Is snail mail marketing dead or is there some merit to sending your consumers direct marketing material?

70 percent of people state that they receive too many emails, which has some marketers questioning whether or not they should return to the good old days of snail mail.

Approximately 13.8 billion letters are sent every year however, in comparison over 74 trillion emails are sent every year.

The average lifespan of a piece of snail mail is about 17 days, whereas the average lifespan of an email is around 2 seconds. Could it be that snail mail may have marketing benefits?

It is interesting to note that 75 percent of consumers could recall a company name after receiving marketing material in the mail, whereas only 44 percent of consumers could recognise the company name after receiving an email.

Hands down, if you want to be more memorable and stick in the minds of your customers, snail mail may be the way to go.

In fact, research by the Direct Marketing Association found that snail mail out performed email in almost every category.

One of the most surprising pieces of information to come out of the study was that 79 percent of consumers acted after seeing a piece of marketing snail mail, compared to just 45 percent of consumers who viewed the same offer over email.

50 percent of companies in Australia report that they still use snail mail in order to market and promote their products, however one concerning factor with this method is the cost.

There are often huge costs associated with organising snail mail marketing that it is not always viable for smaller businesses and startups.

One study found however, that even though snail mail is more expensive, it was better at helping companies to acquire new customers.

The study found that snail mail resulted in a $51 cost per lead, whereas email resulted in a $55 cost per lead.

Even though snail mail marketing has more upfront costs, it seems that it does have a better return of investment than email marketing.

When it comes to determining the type of marketing for your brand, it again comes down to your audience and what is going to resonate with them the most. However, it does seem that snail mail may be a good way to go, especially if you are looking to create a memorable marketing campaign.

At the end of the day, it seems that combining both snail mail and email marketing may be the best. In fact, many companies find that combining both snail mail with email marketing is the most effective strategy.

In one survey, 51 percent of companies stated that they preferred to use a blend of both snail mail and email marketing. Another 56 percent of those businesses said that they found this strategy the most effective when it came to acquiring new customers.

In addition to this, it was found that consumers spent an average of 25 percent more when they used a combination of snail mail and email marketing.

So, if you are considering trying something different or want to amp up your marketing efforts, perhaps try snail mail.