Direct Mail Market -- Market Share from Another Medium?

According to Hans Nielsen, president of Quebecor World commercial/direct and QueNet Media, the lingering softness of the economy continues to put pressure on the accountability of direct mail campaigns to generate revenue.

Personal Touch

"To that end, the appeal and importance of targeted, personalized mailings continues to grow," he says. "From a product standpoint, personalized direct mail packages and formats saw the most growth—15 percent—in 2003, while non-personalized product segments ran only slightly ahead of last year (about 3 percent), when measured in terms of total quantities of products produced. While the unit cost of personalization is higher than that of non-personalized products, the corresponding return in response rates justifies the expense."