August 2017

The Value of Mail

At a time of social, economic and political change, it's important that every single message you deliver is trusted.

As a media and marketing professional you are probably seeking urgent solutions to the levels of uncertainty that we are experiencing.

And the need for an urgent response is unsurprising, with Edelman Trust Barometer (2016), howing that in the past 12 months 48% of global consumers have chosen not to buy from a company because they don't trust them.

Naturally, building and maintaining brand trust is a challenge for every part of an organisation - not just the marketing department. Trust comes from every single touchpoint a consumer or prospect has with the brand. And the more trusted your communications are, the more engagement and traction you will gain. Align trust with engagement and you will be well on your way to delivering higher levels of ROI.

To succeed in this, your marketing department needs to employ every possible method at its disposal. And that includes your choice of media.

So, can a media channel help build trust in your brand?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

We live in uncertain times, where there is constant social, economic and political change, and consumer trust has been eroded by ‘fake news' and an unprecedented
volume of commercial messages.

As marketing decision-makers, we need to address this issue as a matter of urgency. We need our marketing communications to deliver both trust and believability.

That's why Royal Mail MarketReach has undertaken a number of initiatives to explore the reassurance and credibility delivered by various marketing channels - key components in measuring trust.

The findings strongly indicate that mail can work alongside traditional broadcast channels and digital media to deliver stronger business outcomes.

As we examined the data, we found that mail scores very highly in the key components of trust - better yet, the medium itself can impact positively on the perceived trustworthiness of the communication itself.

In fact, positive scores for mail are increasing. 70% of respondents said that mail makes them feel more valued (up from 57% in 2013) - and 70% said that mail gives those who receive it a better impression of the organisation (up from 55% in 2013).

To provide context, only 48% consider email believable. Mail is also seen as more likely to grab the attention of the recipient and be perceived as more secure and important.

The increase in trust in mail may also be the driver behind an increase in claimed behaviours in response to mail. For example, in the year between 2015 and 2016, the proportion of the total sample claiming to have bought something as a result of receiving mail in the past 12 months has risen from 26.7% to 36.1%.

We firmly believe that mail has a unique set of qualities that can help marketers to build trust in their brands and this report clearly demonstrates those qualities.

Read on and we think you'll agree that you should be seriously considering mail as part of your marketing mix, especially in these uncertain times.

Download the full report from Royal Mail MarketReach on the link below.