Direct mail is hanging in there

Though there's a lot of grumbling about the increasing cost and decreasing response rate of direct mail in magazine circulation offices, the fact is that most magazines rely on this audience-building tool at least part of the time. Part of the reason is that there is nothing that has turned up, yet, to replace it.

A recent report by the [U.S.] Direct Marketing Association says that while direct mail response rates have dropped nearly 25% over the past nine year, mail campaigns still draw better than digital channels or e-mail. Direct mail gets an average 3.4% response to a house list; email 0.12%. When the higher costs of direct mail are taken into account, cost-per-sale is about the same for direct mail, email and paid online search.

“Even though direct mail is less effective in driving response than it was a decade ago, it still is among the best media for generating overall response,” says Yory Wurmser, DMA's director of marketing and media insights. “This points to its likely continued role as an important medium in the marketing mix, even as the cost effectiveness of digital channels suggests that they will continue to gain budget share.”