Marketing – Snail Mail vs Email

It wasn't that long ago that most people didn't have an Internet email address. But the Internet has brought a new era full of unlimited information. The Internet has given birth to email, popularly known as e-mail. Email opened new horizons in the world of communications. Initially, email was used only as another means of communicating with others for personal or work-related matters. Now people of all age groups have an email address. But, since the last few years, its marketing potential has been exploited to the maximum both in a good and bad way. At the same time, who can ignore direct mail services that have been operating for nearly two centuries? This is still the preferred way to communicate for many people.

Email is the cheapest method of communication available as of this date. The advantage of email is that you can send an email to many people at the same time with just one click of the mouse, as in direct mail messages, one has to go through putting the letters in envelopes for each person, creating different address labels and mailing them and must Also you have to bear the postage cost. Time is money and email marketing saves a lot of time.

While email marketing may seem easy, if you compare the net result it is a completely different story. When you do email marketing, you make sure you're sending the email to the right person otherwise the email will end up in your junk folder. You must also be careful not to miss the subject or body of the email otherwise the end result will be the same. In this age of spam, spammers use a variety of topics, so you have to set the topic keeping in mind that it will not send your email to the spam folder again. In the contract, direct mail gets better treatment. Studies show that direct mail is more efficient and has better success than email. First, direct mail is not as easy to block as junk email, and second, the process of blocking mail itself is not automatic like email. Another reason why people hate email marketing is because of the constant bombardment of emails from spammers and illegal marketers ranging from Nigerian financial scams to pornography, online prescription drugs, stock quotes and what not. In addition, you can also get promotions from big companies that can ignore phishing these days. Due to all these people, they have developed a negative perception about email marketing and they simply delete or spam the email if they do not recognize it as their regular email. In contrast, direct mail is viewed with respect and people choose their mail as a daily routine and open it with priority.

Direct mail has a personal feel attached to it, which is one reason why people prefer mail greetings over electronic greetings. Personalization of direct mail takes time as email is instantaneous and the fate of email is also instantaneous i.e. instant deletion. Researchers are always puzzled by the mystery surrounding why people are so excited about direct mail. But don't worry, it's good news for marketers that they have something successful in their toolkit. So, marketers have a mailing list of potential customers at their fingertips and send them some well-written messages about your company and its products.

Snail mail has the potential to pass through the hands of gatekeepers and administrative assistants before actually going to their boss who can end up being tossed in the trash. Chances of survival are rare unless its topic is business oriented and contains some important information. But email wins in this regard, as it reaches directly to the person to whom it is addressed, and then leaves its fate to the person whether they read it or send it to the spam folder.

The most scientific explanation for why direct mail is more expensive to people than email is people's perception. Direct mail uses three of a person's four senses: sight, speech, listening, and touch, while email does not. But this can be achieved by adding attractive graphics, readable text, and streaming audio to email.

Statistics show that direct mail is not dead, in fact, its volume has increased by leaps and bounds in the past few decades. A typical example of this is the fact that we receive more journals, magazines, emails from universities, DVDs, etc. than we did a few years ago. This leaves marketers with a dilemma about which method to use. The answer is simple, use email to contact only people you know and use direct mail for people who don't know you.