As an organization, the unpredictable state of 2020 allowed us time to regroup, recenter and…
Direct Marketing Benchmarks
Every year the DMA publishes its DMA Statistical Fact Book. For marketers without historical data, it’s a great resource for benchmarking programs in nearly a dozen categories, including: Internet, mobile marketing, social media, email and direct mail. Here are some selected stats that we found interesting in the 2012 edition:
- The response rate for direct mail to an existing customer averages 3.4%, compared to 0.12% for email.
- The mean cost per order or lead for a letter-sized direct mail piece is $19.35 when mailing a house file and $51.30 when sent to a prospect file. Mail is still more cost effective than email at the cost per order or lead than email – which came in at $55.24; reflecting the better conversion rate of direct mail.
- 54.5% of US Households read, looked at or set aside for later reading their letter-sized enveloped direct mail pieces. For larger than letter-sized envelope mail, 67.2% did the same.
- The average response rate for credit card mailings in 2012 was 0.6%. Up from 0.3% in 2005.
You can purchase a copy from the Direct Marketing Association at the DMA website.