Some may find it annoying, but direct mail (AKA junk mail) is effective. At least that's the case in Australia, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Sydney measured the sales results of products marketed through in-store radio versus mail circular advertising in 95 variety discount stores. A huge lift was found from junk mail efforts, ranging in magnitude from a 67 percent increase for disposable razors to a dramatic tenfold increase for toasters. By contrast, in-store radio advertising had little or no effect on sales.
Speaking to Australia's ABC News, Charles Areni, a marketing professor from Sydney University, said he believes despite people's annoyance over cluttered mailboxes and growing eco-concerns, mail circulars still work because people tend to find one catalog in their mailbox that is marketing a product they already intended to buy. He stated, "It is annoying because probably 95 percent of what we get in our mailbox is entirely irrelevant; it is junk. But that five percent that is relevant to what we're planning to buy or where we're planning to shop, it provides sales, and that's why retailers are going to continue doing it."
Familiarity also plays a factor.
The professor said in a press release, "Junk mail is a very common form of advertising for this type of store, and as they arrive regularly at the beginning of the month, it could be that consumers may simply be used to looking for them."
Still, Peter Mclean, CEO of Keep Australia Beautiful, not surprisingly called on retailers to be more innovative in their marketing to avoid the severe eco-impact of such efforts. He tells ABC News, "It's a very cluttered market space, so if you're advertising in that space you're not necessarily going to be heard unless you start to generate massive, massive amounts of published material and that of course has an environmental and a litter impact as well."