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The DMA sponsored the direct marketing response rates survey , along with Demand Metric Research Corporation, from December 2014 to January 2015 with a total of 612 responses collected, 485 of which provided usable data. The purpose of collecting this data is to track the Response Rates of different marketing avenues from a very extensive sample size. This data will allow marketers to compare their success with results from other companies and determine where to concentrate their efforts next. Below are some highlights from the report.

Mobile

Of all the samples in the Direct Marketing Response Rates Survey mobile marketing was the smallest. According to the survey graph showing the amount companies reported using each marketing medium, picture above, only 18% of companies are including mobile in their campaigns. The survey participants reported their primary use of mobile advertising campaigns are to make a direct sale (33%), followed by lead generation (26%) and driving brand awareness (26%). However, about 42% of the survey participants didn’t know the click-through rate for mobile ad campaigns, which made it hard to report on the response rates.

Email

Survey Participants did not have the same trouble reporting on their email campaign response rates, as with mobile. In fact, email retains the top spot in terms of the number of organizations that reported using it at 82% use in promotional campaigns. However, Click through rates were lowest for lead generation emails sent to prospect lists (3-4%) and highest for B-to-B emails sent to house lists (17-18%). Open rates ranged from a low of 7-8% for emails sent to prospect lists to drive traffic. Ironically, emails sent to house lists to drive traffic enjoyed the highest open rate at 23-24%.

Online Display

Slightly over half of companies report that lead generation is their primary purpose for campaigns. Conversion rates were lowest among digital media types, at between 1.1% and 1.5%, which is a 17% decrease from the previous years. The low click-through and conversion rates likely contribute to the highest CPA among digital media types in the study, ranging from $41 to $50.

Paid Search

The use of paid search has gone done almost 10% in use by companies since 2012, according to the report. Two-thirds of the survey participants who use paid search reported using both brand and generic keywords in their paid search campaigns. Conversion rates ranged from 2 to 6%, with an overall rate of 4% for branded and 3% for generic keywords.

Paid search was reported to most frequently be used by survey participants in mixed B-to-B/B-to-C campaigns (30%), followed closely by B-to-C campaigns (29%). Branded keywords in the B-to-C environment enjoyed the highest click-through rate at 5-5.9%, while generic keywords in the B-to-B environment had the lowest click-through rate at 2-2.9%.

Social Media

Social media, which was included for the first time in the Response Rate Survey, had one of the lower click-through rates among digital media types at between 2.1 and 2.5%. However, a good 37% of companies reported not knowing the click-through rates for their social media ad campaigns, so there is a significant amount of unaccounted for data.

Behind mobile, social media shows the greatest projected usage increase of this year, with 64% of survey participants indicating plans to grow social media advertising in the next year. Virtually everyone who uses social media advertising also uses mail, and over half also uses direct mail, online display and paid search.

Telephone

The primary reported purpose of telephone campaigns is almost equally split between direct sales (41%) and lead generation (37%) The response rate for telephone – between 9 and 10% – is one of the strongest of any media type in this survey, regardless of whether house or prospect lists are in use. Only 4% of survey participants report plans to decrease their tele-marketing in the next 12 months, while 36% report usage will remain steady, and 57% plan to increase their telephone usage.

Direct Mail

Over 41% of survey participants reported using Direct Mail as part of their campaigns, which is the second highest amount of any of the listed marketing types. Over half of the respondents for Direct Mail reported a monthly direct mail volume of 100,000 or less, with the median monthly mail volume falling in the range of 50,000 or less. The survey results showed that the median response rates for house lists are at 3.73%, while the median response for prospect lists is at 1.00%.

We Have All This Data, So What Now?

The data gathered by the DMA Response Rate Report 2015 shows the extent to which customers are responding to different types of marketing efforts. The purpose of gathering all this data is to help marketers plan campaigns that will get best response results for their company. The modern marketer is more likely to use more than one type of advertising, and in fact, just 35% of this study’s respondents claim to use just a single one, and that one is most often email. Gathering and providing this Response Data Report is just another way the DMA is making an effort to advance and protect responsible data-driven marketing.

If you would like to purchase a copy of the full Response Rate Report, you can do so by going to https://thedma.org/marketing-insights/bookstore/.

This post was authored by Elizabeth A. Beasley, Account Manager, Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc.

Elizabeth Beasley serves as an account manager at Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc www.BeasleyDirect.com   Elizabeth manages new client on-boarding and accounts, social media, corporate presentations, corporate website, and database maintenance.  She also serves as an account manager for the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California www.DMAnc.org, managing event logistics, registration and promotion. She holds a B.A. in Strategic Communications from National University.

*DMA Response Rate Report 2015: Performance and Cost Metrics across Direct Media. Direct Marketing Association, 2015. Print.

