Direct Mail & The Tech Convergence of Modern Marketing

Evolution has led to both the emergence and extinction of organisms based on their location and unique characteristics. An animal with a unique skillset can mean the difference between life and death in some of the earth’s most treacherous environments.

Evolution can take many forms, but often the traits that help animals survive longer are the ones that produce more offspring – passing on its uniqueness for the next generation. 

One distinct type of evolution occurs when separate species evolve to possess similar traits – known as convergent evolution.

Take hedgehogs and tenrecs, for example. Despite looking similar and displaying the same quill-y defense mechanism, these two species do not share a common ancestor.

Certain traits such as flight will always be favored by convergent evolution, known as recurrent evolution.

What is most interesting, however, is that recurrent evolution has produced the same specimen at least five separate times in the last 200 million years. Scientists have given this phenomenon its own unique name – the carcinization of the crab.

Carcinization was first observed by Lancelot Alexander Borradaile in 1916, where he noticed evolution’s preference for crustaceans with shorter bodies, big front claws, and smaller legs.

This recurrent evolution has occurred to non-crab crustaceans at least five times in the past 180 million years, according to senior research associate Javier Lugue at the University of Cambridge. 

It appears, then, that certain favorable traits will pop up again and again, often creating similar animals over time. This occurrence is not limited to only animals either. Plants, insects, and even bacteria are all capable of undergoing convergent evolution.

Tech Convergence of Modern Marketing

The concept that many different species over time evolve to form similar characteristics is not limited to only biological examples. Technology convergence, for example, occurs when different technologies merge into one device.

 Smartphones are the primary example of tech convergence, as the device gradually evolved to include other innovations such as iPods and cameras. 

One could argue this convergence extends to social media as well. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and even LinkedIn have all taken different attributes from one another over the years. 

For instance, Snapchat launched its “Stories” feature in 2013, where users could post short clips or images on their account for up to 24 hours at a time. Three years later, Instagram developed a similar feature (called “Instagram Reels”) for their users, followed shortly after by Facebook.

Other marketing channels like email, telemarketing, SMS, and PPC also form their own types of tech convergence. Email marketing, for example, can host videos, interactive content, and blog newsletters. 

Even if two marketing channels are fundamentally different mediums, they often share similar characteristics with one another to encourage more interactions from their users. 

How Tech Convergence Points Towards Direct Mail

Marketing platforms will always develop, change, and adapt over time. While each platform may prioritize different content and audiences, the end goal is the same – to create engaging content for users and an ideal environment for advertisers.

Some change is inevitable, as custom algorithms need to favor engaging, relevant content for users. Modern marketing channels are constantly looking for new ways to grab users’ attention – often by mimicking other successful platforms.  

However, all these efforts to conform have unintentionally revealed how much these platforms rely on user activity to populate their data. Although this metric can be useful, for companies to truly engage with their ideal prospects this data is unfortunately not enough. 

In this way, most of the tech convergence seen in today’s marketing landscape points back to the gold standard of marketing – direct mail.

Just as animals have evolved to feature similar traits (such as the crab) modern marketing efforts to find, attract, and engage with customers all attempt to replicate the same advantages that direct mail has had since its inception. 

The Gold Standard of Marketing

As one of marketing’s oldest mediums, direct mail reigns supreme by its very nature as an engaging channel that targets ideal prospects.

From its audience targeting advantage to its engagement, this channel stands as a testament to how any company can reach its best customers through the right strategy. 

1.) High Engagement

One prominent issue for digital marketers is the overabundance of digital advertisements.

From banner blindness to the spam folder, marketing channels are constantly evolving to fight for users’ attention during their online experience. Not to mention the many issues of false bot engagement muddling actual metrics. 

Direct mail, on the other hand, completely avoids this issue as a physical medium. Recipients are much more receptive to direct mail, as one OIG report notes that participants reviewed direct mail far longer than its digital counterparts.

Direct mail also produces several additional marketing touchpoints within a household, as on average it is passed around the home 1.2x and read 4.2x by each recipient.

2.) Highly Targeted Content

Digital marketing is always trying to push relevant content to users in the hopes that they convert. This could mean tracking a user’s search or purchase history, general interests, or user-generated data. 

While this strategy may find some success, this data only focuses on user behavior, not who they are as individuals. And with more users slowly becoming aware of their digital footprint, using user-generated data is not always reliable. 

In contrast, direct mail considers the entire audience profile to identify ideal prospects. Through data modeling, this medium can target customers who walk, talk, and purchase like a company’s ideal customer. 

And because direct mail targets by address, your postcards are delivered to a real person every time. 

3.) Highly Motivational

The sheer number of digital advertisements available to users means that each ad becomes less and less impactful.

High engagement does not always translate to more sales, just as a viral video does not correlate with future success. It’s easy to browse online, but not every visitor clicks the checkout button. 

Direct mail is found to be both highly impactful and motivational when added to a company’s marketing mix.

For instance, one InfoTrends report notes that 56% of participants visited a physical store after receiving a direct mail piece while 62% of participants made a purchase after responding to direct mail (within the past three months).