Direct marketing is powerful because of its ability to make a sales message more personal, timely and relevant by using data about a customer or prospect. When direct marketing is effective and relevant it stands out from the junk mail that surrounds it and gets noticed.

Research from the Direct Mail Association and other industry organizations proves that direct marketing is a powerful media for reaching customers and prospects – especially when the message contains data that is personally relevant to the target. According to the DMA whitepaper titled Developing Effective Multi­Channel Strategies, marketers can expect a five to ten fold increase in response rates for well-designed, personalized direct mailers as compared to traditional static direct mail.

The Digital Printing Council recently conducted a survey and the results showed that tailored direct mail pieces increase response rates by more than 500 percent over a basic, non-personalized piece. Another study on personalization conducted by Cap Ventures found that more than 69% of consumers prefer highly personalized hard copy direct mail to non-personalized direct mail offers, confirming that personalization in direct marketing is worth the investment.

Collecting and tracking personally relevant data about customers and prospects is essential to the success of a personalized direct marketing campaign.