Direct Mail Options Print vs. Email
Photo by Grethe Boe
This has been a debatable topic since emailing became more common practice in the advertising/marketing world. But, if you were to decide one over the other, which is more effective? There are many factors that go into figuring this out. What is your target market? Age also comes into play, especially for emailing. If you have a larger amount of older customers they might not have a computer or utilize email as someone in the 18-50 age group. What is the purpose of the piece? Do you want to promote a sale or is your promotion a group of different items such as a web-kit? Here are a few pros and cons to each. Make sure you have your target market in mind when determining what choice you should make.
Advantages of Print
- Directly to customer
- Can take it anywhere
- Can share it with anyone
- No hardware restrictions (IE. Computer/Internet)
- You can hold it and feel it – More memorable
Disadvantages of Print
- More expensive
- Not as easily updated
Advantages of Email
-Easily updated
-Cheap compared to print
-Can send out many emails compared to print pieces (depends on your market)
Disadvantages of Email
-Not everyone has email
-Hard to compete (depending on your target market) with other email senders (a huge amount of retailers utilize email marketing)
-Spam filters and emails bouncing (will the email reach your customer?)
-Can be considered less personal than something a person would hold in their hands
Types of Emails (good reasons to email your customer)
Newsletters – Content focused.
Promotional – Sales & Specials.
New Product & Services – Focused on what new items/services you have to offer your customers.
Survey – Ask your customer how you are doing! (Always good to give them something in return for their time).
Fun & Interactive – Games & Video focused.
Forum/Conversational – Have a forum on your site? Send emails on current discussions to get users involved.
Contests – Giveaways always get customers attention! Request a review of the product for a winning entry if desired.
Remember!
Always give your customers the feeling that they are gaining something by being on your email list. Mix it up a little bit! Try different types of emails or features in your newsletters. Otherwise your viewers are going to get bored and simply delete them!
Have any questions regarding email marketing? Give me a shout :) I’d be glad to give you suggestions or help you design a email template you can use to keep in touch with your customers.
Ben Waugh
September 11, 2009
at 03:54 PM
I discovered your homepage by coincidence. Very interesting posts and well written. I will put your site on my blogroll. :-)
Dayne
September 11, 2009
at 04:52 PM
I love this comparison Sarah. Multi-channel contact is important and I think it always will be. Working in both print and email I personally love the flexibility email provides for testing, experimenting, and trying different things compared to print simply because results come faster and it's easier to adapt to changing customer landscapes. For any business I think both print and email should be part of an overall customer contact strategy. Great insight as always. :-)
Chris
September 11, 2009
at 06:44 PM
Thank you for this comparison. I read a statistic somewhere that mentioned that the average consumer spends less than 3 seconds when deciding to open-up an e-mail or deciding to delete it. I figure it would have to be a really good subject heading to get a consumer to open it up. Direct mail on the other hand, especially with postcards, all of the information is already there. If you add an eye catching design then the mail piece will receive even more attention. I agree that using both forms of marketing are important and produce the best results, if I had to pick one, I would pick print.
slynndesign
September 11, 2009
at 07:09 PM
@ Chris I would assume that stat to be true. Companies spend lots of time testing subject lines and what keywords work better than others to try and compete with the mass amounts of emails being sent to consumers everyday. Another important part is the top left-hand corner. Very valuable place for eye-catching imagery/brand etc. I do believe print is still a very good way to connect with customers as well and shouldn't be pushed aside as many folks think. I don't get nearly as many direct mail pieces in my mailbox anymore. So when I do, it stands out more than it used to. Thanks for the great comment Chris :)
slynndesign
September 11, 2009
at 07:12 PM
@ Ben Thank you! Glad you enjoyed reading some of my posts. I'll have to read through some of yours! Have a great day.
Leave a Comment
Keeping you in the Loop
Sign-up to receive our monthly newsletter with the latest tips and design news.
Recent Articles
Popular Topics