Camila Drahn, Director of Sales and Business Development at ePost Global, explains why retail direct mail is re-entering the retail playbook in her recent article for Retail TouchPoints.
Digital saturation has changed how consumers engage with marketing. Inbox overload and persistent advertising have made attention increasingly difficult to secure. In response, retailers are reassessing their channel strategies and rediscovering direct mail as a practical solution.
Cami highlights key behavioral differences that make physical mail effective. USPS research shows 98% of people check their mailbox daily, and 77% sort through mail immediately. Consumers spend an average of 30 minutes engaging with catalogs and 25 minutes with direct mail—focused, uninterrupted time that digital channels struggle to command.
Physical mail also carries trust signals that matter in categories like apparel, beauty, home goods, travel, and financial services. The growth of fraudulent texts and spoofed emails has made consumers skeptical of digital messages, while mail remains associated with legitimacy and permanence.
Modern retail direct mail programs prioritize precision over scale. Retailers use customer data, purchase behavior, and lifecycle signals to determine who receives mail and when, resulting in smaller, more focused campaigns tied to specific objectives like acquisition, reactivation, or seasonal engagement.
