Marketing Mail

Sometimes viewed as an old-school tactic, new digital printing technologies are positioning direct mail as a critical channel in today’s marketplace.

Data-driven printing lets you deliver highly tailored pieces at scale. Personalized direct mail and triggered mailings often out-perform digital retargeting. Variable graphics, messaging, and offers allow brand managers to align print messaging with CRM segments and digital personalization efforts. True one-to-one marketing exists today in printed form.

It’s why—maybe shockingly to many—more marketers in both B2Cand B2B roles are leveraging the powerful impact that mail can deliver. Want proof? Brands spent $37.3 billion on direct mail marketing in 2024, up 2.6% over the prior year.*

What’s driving it isn’t mass mailings, but highly tailored personalized mailings. Campaigns that integrate print can see significantly higher conversion rates than digital-only efforts, because print extends reach, reinforces brand memory, and boosts digital response. It also can serve as the launch point for customers’ digital engagement.

Consumers are flooded with emails, ads, and notifications every day. Print stands out precisely because it isn’t digital. Physical mail offers tactile impact and demands attention.

Research conducted by The Centre for Experimental Consumer Psychology at Bangor University examined how brain activity differed when participants were exposed to advertisements in both print and digital format. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the study found that“ printed material created deeper impressions on the brain” and that the “brain perceives physical material to be more genuine”.

Not only does direct mail cut through the clutter, but it’s also proven to be effective. According to the 2015 DMA Response Rate Report, on average, direct mail achieves a 3.7% response rate, which is higher than email (0.2%), paid search (0.1%) and either social media, display advertising, or mobile (0.32%). Personalized mail (unique imagery, messaging or offers—not just “first name” in copy) can see responses nearly 3x that rate.

Universities, financial services, auto makers and non-profits have long been heavy users of marketing mail. But with today’s CRM systems tracking preferences, interactions and attributes, not just purchase history, savvy marketers across virtually every industry are utilizing data-driven, creative direct marketing to drive (and track) not just ROI on marketing spend, but actual dollars generated by specific campaigns, the results of which can be impressive.

Between our expertise in campaign design, data hygiene and targeting; our USPS knowledge and experience; and our breadth of automated equipment that enables efficient execution of personalized mailings (whether to 1,000 or 1 million), the companies within the 12 Points network are local leaders in marketing mail. And whether you’re a seasoned mailer looking for fresh ideas and options, or a mailing novice (even skeptical) wanting to figure out how to leverage mail within a tight budget, 12 Points can be a resource to you in your journey.

*Source: Winterberry Group report “Delivering Performance: Direct, Digital and the Dynamics Shaping the Future of Omnichannel Marketing”