The USPS® and the Winterberry Group recently released a report on the state of direct mail.
Marketers know that direct mail is still a compelling medium. Direct mail is more personal as it is physically delivered to a recipient’s home, and research suggests that direct mail has an open rate of 42.2%. In a 2023 report conducted by the Winterberry Group on behalf of the USPS, direct mail had a very strong year and marketers continue to spend their advertising dollars on direct mail because it works.
“It’s proven to be a highly capable tool for helping brands acquire new customers, drive incremental sales and support win-back and cross-selling efforts—all while generating the kind of data that supports measurability, audience segmentation, granular targeting, personalization and other functions that are increasingly at the heart of the modern marketing playbook.” – Winterberry Group (2023)
Per the report, it was estimated that in 2023, marketers would spend $39.36 billion on their direct mail efforts. Continued economic uncertainty that carried over from 2022 led brands to have a more conservative approach to their marketing investments like direct mail.
Driving Growth in Direct Mail
Direct mail works well within omnichannel strategies—especially as brands are looking to:
- Drive customer acquisition
- Engage audiences of significant scale
- Convert highly qualified prospects that are exploring a potential purchase
- Support transactions that happen predominately via e-commerce channels
Omnichannel Marketing Results and Trends
Brands are embracing the opportunities that omnichannel marketing can provide. Nearly 60% of marketers surveyed said that they are taking steps to better align their direct mail efforts with other marketing channels. Winterberry also reports that 39% of those surveyed said that they are seeing the benefits of taking those steps to integrate direct mail with other marketing channels.
Marketers are aiming for a more personalized omnichannel marketing experience for their target audience. 53% of marketers surveyed for this report said that they are shifting to more personalized content over the next year. Research shows that the long-term trend for direct mail will see advertisers prioritizing impactful personalization and optimized timing of campaigns to get the most out of their direct mail spend.
Download the Winterberry Report
To read the full Delivering Performance: Direct Mail in the United States 2023 Report from the Winterberry Group, click here. Let the direct mail experts at Tension guide you through your next direct mail campaign. Contact us today to get started.
About Tension
A global leader in envelope, printed products, packaging and packaging automation solutions, the Tension Corporation is a privately held and operated company based in Kansas City, Missouri. Tension manufactures billions of envelopes annually, and its envelope and print division serves a variety of industries, including third-party billing, financial, insurance and direct marketing. The packaging and automation division of Tension provides software, consumables, automation, and service and support for fulfillment to the e-commerce and pharmacy industries.
