With technology advancing at a rate of knots it is easy to dismiss our ol’ faithful - the humble printed direct mail campaign. However, looking at my own personal buyer behaviour I realise that if I am interested a company’s wares I am much more likely to take the time to flick through their catalogue or magazine than I am to scroll down an endless email…which I confess will sit in my inbox with thoughts of “I’ll read that later” but if I’m honest, I probably never will. I wondered if it was just me, but talking to friends and colleagues (both older and younger to prove it wasn’t an age thing!) I realise I am not alone in this behaviour.

With hard copies there comes the cost of printing and mailing to take into consideration, but the truth of it is, if the topic is interesting to the recipient then they are more likely to invest time to read and digest, and most importantly - act upon what you are communicating.

As an example take the ever changing world of UK tax rates. There are probably hundreds of apps available providing information of whatever tax rates you need to know about, but we always get requests for copies of our latest printed tax rates card.

That is not to say we should revert back to using pre-technology marketing channels, as there is still a time and place for when e-shots will always be the better option. If you have a short sharp message or key piece of information to convey, maybe a change in legislation, then an email communication can reap dividends. One of the best things about digital communication is the ‘Big Brother’ aspect - you can see who has read it, clicked on your links etc. – valuable insight which alas we do not get with hard copies.

Tags: UK200

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