Direct mail for the internet generation
Direct mail – you know, the printed stuff that comes through your letterbox – is a waste of time, right? Proper old skool marketing. No one wants (or reads) that junk anymore… do they?
Well, Royal Mail have launched a new direct mail service aimed at the internet generation; those of us who expect the right to opt-out of marketing messages and hit the spam button at the first sign of unsolicited email. Called Matter, it’s a letterbox-sized box of freebies and samples from companies like Original Source, Cadbury and Harper Collins. Entirely permission-based, it’s only sent to people who have opted-in to receive it.
The thinking behind the idea is that the postal service can deliver a marketing experience that no other media can: you can touch, smell and taste these products and the excitement and delight of receiving the box makes it feel like opening a present. Apparently, big brands in particular are recognsing the value of having such an intimate contact with customers.
What I think is really interesting is the way that Royal Mail are working with the prevailing trends, rather than fighting against them. Consumers have become used to having more power in the customer / supplier relationship. They:
- expect to receive marketing emails only from companies they gave permission to (and mark as spam anything else)
- follow people and brands they find interesting on services such as Twitter and Facebook, and unfollow just as easily
- use the Mail Preference Service to prevent companies sending marketing mail
- demand to be compensated for their attention, whether that be material reward, entertainment value or interesting content
According to Stop Junk Mail, the volume of addressed junk mail is decreasing by 4.3% a year in the UK, after reaching a peak of 5.5 billion items in 2003. Presumably, companies are finding that they can acheive better conversion rates at lower prices by using other methods. But junk mail and spam is only junk mail and spam if it is unwanted. Matter has recognised this and created a product that consumers actually want to receive, which makes all the difference.
Tags: direct mail, matter, opt-in, permission, royal mail
Stop Junk Mail doesn’t prevent the Royal Mail from leafleting though; so I was really pleased to receive a BNP leaflet from the Postie the other day.
And he’s broken the letter box from ramming all the leaflets through at once.
You’ve sold it to me – I’ve registered. Something about receiving nice surprises through the post – just like its your birthday, but more often. I think its quite a clever idea. If only we could stop all those leaflets.
@richard Seems there are some schemes for opting out of unaddressed junk mail, although very few can be aware of them, given that only 0.5% of households have joined. 15% of households are registered with the Mail Preference Service.
@linda If the Matter boxes are half as exciting as the Graze boxes I get twice a week, I’ll be happy!