Email marketing vs. direct mail

Email marketing and direct mail are strong marketing channels. Both have their distinct features and benefits. Marketers can gain lots of sales leads and business through both the channels by paying extra attention towards the tone and wordings of the messages.

This article highlights some salient points to consider while drafting an email and a direct mail.

Direct mail - As the name suggests direct mail is direct. Talk straight about the offer, benefits and call to action.

Email – Email however demands personal touch. Inbox is not like any post box. It's personal for each email user. Hence the email tone also needs to be personal and friendly.

Direct mail – The usage (not overuse) of 'you', 'your', 'yours' is welcome. The direct mail is more about the recipient so avoid too many 'we'.

Email – Same for email.

Direct mail - Here your first mail itself can talk about products/offers/discounts, everything.

Email - However, email marketing is a step-by-step process. First send 'welcome mail' to your opt-in email list. Capture your prospects interest through first few emails by asking about their interest.

Direct mail – Direct mail can be long. You can talk in length about the products features and benefits. Considering postage stamps are costly, marketers usually send long mails.

Email – Email however shouldn't be long. Too long emails tend to be unread or half read. Provide crisp, attractive piece of information in your email. If the email recipient is interested he will sign up to get more.

Direct mail – Direct mail doesn’t have the fear of getting spam complaints or get filtered out by ISPs and ESPs.

Email – Email however is constantly in the eyes of ISPs and ESPs. Any email or sender they find suspicious are blocked and stopped from reaching the destination Inbox. Make sure you have not used any spam triggering words, pictures, format in your email. For example, avoid suspicious subject lines and loud headlines, message in ALL CAPS, multiple exclamation points etc.

You can conclude that marketers can gain lots of sales leads and business through both the channels. Just pay extra attention towards the tone and wordings of your messages.