Direct-mail advertising - more popular than newspapers, magazines, and TV?

I found this incredible article in yesterday's edition of The Australian Financial Review (this is Australia's equivalent to The Wall Street Journal)....

The article says that, in a survey of which types of media Australians like best (and which is best at persuading them to buy), direct mail advertising beat newspapers and magazines by a 20% margin! TV and radio were even further behind....

Conditions may differ from country to country, but I wonder if similar statistics hold elsewhere too?

Email advertising is mentioned too, but I think this refers to "spam" and not "opt-in" forms of email advertising (which people request themselves, to get info on local sales and specials, for example).

Below is the article.... From The Australian Financial Review May 13....

- Dien Rice

The poor cousin is now people's choice

Direct marketing - the $13 billion industry that has traditionally been shunned by the advertising industry - has finally got its own back: consumers prefer it to mainstream media.

A new study, Marketing Media in Australia, conducted by ResponseAbility and sponsored by Australia Post, found direct mail topping the list as the medium that consumers "most enjoy" receiving and which best persuades them to purchase.

Of the 1,100 consumers surveyed, 74 per cent said they enjoyed receiving solicited personalised mail and 75 per cent of direct mail they received was opened and read.

It was followed by newspapers and magazines (55 per cent), "unsolicited personalised mail" where the company had a prior relationship with the consumer (37 per cent), unaddressed advertising mail (33 per cent) and UPM with no prior relationship with the consumer (8 per cent).

Mainstream media languished at the bottom of the enjoyment pile, with TV nominated by only 7 per cent, email 5 per cent and radio 4 per cent.

And 61 per cent of people surveyed said they purchased a product or service as a result of receiving solicited personalised mail. It was followed by newspapers and magazines (55 per cent), unaddressed mail (55 per cent), TV (50 per cent), UPM with a prior customer relationships (34 per cent), UPM with no prior customer relationships (24 per cent), radio (14 per cent) and email (5 per cent).

The report said consumers preferred direct mail to other media because of its information and relevance, the fact that it was requested and that it aided their purchase decision at their convenience.

Because of the relative popularity of UPM where the company had a prior customer relationship, businesses should not disregard reactivating lapsed customers. Nor should junk mail be ignored as 63 per cent said they opened and read unaddressed advertising mail and 74 per cent either enjoyed or were indifferent about receiving it.

Another 58 per cent said it influenced their purchasing decisions because it usually contained useful local information, specials and was less intrusive than other media.

Direct mail was the most popular medium for consumers to receive financial information and loyalty programs, and TV for new product announcements. Newspapers and magazines were tops for automotive and holiday/travel information.

Despite an explosion in email marketing, it was not being similarly embraced by consumers, with 54 per cent saying they did not enjoy receiving it was were concerned about viruses, volume and privacy. Only 11 per cent said it influenced their purchasing decisions.

Consumers did not enjoy TV advertisements as they were too frequent, loud, interruptive, intrusive and repetitious and breaks were too long; radio advertising was seen as less intrusive.

ResponseAbility also surveyed 500 business people on their attitudes to different media and most nomiated TV as the most effective medium for brand building, influencing behaviour, response and conversion to sales, followed by public relations and direct mail.


The Australian Financial Review