Direct mail back in the news with new Royal Mail scheme

Direct mail has been a big talking point of late, with a number of articles published praising its ability to create well-rounded marketing strategies and how it can generate more engagement and revenue from consumers. So it’s no surprise that Royal Mail has decided to take advantage of this news and recently begun a new online shopping trial with a large retailer to combine digital purchase history with direct mail brochures.

The postal giant stated that it wants to add traditional, direct mail practices to the £1 billion programmatic media industry. Basically this new form of marketing will be essentially the same as online digital adverts that appear on users’ desktops or mobile devices based on their shopping activity – only this time the adverts will appear in the post. If an online shopper saves an item in their basket but does not complete the purchase, then this will trigger physical mail either in the form of a letter or brochure to be sent to their home, reminding them of the product and hopefully pushing them further down the sales funnel. But it will only be applicable to online consumers who have agreed to receive such material.

A spokesperson for Royal Mail said that this will not be classed as junk mail, as the post sent will only ever relate to an item a consumer has expressed direct interest in.

Head of Royal Mail’s MarketReach direct marketing team, Jonathan Harman, said that although this method may be “a lot more expensive per thousand than online display, but it may also be about 100 times more responsive.”

Do you think this trial will be successful? Will it help propel direct mail further into the limelight?