Monthly Archives: October 2012

Digital Slowdown

The response rate for direct mail rides high in the face of digital increase

 If your marketing strategy relies heavily on email, you may want to take a closer look at its more effective counterpart, direct mail.  The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has found that direct mail boasts a 4.4 percent response rate compared to email’s comparatively tame average of .12 percent.

Translated into ratios, direct mail has a response rate of up to 10 to 30 times that of email.  Direct mail’s response rate jumps even higher when compared to online display.

The DMA used transactional data from Bizo and Epsilon to analyze more than 29 billion emails and 2 billion online display impressions.  The group tracked consumer actions both immediately following a click and in the days and weeks after being exposed to an online ad.

Overall for display, only 6 percent converted as a result of the immediate action of the click, meaning that 94 percent of conversions happen at a later date – an important finding, considering that the success of display’s impact is generally judged by its click-through rate.

A DMA spokesperson attributed some of direct mail’s continued strength to the fact that consumers today are faced with an ever-increasing number of digital messages received via banners, email inboxes, social media, etc.

Source:   Direct Marketing Association

USPS Proposed Rate Increases for Business Mail

By now most have heard that the price of a First Class stamp will increase to $0.46 in January.  The rates for business mail – automated presorted mail – will also increase.

First Class mail will increase about $0.01 per piece or roughly 2.6%.  Standard mail will go up  $0.004 per piece for an average increase of 1.6%.  The USPS is limited to postage rate hikes no greater than the rate of inflation which is currently 2.6%.  The second ounce for First Class mail will continue to be free.

With every rate increase, it becomes more imperative that mailers take every opportunity to optimize their mail data.  To view our blog post on that subject please click on this link http://bit.ly/TnIB2w .

To view a chart with more detail about the proposed increase please click http://ereply.us/2013Postage.pdf.  The new rate is scheduled to go into effect on January 27, 2013.