We often spend our marketing money poorly because of conventional thinking. Keeping channels distinct can help you better be able to optimize ads for that channel. However, as technology has advanced, developing multi-channel campaigns and tracking customers throughout their buyer’s journey has become simpler. Innovative businesses prioritizing creative thinking over conventional wisdom in their marketing have access to a wealth of new opportunities.

Some people see direct mail and email marketing as separate leaves on the same branch. The two channels are seen as either/or, which severely restricts how the two may be utilized to enhance one another. Email marketing and direct mail marketing are not mutually exclusive. They ought to cooperate closely.

Email and direct mail marketing are two of the most popular and efficient marketing initiatives. But how does email marketing differ from direct mail? We’ll go through each sort of campaign step-by-step so you can decide which one is ideal for you.

Here are the key differences between email marketing and direct mail.

Email Marketing:

Email marketing is a fantastic approach to increase brand recognition, advertise goods and services, and even improve connections with existing clients and consumers. A kind of direct marketing is email marketing. It entails emailing a list of contacts with informative or promotional emails. Each email includes a recipient’s name or company to make the message more personalized. A group of individuals typically get a single marketing message while participating in an email marketing campaign.

Email marketing benefits:

There are various methods to contact a target audience, but email marketing offers several advantages that other strategies cannot match.

Let’s look at a few advantages of employing email in your marketing campaigns.

Inexpensive

One of the most affordable media outlets is email. There is no such thing as purchasing television airtime or magazine page space. You have a marketing message, an email address, a list of recipients, and their names and addresses. You could see some success if you create the correct message and distribute it to the appropriate audience.

Analytical skills

Tracking the outcomes of your efforts is made simple by email being online. You can monitor information on whether or not the email was sent, how often the receiver opened it, if they engaged with or clicked on the message, and more when it is connected with your online content management systems.

Quick delivery

An email may be interacted with as soon as it reaches the recipient’s inbox, which only takes a few seconds from your screen to theirs. Not to mention that you can simultaneously communicate with hundreds or even millions of individuals.

Drawbacks of email marketing

Given its advantages, let’s examine the drawbacks of email marketing that are inescapable.

Spam

When your inbox is overflowing with emails, you don’t want to read them, and you just have one thought: where can I unsubscribe? People may unsubscribe from receiving your emails just as easily as you can send them. The language, pictures, and call to action in the email you are sending can all be “home runs”, in your opinion. That does not always imply that others concur.

To prevent this, email marketers might ask former subscribers what turned them off from the emails in a poll that appears on the unsubscribe page.

Making a list takes time

Emails cannot be sent without an address. And getting such addresses is not simple. Creating a list of individuals who have chosen to receive your emails takes time.

Direct mail Marketing:

Another kind of direct marketing is direct mail advertising. Specific contacts and places of business get actual mail. A list of recipients receives print advertising through direct mail marketing. Print, you heard correctly!

Direct mail marketing is a wonderful technique to get the attention of both new and present consumers and clients. Direct mail marketing is similar to email marketing because it may increase brand recognition, encourage interaction, and solidify current connections.

Direct mail marketing may be individualized, much like email marketing. Custom offers, mentioning the receiver by name, and other intimate information or messages, are examples of personalized elements.

Direct mail marketing benefits:

Direct mail marketing has several significant advantages.

Reach those who don’t use email

Everyone may not use email. Email may not be able to reach older audiences or persons who are not linked to the corporate sector. Additionally, direct mail can only go to one inbox, the mailbox, so it doesn’t end up in the spam folder.

Very focused

Direct mail may provide good results for businesses with a clear idea of their target market. The business may send direct mail to certain purchasing groups based on market segmentation techniques, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral.

Drawbacks of direct mail advertising

Unfortunately, there are more drawbacks to direct mail marketing than benefits. Power to you, however, if your company has ways to get over the following obstacles.

Costly

A direct mail marketing campaign has several moving components. These expenses, which include designing, producing text, printing, and delivering the materials, will undoubtedly build up, and they could do so more quickly than you anticipate.

Yes, some companies may use direct mail to create excellent conversion rates, but these are usually well-established companies that have used direct mail for some time. Direct mail may not be your best option if you are a new company searching for an affordable and effective strategy to increase brand recognition.

Low levels of responsiveness

Your direct mail won’t get up in the recipient’s spam folder, but they do have a trash can. Nowadays, it is more probable that mail will wind up in the trash if the recipient isn’t expecting it from a certain source or doesn’t recognize the return address.

How to combine email and direct mail

Here’s the thing: one channel can improve the other, given the correct data. Here are a few strategies for coordinating and combining the advantages of email and direct mail.

• If you have a customer’s postal address and their email is flagging, letters might entice them.
• Email is used to follow up on a postal campaign. Once again, it’s important to connect with clients where they can feel more at ease with your brand.
• Using email, get a sneak glimpse of a valuable print item. Let your consumer know when you’re ready to deliver a unique offer or even a premium customized mailer to create anticipation.
• Direct mail prospecting for email Everyone has a physical address, even if it seems clear. Email, though, is a little more private. Send a mail piece with an incentive (like a discount) for replying if you want a prospect to opt into your list on your landing page.
• As part of a drop campaign, including direct mail, it offers a unique experience compared to your previous efforts. It ideally highlights content or other useful information that brings customers closer to conversion.
• Utilize both channels to respond to cart abandonment. Launch a follow-up reminder to entice customers and recover the transaction after they leave your e-commerce website with things still in their basket.
• Your email and direct mail campaigns are coordinated with informed delivery. More than 32 million subscribers choose each day mail delivery previews. With an email element attached to a direct mail piece, your business may target any portion of them and give them the option to answer immediately rather than wait.

Email Vs. Mail Marketing, Which Best Meets Your Marketing Needs?

Email vs. mail marketing has the same goal, engage the customer and make the sale. They go about the process very differently.

Contact us today if you want to learn more about our email marketing opportunities or how we can help you with your marketing campaigns.

Conclusion:

You may start generating your email campaigns and growing a subscriber list now that you are aware of the advantages email marketing has over direct mail. If you want to know more, you should read this article and find it easily.

© 2022, Chris Duncan. All rights reserved.