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Surprise! According to FloNetwork, an online research firm, acquiring one new customer via e-mail
costs around $290 on average. Compared with that price, direct mail at $71 per new customer is a bargain.
OYes, customer retention costs after
a sale are lower online --$2 vs. $18 direct mail--but that’s assuming your customer goes online to read e-mail regularly. Only 40% of consumers do that. Still, if a customer does have an e-mail account, it seems that he or she doesn’t mind you violating computer space after purchasing online or offline if e-mail is offered.
OThe benefits e-mail provides that direct mail doesn’t make it very tempting to abandon direct mail for customer acquisition and retention.
Turnaround time, interactivity, immediate customer FAQs, automated preference capture, and multimedia capabilities are all tempting reasons to forget direct mail. But you do so at your peril, as most pure online
retailers have discovered.
OCustomers view their e-mail boxes as a much more personal space than their postal mailboxes, and thus feel more violated
by unsolicited e-mail. On the other hand, direct mail is a more tangible item that, when done correctly, offers the customer a greater sense of importance and security. Due to the touch and feel of a tangible item,
a prospect feels that more time and effort were spent to gain attention.
OSo, direct marketers who think e-mail the silver bullet that will slay high
customer acquisition costs are thinking again. And revisiting direct mail.
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