Audience insights for door drops

Written by Mark Davies, Managing Director of Whistl and member of the Door Drop Hub and Print Council.

2018 is shaping up to be an excellent opportunity for door drop media. Regulatory changes have already started to push many businesses to reconsider how they engage new and existing customers. As a medium that is not reliant on personally identifiable information – targeting households rather than people – door drops offers a means for businesses of any size to gain the attention of customers.

Door drops offers an effective, measurable, low cost acquisition channel, hence why we are already welcoming new and lapsed customers. These clients are discovering (or rediscovering) a channel that has worked hard over the years to grow smarter, fitter, more insightful and more effective.

A fantastic example of the new insight that is supporting this medium is the launch of JICMail – a media currency for mail and door drops that helps media planners understand the power of these channels, using exactly the same measurement standards as other media. JICMail is a joint industry initiative supported by the DMA, IPA and ISBA that measures readership reach and frequency of exposure to those tangible print items delivered to the home.

Research published by MarketReach in recent years has highlighted how door drops are retained in the home for an average of 38 days and they have also tracked how door drops move around the home and are shared. But JICMail takes these insights and makes them actionable by providing media planners with reach and frequency multipliers that they are accustomed to getting for other channel, as they receive for TV from BARB and for Out of Home from Route.

The data from the JICMail panel informs us that 61% of all door drops looked at have a reach and frequency ranging from 2.8 for Financial Services content up to 4.4 for Government communications. These multipliers illustrate a life beyond the single delivery and serve to reduce the headline cost of the channel in line with other media. The data also highlights the commercial actions taken as a result of receiving a door drop, whether that be to prompt a discussion with someone; to visit a website; to use a voucher or code; to visit a store; order a catalogue; or to have bought, donated or signed up to something.

The JICMail data is being offered free of charge in its first year, either in its raw form or through the standard media planning platforms of Telmar, IMS or Kantar Choices, and can be made available upon completion of a data licensing agreement.

For more information, please contact admin@jicmail.org.uk.