The overall mail response figure was up from 4.8% in the same quarter of 2022, reflecting the shift in online shopping to e-commerce, with 3.3% of mail now driving an online purchase. During the recent quarter, 8.4% of mail prompted a website visit, 4.8% an account look-up and 3.3% an online purchase. This purchase rate reflects a healty 40% conversion rate from site visit to purchase, according to Jicmail.

Additional digital interactions now tracked by Jicmail also reveal that mail prompts online searches (2.6% of mail), emails to advertisers (1.1%) and app download and usage (1%).

Mail’s role in driving sales in physical retail stores is also effective, with 2.3% of mail prompting an in-store purchase in Q4 2023, suggesting that ‘real-life brand experiences’ still play an important role for consumers, with even ‘digital’ brands such as Asos and Deliveroo opening physical stores in 2023.

Jicmail said that mail attention has stabilised on a quarterly basis, although it has still recorded year-on-year growth. The average piece of business mail is interacted with for over two and half minutes during a 28-day period, compared to one minute for the average door drop. However, door drops are still described as the most attention efficient mail channel.

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The company, which recently added a Canon iX 3200 sheet-fed inkjet press to its fleet, has now acquired Xerox Iridesse and Versant 4100 digital dry toner presses, plus Xerox FreeFlow Core and FreeFlow Vision workflow software. The Iridesse will add new capabilities such as foil-like effects, iridescent hues, and fluorescent colour capability that can help capture mail recipients’ attention. FreeFlow Core will enhance prepress automation, integrating with CFH’s back office and the recently announced FreeFlow Vision Software. This software provides automate, real-time data on production print operations within Xerox and third-party environments.

‘Investing in class-leading Xerox workflows and technology, particularly the additional functionality of the Iridesse, will give new and existing clients more choice and effectiveness in their communications while adding value to our capabilities as we pursue market opportunities,’ commented CFH group production director Steve Cray.

“For over 20 years, CFH has chosen Xerox innovation to complement its growth and commitment to delivering exceptional communication solutions. This investment in the wider Xerox ecosystem leverages leading-edge Xerox technologies and automated workflows that deliver even better service and innovation to clients and prospects,’ said Nick Bridge, general manager of graphic communications and productions systems at Xerox UK.

CFH has recently celebrated its 45^th anniversary as a provider of secure printing. Its Docmail hybrid mail solution is used by over 30,000 organisations. The company says the new investment signals the next phase in the its transformation into a multi-channel communications provider.

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The Economy Incentive will allow customers in the government sector to make savings on their mail costs. Those that use the Royal Mail Testing and Innovation Incentive (TIS) will qualify for 5% in postage credits when using the Economy product for the first time, or when using Economy for new uses of mail. This means that customers will save approximately 15% on Business Mail and 16% on Advertising mail compared to the Standard mail tariff.

The Economy Incentive is designed for non-urgent mail, offering flexible delivery from large-scale to small-scale mailings. The use of Mailmark technology has allowed Royal Mail to make the pricing more affordable, with delivery between one and four working days after handover to Royal Mail.

Businesses can trial the Economy Incentive via the Test and Innovation Incentive, which supports businesses in testing new mailing applications or in changes to existing mail campaigns.

Lucy Swanston, chair of the SMP, said, ‘The new incentive will be hugely beneficial to SMP members and the print and mail industry working with the government sector, enabling them to offer a service to their customers with more versatility and innovation, alongside great savings. 

‘At the SMP, we hope that the launch of this incentive will help businesses to become more cost-effective in their mailing strategies, helping them to make the case for mail with their own customers and clients. This will also support the wider print and mail industries in creating a more economically sustainable future.’

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In recent years, mobile apps have become the biggest thing in loyalty. Virtually every retailer now offers an app-based solution, running in conjunction with conventional voucher-based schemes – research shows that retailer apps saw 43% year-on-year download growth in 2020, and downloads for coupons and rewards apps climbed 27% year-on-year in 2022.

However, the success of these apps is reliant on customers actively downloading and engaging with them. And while everyone takes their phone everywhere, the uptake for app-based loyalty schemes is typically lower than expected. In response, retailers are now pivoting to a dual-channel approach. This means mailing out printed loyalty rewards by default, with the option of an app for consumers who want the full digital experience. This approach gives customers a choice, and it allows retailers to track the success ratios of each channel.

Digital print allows for extremely targeted rewards campaigns, with rewards and coupons tailored to individual recipients based on their spending history and interests. This flexibility can be boundless and is only limited by the available data. For instance, Pets at Home has evolved from printing a few direct mail versions to now having a mailing that offers around 235,000 permutations based on pet type, spending history and other metrics. This has resulted in a massive 1.6 – 1.7 million mailings per year, with different coupons for different recipients.

