In association with Pureprint - the official print partner of Walpole, and printer of the Walpole Book of British Luxury.
The past 10 months have seen luxury brands take a 10-year leap in terms of their digital strategies – but what impact is this having on customers? Can brands still effectively share their stories and communicate their core values in this over-saturated virtual space?
In response, many brands are now turning to more traditional techniques to grab (and keep) customers’ attention, with print collateral – particularly direct mail – chief among these."
Print has always been a real strength for luxury brands – the fact that customers can hold the communication in their hands: feel it, store it, and come back to it, gives print a level of credibility and believability that other channels can’t achieve. Furthermore, direct mail’s effectiveness at capturing consumer’s attention and driving them to purchase is compelling – with research showing that 92% of direct mail is opened, and 48% of UK adults take action after receiving direct mail. (Compare these stats to the open rates of your last digital mail out, for example.)
On Thursday 25th February, Ryan Palmer, Tara Pickles, Owen Purkis and Natasha Towey joined Walpole’s Helen Brocklebank and Charlotte Keesing for our latest webinar to discuss new research on direct mail and its effectiveness; how the events and changing landscape of the past year have influenced consumer behaviour and how best to engage your customers through direct mail.
Click here to download the research and read on for a short report on the webinar.
The Art of Direct Mail in Engaging the Luxury Consumer: A report
In a modern blizzard of digital marketing, direct mail is an outlier. Effective, trackable and with great ROI, for many it is still not seen as the glamorous option. However, during the pandemic, clever luxury marketeers have challenged this and the lowly, slowly absorbed physical mail-out has emerged as a secret weapon. Seen as a trustworthy channel, direct mail has the power to inspire, inform and cut through digital saturation — and importantly, really power up an omnichannel strategy. The doormat is becoming a wealth of opportunity again, with mail still the third largest media in the UK.
Research shows that 80 per cent of UK adults open and interact with their mail and that it is a key driver of digital response: people are prompted to go online to make purchases — but will also keep their mail for a week on average, often putting it on display, promoting brand discussions and great word of mouth. Direct mail content itself can be rich and deeply personal — but delivery doesn’t have to be a letter. Creative marketing can range from multi-sensory pieces with embedded fragrance to die-cut features, augmented realities and exquisite brochures and catalogues.
Of course, such physical reality comes at a cost — postage and environmental impact can hold people back, but volume mailing discounts make the former achievable and environmentally, paper products account for 0.8 per cent of European greenhouse gas emissions, far less than digital, with a 72 per cent recycling rate.
In the end, successful luxury marketing is about getting the right message to the right person at the right time and in the right way."
And in a world where clicks are cheap, the consideration and care innate in sending a physical communication make direct mail far from the second choice for the luxury sector.
Click here to read the latest research from Pureprint and JICMAIL on the effectiveness of direct mail.
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