One thing that a lot of people fail to realize is that direct mail is still one of the most successful ways to drive website traffic.

I did a test last year with a 5,000 piece mailing.

2,500 were my “control” package. I had mailed it before, and knew what type of response to expect.

On the other 2,500 pieces, I included the url to my website on the flap of the envelope.

My control did what I expected to it. Decent response, lots of “tire kickers”. Response cycle complete in 8 weeks.

My test (which is my new “control”) had a response rate that was double my control package. Even though I know a certain % of my mail never gets opened, having the url in plain site drove extra traffic to my website. A fairly large percentage of the people who visited added my site to their favorites, and to this day I’m still getting new business from a mailing I did almost 10 months ago.

Will Internet/E-mail replace direct mail? Absolutely not. If anything, the Internet will cause traditional media activity to increase. Did you know that only growing segment of the United States Postal Service’s business is Standard Class mail?