In the digital age, people still value the act of receiving mail – even if they aren’t consciously aware of it. Those of us in the delivery business even have a name for it. We call it the mail moment.
Research shows that many of us, from Millennials to Boomers, have rituals that govern our very own mail moment. The digital age hasn’t changed that.
For instance, some of us place our mail in a stack on the kitchen counter before going through it later that evening. Others flip through their mail right away after kicking off their shoes. Often the person who manages the house is the one who sorts the mail. It’s a routine that we make time for, and that we tend to look forward to.
This mail moment holds real marketing value. The ritual itself means we give the contents of our mail a few moments of our undivided attention – a coveted lifetime for marketers.
The 2015 Canada Post ethnographic study, Breaking Through the Noise, traced mail’s distinct journey to and throughout the home. It found that the ritual of opening mail gives it an inherent noticeability and impact. Moreover, when people get direct mail that they consider interesting, they save it, share it with others and even display it in prominent areas of their home. So mail persists in the home. The study also found the process gravitates toward sentimentality, making recipients more likely to be inspired by brands.
All of these factors are intriguing. But what makes them valuable is that they combine to drive customer action. When asked about their shopping behaviour over the previous six months:
- 50% of Canadians said they purchased a product in store as a result of an ad they received in the mail – significantly exceeding email (33%), website ads (27%) and social media ads (17%)
- 29% of Canadians said they bought something online after getting an ad in the mail
In another white paper, A Bias for Action, we explored the connection between direct mail and the brain. This research, which was conducted by an independent neuro-marketing research firm, found that physical marketing messages received in the mail make a deeper connection in the brain than ads delivered digitally.
These physical items do a superior job of weaving the branded messages they carry into our memory and are more easily understood. The research also found that direct mail is a better motivator of customer action.
These collective findings about the power of mail in today’s marketing mix are the basis for Canada Post Smartmail Marketing™ – a more intelligent approach to direct mail.
Find out how you can leverage the mail moment, and better connect with customers in their homes. Download our white papers and check out our suite of direct mail services, along with how to boost ROI with our data targeting services, at canadapost.ca/smartmailmarketing.
