First Impressions Determine Direct Marketing Success

HAMBURG, GERMANY—April 27, 2012—The first stage of a study recently conducted by Nielsen, a leading global information and measurement company, and RAPP Germany investigated the advertising effectiveness of mailing techniques. The study brought to light how changing patterns of media consumption in this digital age have redefined the factors critical to the success of mailing campaigns. The combination of a relevant, target-group-specific address and a high-quality direct mail technique—clearly visible at the very first glance—increases the probability of breaking through the clutter and the attention barrier.

The current information overload has had a drastic and lasting impact on media habits. In the digital world, consumers are now confronted with several thousand of advertising messages every day, which means that content—even in direct mail—is seldom initially read with any high degree of attention, but generally just scan read at speed.

In the first stage of Nielsen’s recent study, the 1,800 subjects from Germany and the United States were asked how they thought customers preferred to be addressed. In a second stage, the insights gained were evaluated and followed up: the objective being to discover which factors influence the success of direct marketing campaigns today, other than the manner in which prospects are addressed.

To shed some light on the second stage of this study, and at the same time to avoid the misleading interaction of cross-media campaigns, a fictitious travel agency—Top Travel Tours—was “established.” Within the scope of a real test using five different direct mail techniques—standard envelope, printed envelope, self-mailer, wrapper and email—the marketing effectiveness of a customized holiday offer was tested amongst two groups of recipients—interested and not interested.

Success factor #1: The Envelope

The Nielsen study revealed that direct mail pieces in real envelopes (printed envelopes as well as standard envelopes) still generate the highest open and read rates when compared to self-mailers, wrappers and emails as the diagram demonstrates.

Success factor #2: Printed Packaging

The study further demonstrates that printed packaging—printed envelopes in particular—are considered to be of higher value than plain, unprinted packages. This in turn results in printed envelopes motivating recipients to pass on content to friends and acquaintances far more than any other direct mailing media—14.2 percent compared to 7.8 percent scored by email.

Success factor #3: Individualization

The second stage of the Nielsen study shows clearly that a high-value direct mailing in a creatively designed and printed envelope alone is still not enough to guarantee the success of a direct marketing campaign. The new formula for success needs a certain extra factor or ingredient.

The real test, when applied to interested and non-interested recipients of an individualized marketing message, confirms what even today is frequently neglected—while on one hand the recall levels generated by the fictitious Top Travel Tours Offers didn’t differ between the two recipient groups (interested versus not interested), the open and read rates recorded for interested recipients were considerably higher for mailings in printed envelopes—envelopes that convey individualization at the very first glance (see diagram).

This result is further corroborated by the figures showing the proportion of people who confirmed that they had either immediately thrown away the direct mail or deleted the email. Recipients who received non-individualized marketing mailings were three times more likely to throw the mail in the trash compared to recipients who received an individualized mailing.

Furthermore, the second stage of the Nielsen study into the effectiveness of different direct marketing mechanisms confirmed the excellent responses elicited by individually tailored communications within the consumer purchase decision journey. The comparison between the groups of interested and not interested recipients shows—with a rate of over 44 percent—that nearly every second recipient of an individualized direct mailing would investigate further offers online. This compares to the figure of only 36.6 percent of recipients of non-individualized mailings who said they would do likewise.

Moreover, 13.1 percent of the “interested” recipients said that they would pass on content they read in the individualized offers to friends, family and acquaintances. This value was once again higher than that obtained for the percentage of recipients of non-individualized mailings—with just 9.1 percent from this group saying they would do the same.

Premium Value + Individual Printing + Speed = The Recipe for Success with the Envelope

Stages 1 and 2 of the recent study performed by Nielsen and RAPP Germany provide valuable insights into how many recipients of marketing materials sent by post today decide—on the basis of a first quick glance—whether or not the direct mail is personally relevant for them.

While the email may long have been considered to be simply a digital version of a postal mailing, and the factors for success regarding user behavior derived from those of the conventional, physical direct mailing, the tide now seems to be turning.

Phillip Schilling, Managing Director at RAPP Germany—an international advertising agency specializing in direct communication—is convinced that, “Nowadays, consumers make their decisions regarding the relevance of postal mailings on the basis of behavioral patterns which they are familiar with due to the high level of individualization of electronic communication. A physical direct mailing has to be even faster today—at the very first glance—in convincing recipients that it deserves to be given further personal attention.”

Schilling also thinks that, from an advertiser’s point of view, a lack of speed in development and production can be a serious drawback for postal mailings, resulting in electronic communication being chosen over direct mailings in an envelope. “The results of the second stage of this study highlight the new types of demands placed on direct mail,” he notes. “The combination of high-quality, individualization through to personalization and speed in the production of a mailing with a real envelope is the recipe for success for effective direct mailing campaigns in the digital age. While emails might seem at first to be cheaper to produce, this is often no longer an advantage in terms of ROI.”

About RAPP Germany
RAPP Germany is one of the leading multi-channel agencies in Germany today. Originally founded 25 years ago as a direct marketing agency, RAPP Germany now develops networked communication solutions for clients across all media and disciplines: advertising, online/mobile marketing, email marketing, dialogue, sales literature, retail, CRM and social media. At the helm of RAPP Germany, there is Phillip Schilling and Stefan Setzkorn. They lead a team of around 200 specialists in a Hamburg and Dusseldorf offices. RAPP Germany proudly enjoys long-standing relationships with many of our clients, including Adobe, HP, Vodafone and airberlin.

Source: RAPP Germany