These hyper-personalised communications don’t only benefit the recipient. They have given the retailer an added bonus – their suppliers have the option to advertise within relevant segments of the mailing to customers who actually want their products. In most instances, the app works best when it runs alongside a print offering. Retailers can then monitor the success of each channel and track where app uptake might fall short – and decide what to do about it if that’s the case.

For instance, the retailer may decide to backfill the shortfall with physical communications to ensure that no customer is left without access to loyalty rewards. Having these insights allows retailers to revert to mailing out rewards to drive in-store footfall.

Retailers can take advantage of transactional history to build a single view of their customers. This allows them to understand their high, mid, and low spenders, frequent visitors, and those that need more engagement to cross-sell and up-sell new products. A single customer view with high-quality data makes print powerful, as retailers can segment their database and focus their marketing budget on areas that are worth targeting.

The conventional model for loyalty schemes is often a quarterly reward mailing, but when combined with digital, an ‘always-on’ approach is possible. Retailers can use browsing behaviour and abandoned basket solutions to talk to customers in real-time, using email and mail as channels to drive re-engagement and lead them to complete purchases.

Retailers need to target their marketing budget on areas that are worth focusing on while not wasting rewards on loyal customers. The dual-platform approach of combining digital and print offers customers choice while providing retailers with valuable insights into which platform works best for their customers. By monitoring and tracking the success of digital and using print to reengage lost customers, retailers can provide a seamless loyalty experience that keeps customers engaged and coming back for more. Happy shoppers!

Mark Brown is account director at direct marketing specialist Go Inspire

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Based in Albens, south-east France, TagG has collaborated with Screen for some time, co-develping IPDS controllers for the web inkjet range in 2017, to complement Screen’s Equios workflow offering. With 115 staff, the company serves over 200 customers in industries such as banking, insurance, healthcare, mail order companies, supermarkets and car manufacturers and is one of Screen’s biggest customers.

‘We chose the two Screen digital printing machines for their speed, high uptime and high print quality, which is comparable to, or even better than that of offset printing, offering TagG’s clients a competitive print-cost ratio,’ said Hervé Lesseur, CEO of TagG Informatique. ‘Additionally, the vibrant colours and sharp details that can be printed on a wide range of paper substrates stood out.’

The Truepress Jet 520HD AD and the 520NX will serve different needs for TagG. The 520HD AD model, which incorporates Screen’s most advanced dryer unit for higher coverage work, can be used for direct mail, while the 520NX better suits transactional print jobs. TagG reports two distinct developments in these markets: direct mail is growing slightly, while the transactional market is shrinking.

Mr Lesseur commented, ‘The decreasing volumes in the transactional market therefore require modern and cost-effective solutions. At the same time, the growing direct mail segment requires more creativity and product innovation, as well as personalised printing with print quality at least matching that of offset printing. This is what TagG has been offering for the past five years with our first Screen Truepress Jet 520HD+.’

The Truepress Jet 520NX features a five-inch printhead module that offers up to 600 x 900dpi resolution and a maximum speed of up to 150m/min. The gap between printheads has been reduced to one-eighth of that in earlier Screen systems to deliver higher quality and more stable printing. The 520NX’s printhead design handles both monochrome and full colour printing, allowing the CYM printheads to be ‘parked’ when printing mono, to reduce ink consumption; an extra printhead can be installed adjacent to the other printheads to handle MICR and other special-purpose inks.

The AD model combines a constant-temperature dryer with heating rollers to deliver a ‘superior’ drying performance in combination with Screen’s SC inks that work on offset coated stocks without pre-processing or primer. Screen says that as a result, energy consumption is minimised and issues with heat, such as excessive drying, are avoided. Further, printing directly to the paper saves time and money and preserves its surface texture.

‘In fact, we’ve achieved a noticeable improvement in colour accuracy and detail, with the new Sscreen presses enhancing the overall impact of TagG’s printed materials. Their print quality is even better than offset: colours are vibrant, details are sharp,’ added Mr Lesseur. He noted also that it was important for Screen’s SC+ ink to be fully compliant with France’s stringent regulations: ‘This certification is crucial for TagG’s sustainability efforts to minimise our carbon footprint. Sscreen was the only manufacturer that could issue such documentation.’

TagG expects that the new investments will enable business growth of 10 – 12% in 2024.

