In February 2010, the British Marketing Survey found that leaflets through the door received the highest response of all advertising channels, including newspapers, television and email.
Robert Keitch, membership and brand manager of the Direct Marketing Association made the following comments about the findings:
“In a nutshell, junk mail door-drops work. They result in more sales, more visits to websites and more charity donations. We are a nation of traders, and door-drops are just one of the techniques that companies use to lay out their stall to attract customers. By making greater use of data-profiling, campaigns have become increasingly sophisticated. Of course, door-drops aren’t always the most appropriate medium, and no organisation wants to risk its reputation, or bottom line, by sending irrelevant information to uninterested people. Nobody wants to carpet-bomb householders with letters and leaflets advertising products and services they don’t want. Thanks to improved practices, direct mail volumes have fallen since 2005. The industry is often criticised for its impact on the environment. In fact, direct mail forms less than 2 per cent of household waste, and most is recycled. Its annual carbon footprint per home is equivalent to half a cheeseburger!”
