The Renaissance of Direct Mail Gathers Apace

By |2023-07-04T18:12:32+00:00July 4th, 2023|

As you may have read in Decision Marketing recently, I was quoted as saying that direct mail was experiencing something of a renaissance; and that this in part was a result of more responsible targeting due to GDPR (which turned 5 at the back end of last month). You can read the article here: https://www.decisionmarketing.co.uk/news/gdpr-five-years-on-the-death-knell-for-lazy-marketing In case there were any doubters, my assertions have been justified by the latest set of JICMAIL results: mail effectiveness is soaring. Direct mail engagement and effectiveness reached their highest level in a year, with the Q1 2023 results showing that despite another challenging quarter for consumers, a greater proportion of mail was engaged with than at any point in the previous year, and a [...]

Has MOVEit made you think more seriously about data governance?

By |2023-06-19T13:04:59+00:00June 19th, 2023|

If not, it should and here’s why As the days roll by it is becoming increasingly clear that the MOVEit vulnerability which was discovered earlier this month is having very, very far-reaching repercussions. A growing list of UK companies have been affected by the cyberattack on payroll service provider Zellis, which occurred via one of its third-party suppliers (Moveit), this has resulted in hundreds of thousands of staff members at these organisations having their personal information posted on the dark web. The hack was first made public when US-based firm Progress Software identified that hackers had discovered a method of breaking into its MOVEit Transfer tool, a widely used software which enables users to move files from one place to [...]

Zero trust and the role of data hygiene 

By |2023-02-27T16:21:38+00:00February 27th, 2023|

Massive amounts of data are being generated daily - from exercise stats compiled by wearables through to smart building monitors that collect temperature and air pressure information every 15 minutes. If data creation continues at its present rate, more than a yottabyte (a million trillion megabytes) will likely be generated annually by 2030. We are really starting to put the big into big data!  But with data, comes data threat. The two are synonymous. Last year it is estimated that there were 4,100 publicly announced breaches in security equating to 22 billion records being compromised and a rise of over 25 percent is expected this year. In an attempt to mitigate these threats, it is unsurprising that within three years Gartner [...]

MIND THE GAP: THE 25% MAIL PRODUCTION AUTOMATION OPPORTUNITY

By |2022-12-22T06:15:41+00:00December 22nd, 2022|

New research amongst mailing houses carried out by The Software Bureau reveals a 25 percent automation gap. The survey shows that currently two thirds of mailing houses have automated 50 percent of their processes, however the optimum level of automation is considered to be 75 percent, revealing a 25 percent gap. Only one mailing house in the survey has automated all of its workflow processes. Data automation was found to be highest on the wish list for mailing houses, including postal sortation and cleansing processes, whilst automation of ‘run of the mill’ day-to-day processes was the next highest priority. AI-enabled solutions were revealed to be the area with the most potential, with 70 percent of businesses currently not using AI. [...]

Data hygiene is all academic, isn’t it?

By |2022-11-14T11:09:16+00:00November 8th, 2022|

How alumni teams at higher education institutions can enhance relationships with past students and increase lifetime value Digital transformation scores a B+ According to a study by McKinsey, almost 80 percent of organisations reported that during the pandemic they initiated a process of digital and data transformation. Undeniably, COVID 19 fast tracked many organisations’ transformation intentions. For instance, the higher education sector - not one famed for its agility - had been toying with the concept of Responsive Blended Learning, a hybrid of traditional classroom based delivery and online learning for years, but it took lockdown for this to actually become a reality. Most institutions went from face-to-face teaching to digital delivery in a matter of days. And with exam [...]

As the cost-of-living crisis bites, mail stays in the home for longer

By |2022-09-09T08:03:04+00:00September 9th, 2022|

The latest stats from JICMail, the joint industry currency for ad mail, show that there has been a significant increase in the amount of households retaining their mail. More households are choosing to file their mail away for later use or take it out of the home. The new data which covers the period from April to June 2022, shows that close to half of mail (44 percent) is still live in the home after 28 days, which is a significant increase on Q2 2021. It is thought that this is because households are placing more importance on mail content in economically challenging times. The research finds that overall, 94 percent of mail is engaged with, i.e., it has at [...]

Sustainable mail – reducing waste through data

By |2022-08-31T16:00:21+00:00August 31st, 2022|

According to Accenture almost one third of Europe’s largest companies have pledged to become Net Zero by 2050. Whilst a study from Deloitte shows that 67 per cent of SMEs have started using more sustainable materials in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint. No matter what industry or size of organisation; the environment is now a major element of ongoing business strategy which is being filtered down operationally for implementation. Making pragmatic changes is the key. Small steps across all areas of the business add up to major change. For organisations that use direct mail MarketReach and The Strategic Mail Partnership (SMP) new guide https://www.marketreach.co.uk/resource/using-mail-more-sustainably provides advice that helps businesses make their direct mail campaigns more sustainable -from choosing [...]

Why direct mail is good for charities during the cost-of-living crisis

By |2022-08-12T10:16:36+00:00August 12th, 2022|

Everyone will be feeling the pinch – more expensive food, more expensive energy, more expensive fuel… more expensive everything. For charities this is not good news, as when household expenditure rises, donations dwindle. As a result, two marketing objectives take precedence at this difficult time: The retention of existing donors The recruitment of spontaneous one-off gifts For objective No.1 data plays an important role. It is critical that charities are reaching out to their regular donors in a meaningful way to ensure that the relationship is maintain, particularly if the donations dry up during this exceedingly difficult period for many households. Contacting people that have moved house (and despite the depressing economic climate, home moves are still far outstripping those [...]

Regulatory update: Why your mailing data is going to get even more valuable

By |2022-07-12T10:51:25+00:00July 12th, 2022|

The latest figures from JICMail, Royal Mail and The DMA show that direct mail is experiencing something of a resurgence. Volumes are at their highest level for years with increasing number of brands adding it into their marketing mix, it is now the most authoritative advertising channel with consumer trust higher for direct mail than any other media and with incentives from Royal Mail being extended until September it is also incredibly cost effective. And if what is in the regulatory pipeline both in the UK and EU it seems that this renaissance won’t be short lived. If anything, direct mail will become even more influential. Recent updates from the DMA in its Responsible Marketing Update webinar reveal several reasons [...]

Want to drive an immediate response? Use direct mail!

By |2022-06-17T13:33:43+00:00June 17th, 2022|

  A new study by the DMA has been launched investigating the effectiveness of charity marketing. The research analyses 1,057 DMA award entries housed within the DMA’s Intelligent Marketing Databank and measures the number of reported ‘effects’, which are grouped into four categories: Response effects: including conversion, acquisition, sales, donations, bookings, footfall, downloads and CPA efficiency Brand effects: including brands awareness, ad recall, consideration, purchase intent, brand trust, brand perception, recommendation, customer satisfaction Business effects: including profit, market share growth, customer penetration, loyalty and shareholder value Campaign delivery effects: including reach, frequency and impressions Direct mail was found to be the most effective channel at driving response effects – particularly in the short term, which is important for charities looking [...]

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