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The overall Platinum award went to programmatic mail specialist Paperplanes for a campaign for Bower Collective home products, with Golden Envelopes going to Huddersfield-based DM provider Propack, Bath-based advertising agency Join The Dots and Edinburgh-based direct marketing agency Dragonfly (for two different campaigns), whose account manager Ellie McBeath also won the Bright Futures award. Go Inspire took a Highly Commended and Webmart won the Sustainability award.

The event, which was hosted by comedian Ellie Taylor, also saw a panel discussion and ‘fireside chat’ with various mail industry figures.

SMP chair Lucy Swanston told Digital Printer that the awards event had doubled in terms of attendance since its inaugural outing in 2022, with an increase in entries and participating companies, which ranged from print providers and print management companies to creative agencies. The new categories added this year, Bright Futures and Sustainability drew high numbers of entries, with Ms Swanston noting that, as with the Printing Charity’s Rising Stars awards, there was a very high proportion of female entrants – reaching 100% in the case of the Bright Futures category.

Ms Swanston attributed the growth to both higher awareness and an increased appetite from big brands to work with award-winning suppliers. Acknowledging predictions of an overall drop in mail volumes for 2023, she noted, ‘Providers recognise the importance of accolades, which help their marketing to their customers. The purpose is ongoing marketing.’

She further noted that print was still in the top five media channels by spend, driven in part by a rise in sales promotions amidst the steep cost-of-living and energy rises and cited the received wisdom that brands who continue to market through recessions emerge stronger and with higher brand equity than those which don’t. Against this she noted that rising supply costs would also impact direct marketing spend and reaffirmed the case for considering print’s attention metrics against digital channels, pointing out also that, ‘I can’t see anyone in digital media working out their carbon footprint’, something that the SMP has put some effort into as part of pitching print as a sustainable circular economy channel.

As a general call to join the SMP, Ms Swanston said, ‘Anyone with a digital printer can print direct mail; the mailing can be outsourced. While the SMP board members are the big national and international players, there is a whole tail of SME printers who could benefit from this knowledge and expertise. There is a huge community – approaching 650 members now – to lean into, and the big players are happy to help.’

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Mailing houses, printers, print managers and agencies are invited to enter the 2023 SMP Awards, to celebrate producers who have achieved ‘remarkable’ work for their clients and industry. The SMP says that business size is irrelevant as the judges will be focusing on how entrants have made a difference to a client’s mailing or a campaign. The size of the client is also immaterial; only the performance of the mailing will be taken into consideration.

SMP chair Lucy Swanston said, ‘The Strategic Mail Performance Awards aim to celebrate and showcase exceptional work within our industry. What sets these awards apart is their focus on highlighting the specific contributions of entrants that have made a difference to a client’s mailing or campaign. Judges will be looking at how mail producers have inbuilt strategy, creativity, sustainability, and use of data to drive enhanced performance, as well as shining a spotlight on the young rising stars.

‘The Bright Futures Award, new for 2023, aims to highlight the fantastic up-and-coming talent that we have within our industry, and the incredible potential that they have. And with our new Sustainability Award we want to champion companies going that extra mile to engrain the most sustainable practices through their client campaigns, trailblazing the possible for our industry.’

The deadline for entries is 25 August 2023. The winners will be named at the SMP Awards evening on 28 September 2023, which will be hosted by UK most comedian Ellie Taylor (seen on TV’s Strictly Come Dancing, amongst others), at The Steel Yard in London. Golden Envelope Awards are up for grabs, with the coveted Platinum Envelope Award reserved for the outstanding entry with outstanding results.

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The Q1 findings revealed 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 greater proportion resulted in positive commercial outcomes for advertisers.

Jicmail’s diary-based data captured from a panel of 1000 households every month revealed that in Q1, 95% of mail had some form of physical interaction from consumers other than being immediately thrown away. This suggests that despite continuing high inflation and cost of living concerns, mail remains an effective channel.

In addition, mail open, read and retention rates have experienced year-on-year growth for the third quarter in a row. 75% of mail (including direct mail, business mail and door drops) was read in Q1, 65% was opened, and 46% was still live in the home (i.e. had not been discarded) after 28 days.

Key metrics related to product discovery improved year-on-year, with 16% of mail driving discussions about brands and 6% prompting consumers to search online for more information. When it comes to purchase fulfilment, mail also continued to experience growth in Q1, with 4% of mail prompting a purchase, 2% triggering a voucher redemption and 2% driving store footfall.

Ian Gibbs, director of data leadership and learning commented, ‘Despite stubbornly high levels of inflation, there have been a few rays of sunshine in Q1 with the IPA Bellwether report pointing towards increased advertiser confidence in 2023 and PwC reporting that high street store closures have slowed. Against this backdrop mail continues to be a vital channel in efficiently delivering key messages to consumers when times are tough; and for those advertisers that are active in the channel, they have seen the reward of improved commercial effectiveness throughout the customer journey.’

