We are often asked, “What is shared mail? Isn’t it just another form of direct mail?” Shared mail is direct mail, with one important distinction. Because shared mail is a mailed package of multiple advertisers who share in the cost, it is much less expensive and more cost effective than traditional solo direct mail, as well as many other advertising tactics, often costing just pennies per mailed household for design, printing, and distribution combined. By reducing your total cost of advertising, shared mail helps increase return on your advertising investment. This makes it a great fit for marketers looking to create an optimal, omnichannel marketing mix to drive traffic and sales.
Shared mail offers advertisers:
- A cost-effective alternative (typically 1/3 the cost of other direct mail options) with measurable results and proven ROI
- National reach with unmatched market coverage
- Precision targeting to reach both current customers and prospects
- A tangible piece that engages customers at home where they make purchasing plans
What Makes Up a Shared Mail Package?
The Mspark shared mail package is made up of several different types of solutions to fit any need and budget.
Stretch Your Marketing Dollars by Reaching More Customers While Showcasing Your Message with The Wrap
The Wrap is a high visibility saturation product that allows you to cost-effectively promote your business to an entire market. The Wrap contains all of the other inserts we send (except the Impact Postcard), so it’s the first part of our direct mail package that a person sees in their mailbox. This places your business front and center and showcases your products and services.
Increase Response Rates and ROI with Targeting Down to the Household Level with the Impact Postcard
Because it mails outside our package, the Impact Postcard gives your message the benefit of looking like a stand-alone piece at a fraction of the cost of traditional postcard delivery. The postcard gives you the capability to build awareness and brand consideration along with the flexibility of 1:1 loyalty and acquisition messaging in one mailing.
Targeted Inserts Keep Campaign Costs Low While Offering High ROI
Available in 9 sizes to maximize your budget and extend reach, our inserts feature your business on a 2-sided, full-color piece that targets your ideal consumers with no wasted ad spend.
If you already have a direct mail piece designed and printed, we can put your business in our shared direct mail package as well, which will save you money when compared to other advertising options.
Better Targeting Provides Better Results
Along with product options to fit your needs, shared mail offers you the ability to target your best customers, which makes it a great tool for retention and expansion of existing customers. And when you utilize your own data to create a mailing profile, response rates increase by as much as 76%!
But don’t worry if you don’t have your own mailing list or database. Our Consumer Analytics team brings together many types of data to create a much more insightful view of your customers than a geography-based mailing list. They create a mailing profile that tells you who your best customers are, where they live, what they like, and where you can find prospects that most resemble your customers. When we put all of that data together, we give your message the best chance possible to be seen by the right customers at the right time. Learn more about our data analysis capabilities here.
Depending on the piece type you choose to mail, we can saturate a Wrap zone (a set of contiguous zip codes), target specific zip codes, split up a zip code, target a carrier route (a carrier route is defined as a group of addresses that a mail carrier can deliver to in a single day) and even target messaging at the household level.
Power Up Your Marketing Mix with Print
Adding a direct mail component to your marketing mix gives you a powerful tool to help achieve your goals. In fact, engagement with the mailbox is at an all-time high:
- Consumers spend 11 Minutes sorting, opening, and reading mail daily.
- 79% of recipients look forward to checking their mailbox each day.
- Daily mail engagement has increased 69% since March 2020.
In a multi-channel world, integrated approaches that include multiple media touchpoints to reach consumers drive response. Anchoring your media mix with print will provide the highest increase in purchase intent.
Print alone or combined with other vehicles drives the highest purchase intent.
- Print drives 11% purchase intent compared to only 4% with digital alone – that’s 175% increase when anchoring your digital campaign with print!
- 60% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing an ad in offline and online settings
By partnering with Mspark, you leverage direct mail experts who are familiar with your industry and needs. We offer full service: data analytics, design, print, postage, delivery, and reporting, as well as a variety of solutions to fit your budget and goals. Learn more about the benefits of working with Mspark here and see some recent case studies here for inspiration. Reach out to discuss your goals and how shared direct mail can help you power up your marketing mix today!
Sources: USPS Consumer Mail Moments, Spring 2020, Millward Brown Print Campaign Analysis, Valassis Purse String Survey, June 2018
