- 74% of professionals use print editions of magazines and e-newsletters[1]
- Online sales per million site visitors increased $21 million when a consumer had received a catalog at their home address[2]
- 52.4% of U.S. consumers say they read direct mail received from retailers
- 53% say they find direct mail useful
- 16.8% have responded to retail mail offers
- Sales driven by non-catalog direct mail marketing rose from $457 billion in 2010 to $477 billion in 2011[3]
- ROI: An investment of $1 in direct marketing advertising expenditures in 2011 is predicted to return, on average, $12.03 in incremental revenue across all industries, compared with $5.24 for general advertising.
Direct Mail ROI
Every dollars spent on direct marketing advertising resulted in $12.57 in direct marketing-driven sales, on average[4]
ROI: Summary of DM-Driven Sales Per $1 of DM Advertising | |||||
Return by Medium | 2004 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2014 |
Direct Mail | $12.33 | $12.55 | $12.53 | $12.57 | $12.61 |
Direct Mail (Non-Catalog) | $15.59 | $15.52 | $15.22 | $15.28 | $15.48 |
Direct Mail (Catalog) | $7.06 | $7.28 | $7.32 | $7.34 | $7.27 |
DR Newspaper | $13.26 | $12.77 | $12.46 | $12.26 | $11.89 |
DR Magazine | $10.30 | $10.11 | $10.27 | $10.26 | $10.06 |
Insert Media | $11.76 | $11.60 | $11.45 | $11.43 | $11.35 |
*Other includes all other trackable DM delivered media including outdoor, facsimiles, podcasting, displays, and kiosks.
- The average improvement in response rates from campaigns combining print and other channels vs. print alone is 34%[5]
- The increase in website sales after a catalog magazine drop is 20-25%[6]
- Typically, the print catalog is given credit for 80% of online and miscellaneous order/sales.”[7]
- 66% of consumers prefer to receive printed catalogs vs. viewing them online[8]
- For most catalogers, about 70% of orders come in online and, of those orders, 65-70% are generated by the “tap on the shoulder” from the print catalog[9]
Charitable donations
Non-profits – 15.6 million donors, >$1.16 billion in revenue
- The typical organization receives 79% of all gifts through direct mail
- Direct mail is responsible for 76% of all new donors[10]
[1] Folio, Readex Research, 10/11
[2] comScore Case Study: The U.S. Postal Service, 2009
[3] U.S. Postal Service, Direct Magazine, 8/2011
[4] The Directing Marketing Association, The Power of Direct Marketing
[5] InfoTrends study 2011
[6] Key Catalog/Multichannel Issues Study
[7] 2011 “Keep Catalogs at the Center of Your Prospecting Strategy” Stephen R. Lett, Chief Marketer
[8] Pitney Bowes Study, April 2010
[9] 2011 “The New Role of the New Era Catalog: Blending the Online and Offline Worlds” Lois Brayfield, president J. Schmid & Associates (consultants)
[10] Blackbaud, 2011 donoreCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report, 6/2011
- $21 million
The difference in online sales per million site visitors between those who had received a catalog at their home address and those that had not. Households receiving print catalogs shop online more often, spend more meaningful time at retail websites, and were found to be twice as likely to make an online purchase.[1]
- 60% of consumers tend to pay more attention to print advertising in magazines than any type of advertising on the internet
- 54% of consumers tend to pay greater attention to print advertising in newspapers than any type of advertising on the Internet.[2]
[1] comScore Case Study: The U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
[2] MediaPost Research Briefs, TV Advertising Most Influential, March 23, 2011.
