Guest blogger Graham Dodd is the MD of the The Letterbox Consultancy. He has over 40 years of experience in the UK door drop sector, is a fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing and a former member of the DMA’s Door Drop Council.
From the start, let me clarify that I don’t believe for one minute that the UK door drop supplier market is currently able to mount a serious challenge to direct mail.
But if we’re talking cold acquisition, is the door opening?
The imminent postal charge increase has led to a frenzy of speculation of how that may affect direct mail (outgoing and inbound), so has there ever been a better time to test cold door drops versus cold direct mail?
From an image perspective, many marketers currently see door drops as a scatter gun approach in comparison to the rifle shot of direct mail – but that too is changing.
Door drops mirror many of the attributes of direct mail in terms of being a tangible and physical medium. And to some degree, may even hold some aces in terms of the types of format which can be easily handled and delivered.
Already this year we’ve handled the delivery of interesting die cut items, designed to create stand out on the doormat – and client feedback is already confirming that is happening.
It’s interesting that at the same time as increasing postal charges, Royal Mail door-to-door has raised the upper weight limit for door drop items from 100 to 200 grammes on its rate card – and possibly even beyond.
For an item weighing in a 180-200 gramme band, can delivery be achieved at just 15p per household?
With pretty much any direct mail piece probably fitting within RM D2D’s maximum size specifications, their door has arguably been flung open for advertisers to test.