Everything old is new again. Although direct mail’s response rate has dropped over time, it’s still a valuable tool for marketers and salespeople. The Direct Marketing Association found direct mail’s response rate is 4.4% — compared to 0.12% for email.

Research suggests Americans prefer direct mail over email. According to Marketing Sherpa, 76% of people trust ads they receive in the mail.

Buyers are currently bombarded with emails. People received 121 emails per day on average, meaning you have to work incredibly hard to cut through the noise and win a response.

In contrast, four in 10 people enjoy checking their physical mailbox. It has an “emotional connection”; plus, there’s the excitement of seeing if you got anything good. When’s the last time you were jazzed about checking your inbox?

What is the average response rate for a direct mail campaign?

In 2018, direct mail received a 9% response rate for house lists and 4.9% for prospect lists. Oversized envelopes have the highest response rate (5%), followed by postcards (4.25%), dimensional mail, or anything more than 0.75 inches thick (4%) and catalogs (3.9%).

How can direct mail simplify account-based marketing efforts?

With the introduction of GDPR and the California Consumer Protection Act, salespeople and marketers had to be especially careful with how they engaged with potential customers to remain compliant. The beauty of direct mail is it provides another avenue for sales teams to connect with existing accounts offline.

Incorporating direct mail into your account-based marketing campaigns can strengthen your relationships with contacts because you’re able to provide hyper-focused content through a medium that fosters deeper connection than email alone.

How much does a direct mail campaign cost?

A direct mail campaign can cost between 30 cents and $10 dollars per recipient. These costs can fluctuate depending on the medium, design costs, distribution, and so on.

According to estimates by Inkit, a direct mail campaign sending postcards to 1,000 recipients can cost about $1,150 or $1.15 per recipient.

Can direct mail work with inbound?

You might assume direct mail and inbound are inherently at odds. After all, the former involves sending unsolicited mail to someone’s house or office, while the latter is based on drawing them in with content and only following up with qualified leads.

But when used the right way, direct mail has a place in the inbound process. Direct mail also lets you add value through education. It also helps you catch your prospect’s attention.

Can you measure the ROI of direct mail campaigns?

Historically, measuring the ROI of direct mail campaigns has been tricky. However, this isn’t the case anymore. To measure the impact of direct mail on your business’ bottom line, you just need the right tool. Direct mail and corporate gifting tools like Reachdesk automate the process, saving marketers time, and helping them achieve ROI figures as high as 600% .