There’s a very good reason why postcard marketing and other direct mail based campaigns continue to elicit such a positive response from consumers. There’s just something about the ritual of collecting and opening physical mail that evokes good feelings in us. And despite the many benefits associated with digital marketing, it pays to acknowledge that the print mail habit brings a unique element to advertising platforms that can’t be found anywhere else.
Why Postcards Hit Home
Research suggests that spending our days navigating a world dominated by digital noise has made us more receptive than ever to the pull of the “coming home” routine. Much of this routine centers around:
- receiving,
- reading, and
- keeping or displaying our daily mail
As a result, this comfortable habit has become deeply embedded in the lives of the average consumer – right down to our tendency to sort the mail we receive in the same part of our homes each day.
Postcard marketing gives your company the opportunity to be part of an intimate ritual that naturally increases a prospect’s openness to marketing offers. Not only have studies indicated that consumers enjoy receiving direct mail more than twice as much as they do digital forms of advertising, they’re also far more likely to associate print ads with feelings of happiness.
Effective as they may be under certain circumstances, the fact is that we still consider many digital ads to be:
- distracting,
- intrusive, and
- forgettable
Direct mail materials like attention-grabbing postcard offers on the other hand, are often kept, shared, and displayed by your company’s valued customers – and coveted prospects – for weeks on end.
Reach Out and Touch Someone
In most cases, print ad mail-outs have been shown to be persuasive enough to influence recipients early in the buyer’s journey. And as part of a carefully designed, omnichannel approach to selling, direct mail can be hard to beat for its innate ability to drive:
- website traffic,
- storefront visits, and
- social media engagement
The true power that print mail holds for your business lies in both the familiar and the physical. We are tactile creatures and, in this highly digital age, consumers are increasingly appreciative of the opportunity to engage with forms of communication that they can reach out and touch.
Coming home at the end of the day, opening their mailboxes, and handling your company’s direct mail postcard tends to make your customers feel valued. The fact that your company has taken the time and effort to contact them in such an intimate manner, means they’re far more likely to:
- remember your brand name and message,
- notice and respond to your offer, and
- remain loyal to your business
The attention span of the average consumer has been shrinking in a remarkable way since the turn of the century. The very best way to cut through the clamor of communication that’s constantly vying for their attention is with postcards that play to the profitable, habit-supporting strengths of direct mail marketing.