Mark Cross, engagement director of Jicmail said, ‘The opportunity for practitioners is to appreciate the mindset of their audiences – who in Q1 have yet again demonstrated commercially savvy behaviour as well as high engagement with mail.’

According to The Time We Spend With Mail study, the average piece of direct mail is looked at for 108 seconds across 28 days, while the average door drop is viewed for 46 seconds: the mail channel is more attention efficient than a host of other media platforms.

One of the key conclusions drawn was that mail is a high-attention media channel, which is strongly linked to commercial effectiveness. There is a x2 to x3 multiplier for time spent with commercially effective direct mail items and a x3 to x5 multiplier for door drops.

Using a methodology reviewed by PwC, it costs just £0.07 to generate a minute of consumer attention with door drops and £0.11 for direct mail. Consequently, mail is more attention efficient than social display, digital display and TV advertising according to these results.

Mr Gibbs said of the research, ‘We’re delighted that Jicmail has managed to provide a definitive view on the time spent with mail, plus a whole host of additional insights into the planning factors most strongly linked to high mail attention.’

Mr Cross added, ‘Appreciating that attention is a ‘hot topic’ for all planners, we were determined with this work for mail to find its rightful place in these considerations. The results are nothing sort of stunning, deserving high attention from planners across the disciplines. The journey of mail around the home accumulates un-paralleled levels of largely solus time spent with mail, triggering multiple minutes across the marketing funnel and offers the prospect of a high attention effectiveness multiplier. Rewarding the time spent with mail is now a key planning metric!’

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With the aim of promoting and driving the mail industry, the scheme supports trade associations by providing them with additional resources and training material that they can distribute amongst their members to help them execute effective mailing campaigns.

The trade associations can offer the SMP membership programme as an extension of their provision. The benefits of this include opportunities to attend various networking events throughout the year, the opportunity to become Jicmail certified with regular training sessions and same day qualifications, plus free resources such as readymade sales PowerPoint decks and research papers to help facilitate new business.

Charles Jarrold, chief executive of the BPIF, said, ‘The BPIF is absolutely delighted to be partnering with the SMP, to help support the growth and development of print and mail. This partnership will enable us to continue to support the sector with the latest research, insight, and education, so that printers can support their clients with excellent, effective, and sustainable print and mailing advice and services.’

Brendan Perring, general manager of the IPIA, commented, ‘The IPIA believes passionately in collaborating with industry bodies such as the SMP so that we can pool our respective resources, networks, and strengths, to help advance the cause of the print and allied industries. We look forward to building our partnership and helping our respective memberships to flourish.’

Lucy Swanston, chair of the Strategic Mail Partnership said, ‘We are thrilled to have teamed up with BPIF, DMA and IPIA to launch this new membership scheme for trade associates to help shape the future of mail. We’re excited to educate and inspire the next generation of printers by opening the door to many new and established industry contacts and exciting opportunities.’

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In addition to 64% of respondents expressing the view that ‘we don’t send each other enough letters anymore’, 71% still expect documents with legal or financial implications, such as contracts, mortgage offers or pension information, to be sent on paper rather than via email. While Quadient warned business against planning to shift all communications to digital as far as possible because of these findings, it also noted that appropriate design and usage is important, with almost half (47%) of consumers having been annoyed by receiving junk mail that initially looked threatening or alarming, mimicking ‘final demand’ bills or medical test reports.

‘Depending on the reason for contacting customers, companies need to strike the right balance between using letters, or emails and other digital communication channels,’ said Anthony Coo, Product Head at Quadient. ‘If somebody receives a letter from their solicitor or bank and is concerned it is about something hugely important, then it turns out to be an attempted cross-sell from a partner, they are likely to be irritated. In this instance, digital channels could be more appropriate.’

Comparing the strengths of physical mail with digital alternatives, advantages of the former included guaranteed delivery options, privacy and security, particularly from phishing and viruses, and the perceived value of personalisation; the immediacy, ease of access and anytime delivery were noted as benefits of the latter. Perhaps unexpectedly, the research found that email was popular with over-55s, for these reasons.

‘Businesses need to play to the strengths of both letters and emails – it’s dangerous to assume your customers will want one or the other,’ Mr Coo added. ‘For instance, businesses serving an older customer base may assume they won’t respond well to email – but this is not the case. People aged 55 and over are more appreciative of the instant, always-available nature of email. Overall, businesses need to think strategically about the different scenarios in which they contact customers, and which communication channel fits the job.’

Opinium surveyed 2000 UK consumers in Autumn 2022.

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