Last time I talked about Direct Mail, a passion of mine and a marketing tactic some think is dying. 

Despite record postage and the state of the economy, direct mail is still extremely effective.   How do I know?  Hundreds of AccuData customers as well as the direct mail I personally recieve tell me so.  If you are reading this and thinking, “not mine” then it’s time to think hard about how your company funds, develops and executes your direct mail.  It’s time to look inward, not outward at the economy or the USPS.

I recently received a direct mail piece from one of the nation’s largest insurance companies.  To my amazement, I could see through the outer envelope, could see the offer through the paper.  I wondered at the time if this was intentional, after all this company is a large, sophisticated marketer.  Surely every aspect of their direct mail must be tested thoroughly.  Well maybe this was, but I don’t think so.  This was an attempt to shave a fraction of a cent from each mail piece.  Paper is expensive right?  Let’s save some money by reducing paper weight! 

“Boss, maybe we should move our budget to pay per click, direct mail isn’t working anymore!”  As my good English friend and marketing guru Doug Bewsher might say “Bollock”!

First things first - what is the purpose of an outer envelope?  To convince the recipient to open it of course!  Now I have received mailers that were designed to be see-through and a few of them were fantastic.  Not this piece.  This was just lazy.  If I can see through the outer envelope to the content within, if I can see the offer then I don’t have to open the package.  I won’t read the letter, won’t read the brochure,  won’t give the company a chance - particularly if the offer is just so-so.

Large insurance company - you know who you are.  Put on some weight please.  I like em’ heavy!

It’s interesting to me to see what direct mail I’m getting these days.  I’m getting more of it than I have for about a year.  Signs of a recovering economy?  Maybe I’m just a sucker for mail and I’m tagged in everyone’s database?  

The more I read about the slow demise of direct mail, shifting marketing dollars to online media and the drama unfolding in Washington related to the U.S. Postal Service the  more I scrutinize the direct mail I get.   What am I getting?  Who is sending it?  Are mailers doing anything interesting to improve response rates and ROI?

Since much of the pressure on direct mail is due to a shift in marketing spending to email from direct mail, AccuData has no stake in the outcome.  We sell data and services around direct mail.  We also sell data and services around email as well as mobile and other emerging channels.  We’re multi-channel, channel agnostic.  But as a direct marketer with 15+ years in the game direct mail is something I love.

So I’ve been keeping some of the interesting mail I get and I’m going to blog about what I’m seeing.  For now a few high level observations:

- Most pieces are just sad.  Paper so thin I can read the letter and see the offer (if there is an offer…yikes!) without even opening the envelope, nothing new, no personalization.  Cost cutting all the innovation out of the mail.

-An exception was a recent piece I received for the Visa Black Card.  I’m not sure the product works for me (no airline lounge benefit) but a well crafted piece.  I opened it and read it all the way through.

-A few mailers doing amazing things with data and personalization.  I’m stunned how few companies think about mail like they might email and leverage inexpensive ways to inject relevant data and personalization into their packages.

The industry talks about deteriorating response rates and ROI.  There are many factors driving this.   But I see a stunning lack of innovation and effort as key components of the problem.  Marketers with a good product, thoughtful targeting and creative, solid DM fundamentals and some innovation are doing well if not VERY well. 

Please let me know if you have recently received a really good direct mail piece.