Direct mail vs social media: reaching customers by name

Key takeaways

Direct mail vs social media is a question of depth against breadth. Direct mail sends a personal, physical message to a named person, at a high cost per item. Social media reaches far more people for the same money, with less attention from each.

• Direct mail costs roughly 60p to £1.20 per item, all in.
• Social media reaches thousands for the cost of a few hundred letters.
• Direct mail suits known customers and high-value prospects.
• Social media suits finding new buyers you cannot yet name.

What is direct mail?

Direct mail is addressed post sent to named people or businesses: letters, postcards, catalogues and packs. It differs from a leaflet drop because it uses personal data. That makes it more personal and more regulated.

• Social media marketing vs traditional advertising: what works better for SMEs?
• Leaflets vs social media ads: which wins local customers?

How do the costs compare?

Direct mail is expensive per contact. As an indicative range, a mailed item costs 60p to £1.20 including print, data and postage, so 500 letters cost £300 to £600. That sum would fund a month of social ads seen by thousands. Direct mail has to earn its cost through a much higher response from a carefully chosen list.

• How much does advertising cost a UK small business?
• Cost per lead by channel: comparing social media and offline

What do the data rules say?

Postal marketing to named individuals is covered by UK GDPR. You need a lawful basis, which is often legitimate interests, and you must tell people how you use their data and stop if they object. The electronic marketing rules in PECR do not cover post. The ICO also expects you to screen bought lists against the Mailing Preference Service.

• Record your lawful basis for mailing.
• Offer an easy way to opt out, and honour it.
• Check where any bought list came from.
• Screen against the Mailing Preference Service.

• Offline advertising rules in the UK: what small firms must know
• GDPR and social media marketing in the UK

Who should you write to?

Write to people with a reason to open the envelope. Past customers, lapsed customers and enquirers who did not buy respond best, because they know you. Cold lists respond far less and carry more legal risk. For business buyers, a short list of named decision makers can justify a well-made pack.

• Reaching B2B decision makers on social media

Which gets more attention?

A letter gets more attention per person. It is handled, opened and often kept, while a social post competes with everything else in the feed. JICMAIL, the industry body that measures mail, tracks how long items stay in the home and how often they are looked at, and addressed mail consistently outlasts unaddressed items.

• Advertising frequency: how many times must people see an ad?

When does direct mail win?

Direct mail wins when you know exactly who you want and each sale is worth a good deal. It suits reactivating past customers, renewals, invitations and high-value business prospects.

• Past customers due a service or renewal.
• A short list of high-value prospects.
• Invitations to an event or opening.
• Customers who do not use email or social media.

• When traditional advertising works better than social media

When does social media win?

Social media wins when you do not yet know who the buyers are, when the sale is small, or when the budget cannot stand a pound per contact. It is also the better tool for staying visible between mailings at almost no extra cost.

• Social media lead generation for UK small businesses
• Email vs social media: which deserves your marketing hours?

How do you use the two together?

Use them in sequence. Send the letter, then show social ads in the same week to the same area or, where your privacy information allows it, to a matched customer list. People who notice both are more likely to respond. Put a short web address or code on the letter so replies can be counted.

• How to combine social media and traditional advertising
• How to track offline advertising: six methods that work

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with service firms that hold years of customer records: new-customer advertising gets all the budget while past customers hear nothing. A plain letter to the last three years' customers, followed by regular social posts, is often the cheapest campaign the firm has run.

• See client work
• Social Media Marketing for UK businesses

Next step

Count how many past customers you hold a postal address for and when each last heard from you. That list is your first mailing.