It’s no secret that the direct mail industry has taken a big hit, competing against other forms of more inexpensive media. Because of the growing popularity of digital marketing, there’s been this stigma that direct mail is no longer an effective means of marketing.
Consequently, direct mailers took the motto ‘go big or go home’ to heart and turned to big, outlandish types of mail pieces (larger than 6”x 9”) in order to say “Hey look at me, I’m still here”. This was a trend that picked up around two years ago, but the first six months of 2013 have shown that small mail pieces (6”x 9” or smaller) are making a comeback!
While large mail pieces have indeed proven to be effective, the costs are outweighing the benefits. While it would be feasible to have a couple of large mail pieces, used as loss leaders, it would not be beneficial or cost-effective to have much more than that. I suppose companies are now recognizing that their pockets aren’t as deep as they thought and are now pulling in the reins on the larger pieces, opting for smaller enveloped pieces, postcards and self-mailers.
In my opinion though, the stigma that direct mail was dead was largely an illusion. Direct mail is very much alive and more effective than ever due to the fact that there are fewer players in the market today. The mailers that have stuck around are seeing the benefits of direct mail and they are recognizing it’s not necessary to ‘go big’, they could also go small and see similar results.
For more on this subject, read the following article: Are We Witnessing a Gradual Downsizing of the Mail?
