Survey: More People Enjoy Getting Direct Mail From Brands Than Email

Marketers, don’t put all your eggs in the email marketing basket just yet. A new survey shows that direct mail is still a worthy competitor for customers’ attention, with more than half of respondents saying they enjoy getting postal mail from brands about new products.

The data come from a new Epsilon study, The Formula for Success: Preference and Trust, just released this week. A total of 4,800 U.S. and Canadian consumers completed the survey in August.

When asked about email versus postal mail, 50% of U.S. consumers said they give postal mail more attention than email. In Canada, 48% of consumers said the same thing. (see circled item below)

And postal mail delivers more enjoyment: 59% of U.S. consumers said they enjoy getting postal mail about new products, compared to only 43% who enjoy getting emails like that. In Canada, 66% said they enjoy getting postal mail and 55% enjoy getting brand emails. (see arrows above)

But it doesn’t appear to be a trust issue: The last item on the chart above shows that only about a quarter of consumers feel that postal mail is more trustworthy than email.

One reason why some consumers prefer email? Saving on paper. Epsilon reports that this is the main reason for 34% of U.S. consumers who prefer email, up from 21% just a year ago. In Canada, saving on paper is the main reason why 42% of consumers prefer email. Why do some consumers prefer postal mail? “Already get too much email” was the top reason among U.S. consumers.

There’s a lot of additional data for online marketers in the Epsilon study, which can be downloaded in exchange for providing contact information.

(tip: Direct Marketing News)

(Stock image via Shutterstock. Used with permission.)

About The Author

Matt McGee

Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.