Is it any wonder we’ve seen big name online marketers shift focus to direct mail lately, with statistics like this creeping out:
Pingdom takes a closer, revealing look at Email vs. Snail Mail.
And to make matters worse (or better, depends how you look at it), as Doberman Dan recently published in his blog, there are good reasons why people prefer snail mail to email:
- 45.3% – less intrusive, doesn’t interrupt other activities.
- 40.2% – more convenient, can easily be saved and considered at choice of times.
- 30.2% – less high-pressured, lets me arrive at a decision intelligently.
- 22.7% – more descriptive, provides better information.
I’m especially intrigued by ‘less high pressured’ as most direct mail specifically aims at the direct sale on the strength of that one letter mailed at a cost.
I suppose with email the feeling of pressure comes a lot from the fact that there is so much to deal with, and if you don’t deal with it right away it’s going to get lost.
So direct mail is far from dead, that much is obvious. And yet, internet marketing thrives largely because of the advanced relationship building it allows.
You ARE using both, aren’t you?