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The new “DMA 2014 Statistical Fact Book“ is out, and its chock-full of fascinating new statistics on direct mail advertising.  My conclusion:  Direct mail….it’s back!

Direct mail fans may yearn for the good old days, pre-Internet, of magnificent Time-Life publication packs, coffee tables groaning under the weight of catalogs and brilliantly written subscription mail. However, the fact is that this oldest of direct response media is enjoying a renaissance.

Higher Income Households “Will Read” Direct Mail

It may be true that response rates are not as high as in that Golden Era—but in most categories they’re down only slightly, if at all. The “DMA 2014 Statistical Fact Book” reveals some marketers, such as retailers, are seeing dramatically higher response to their direct mail than in the 1980s.¹ Another bright spot is higher income households, those earning $65K per year or more. Their “find it useful”, “will read” and “will respond” evaluations are up virtually across the board compared to 1987, according to household diaries.²

Savvy direct marketers are taking advantage of these trends. The “DMA Statistical Fact Book” also reveals quantities mailed in most sectors have increased year after year since the recession ended in late 2009.³  (See Figure 1 for details by sector.) However, the direct mail that’s going out today is very different from the generic mail of the past. New production, personalization and formatting options make it much more interesting and relevant to the recipient.

Figure 1: Direct Mail Volume By Sectors.

Source: DMA “2014 Statistical Fact Book” and Mintel

Debunking Direct Mail Myths

As direct mail becomes more targeted and efficient, the myth this medium is “expensive” is debunked. To a modern marketer weaned on email and pay-per-click, direct mail postage and printing costs may seem high. You wonder how can you possibly make that investment back in results—but statistics say you will.  Sophisticated marketers look past raw numbers to the ultimate cost per order or per lead—that’s what really counts.

We’ve found that CPO/CPL costs for direct mail are in line with print and pay-per-click: not all that much more than email, and significantly less than telemarketing.⁴ (It’s not that the days of other media are over. But as online and email audiences become saturated, the cost of an incremental lead or sale is higher and direct mail once again becomes appealing.)

Direct mail is also the most trackable and measurable of all media, boosting the quality of analytics for the campaign overall, and these metrics continue to evolve. Today’s multichannel marketer knows when mail is arriving and when people are reading and responding, and uses this knowledge to turn on the tap for such other touch points as telemarketing.  Thus direct mail benefits other media and boosts the overall effectiveness of the campaign.

Young Adults, 24 Years and Younger, are Among the Most Direct Mail Responsive

Finally, people like to get mail. They enjoy the experience going to the mailbox and finding something interesting to look at and hold in their hands. (They may not like to get bills, but those are increasingly processed online without ever going in the mail.) An encouraging sign for direct mail marketers is that very young adults, 24 and younger, are among the most mail-responsive groups today.⁵ Figure 2 provides details by age group.

Figure 2: Response to Standard Mail By Age of Head of Household. 

Source:  “DMA 2014 Statistical Fact Book” and USPS Household Diary Study 2013.

To sum up, direct mail is back—unless you believe, like many of us, that with all its advantages for marketers, direct mail never went away.

Learn More About Optimizing Your Direct Mail Advertising Programs

To find out more about how to optimize your direct mail programs, you can access a new guide written by Laurie Beasley. Whether you are an experienced direct mail marketer or one of the increasing number of e-only marketers who have never used direct mail, this guide contains useful suggestions and best practices to optimize your direct mail campaigns. Access 10 Ways to Optimize Your Direct Mail Campaigns now.

Find out more about the Direct Marketing Association here. Order The DMA 2014 Statistical Fact Book here.

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About the Author, Laurie B. Beasley

LAURIE B. BEASLEY is co-founder and president of Beasley Direct Marketing, Inc. www.BeasleyDirect.com, a Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, direct mail, and demand generation campaigns for over a hundred companies. Ms. Beasley serves as president of the Direct Marketing Association of Northern California DMAnc.org.  She manages the Online Roundtable for the BMA Northern California www.NorCalBMA.org. She is an instructor of online marketing at UC Berkeley Extension and teaches in the Level 2 Certification program for the Online Marketing Institute www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org .  She frequently speaks on online marketing and demand generation topics for marketing organizations, including the Online Marketing Summit, Interactive Marketing Week, DMA Annual Conference, and the Marketing Executive Networking Group.

About Beasley Direct and Online Marketing

Beasley Direct and Online Marketing, Inc. www.BeasleyDirect.com, is a full service Silicon Valley direct marketing agency that has managed search, email, online, and demand generation campaigns for nearly a hundred companies. The company provides multi-channel campaigns for B2B and B2C.   Clients include SAP, Rovi, Safeway.com, Omnicell, Apple, and more.

Direct Marketing Association of Northern California DMAnc.org is an educational and networking organization that meets monthly for educational topics and workshops.  We offer an on-site certificate in online marketing workshop series in conjunction with the Online Marketing Institute.

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