The Power of Letterbox

With many companies recently channeling their marketing into online advertising platforms, the digital landscape is overloaded right now. But with New Zealanders spending more time at home, cutting through the online clutter and delivering targeted messaging directly to their homes is more effective than ever.

A 2020 Roy Morgan survey found that in the last 7 days, over 2 million New Zealanders have read a catalogue that was delivered to their home. 1 in 3 of those have shared their catalogue with a friend, family member, or neighbor. Sixty percent of those who’ve read the catalogue purchase the product next time they’re in the store and eighteen percent purchase it from the store’s website.

What’s great about letterbox

More and more, the benefits of flyer distribution in letterboxes are being realised by all sizes of businesses, and more consumers want to be contacted through direct mail and letterbox over other media methods. There are a number of reasons for this. One is that flyers, brochures or catalogues delivered to a letterbox can be targeted more to the individual and their demographic, unlike many of the broad blanket material sent through online channels.

Because businesses can send their messages to customers in more tailored areas or demographics, they have more flexibility to test and measure highly targeted, short-run campaigns often at much less cost than digital. Once a short-run campaign begins to receive traction, these can be extended and adjusted easily over time.

In addition, businesses can take advantage of this less crowded medium, where potential customers can read the materials in the relaxed atmosphere of their own home as opposed to scrolling through emails or being bombarded with online advertisements. According to the same Roy Morgan survey, 67% of kiwis say that they like to read print catalogues as a “stress-free way to browse or window shop”.

Combine your efforts

While letterbox is undoubtedly a valuable channel to promote businesses, it’s also important to combine letterbox distribution with other marketing channels to increase response rates. This doesn’t need to be done immediately, but businesses will find this beneficial in the long run to ensure additional brand touch-points for customers and a quicker path to purchase. According to the previously mentioned Roy Morgan survey, of the nearly 2 million kiwis who read a flyer or catalogue in the last week, 18% buy the product on the store website, and 38% make a special trip to the store to buy the product.