We know how your mind works

If you want to understand how the brain works, ask a neuroscientist, a surgeon – or the guys who deliver your mail.

We’ve just finished studying the brain at quite some length in order to find out how people respond to mail. How they absorb the information within it, filter it and act upon it. Or, to put it another way, what process do people go through when they open a letter.

To measure mail’s impact on the brain we used an innovative neuroscience technique called Steady State Topography. This enabled us to look at levels of engagement, emotional intensity and long term memory encoding.

What did our brains learn from these studies?

We discovered that much of people’s behaviour around mail was subconscious and automatic.

Mail is instinctive. People interact with mail and absorb messages in a largely unconscious way. This means it’s doing its work on the faster, more intuitive area of the brain, which effects decision making.

Mail also activates areas of the brain responsible for long-term memory encoding more strongly than other media. Over half of respondents (60%) say that really good mail advertising helps keep a sender’s brand top of mind.

We also saw a measurable change in how people react when mail is added to other media, so carefully planning mail around your TV and email campaigns will boost the effectiveness of all three.

Conclusion? Whether on its own or in conjunction with other media, mail works. And you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to see that.

Or download your copy of The Private Life of Mail research report here.