% more likely to deliver top-ranking acquisition levels than campaigns that did not include mail.
MarketReach managing director Jonathan Harman said: “As it flows through the household, a single piece of mail represent multiple opportunities for people to engage with a brand, reminding them of it and reinforcing its values, and ultimately becoming part of everyday life.
“Observing over 800 hours of video from our ethnographic study, we noticed that in some cases mail occupied an amount of overall daily time comparable to that of other media. In fact, the latest IPA Touchpoints survey shows that adults read their mail on average for 22 minutes a day- more than magazines at 14 minutes per day.”
The full research report can be downloaded from www.mailmen.co.uk.