Home Security | 3 Ways Direct Mail Has an Alarming Advantage For Marketers

As humans hard-wired to protect ourselves and our resources against external threats, our homes and vehicles are some of the most valued (and expensive) possessions the average person will ever own.

Likewise, our desire to protect these assets only grows as the concern from outward pressures increases day by day. 

From an evolutionary standpoint, this behavior makes sense, as our food and shelter must be prioritized and protected for our ongoing survival. 

But even as humanity surpasses the post-industrial age, these worries and fears are still an intrinsic part of our nature. Especially when it comes to concerns for our personal property. 

One GALLUP survey found that 44% of Americans frequently or occasionally worry about their home being burglarized when they aren’t there. 

But is the frequent fear of burglary warranted? 

Burglary in the United States

According to the FBI, there were an estimated 1,117,696 reported burglaries in the US, which accounted for 16.1% of the estimated number of property crimes (property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson).

The same 2019 report noted that the average loss per burglary is $2,661, with an annual estimated total of $3.0 billion loss across the country. 

Recent data over the last 4 years from the FBI Crime Data Explorer noted that the most common location for burglaries is residential homes, and the most common victims of burglary were 30-39 year olds. 

Most break-ins occur during daylight hours, often when residents are absent for the day. One survey from the Alarm Industry Research & Educational Foundation notes that the most common time for burglaries was between 12pm and 4pm. 

The FBI reinforces this observation, as their reports note that 1,085,813 break-ins occurred during the day compared to 834,011 break-ins at night over the past 5 years.

Direct Mail Marketing for Home Security Systems

As explained above, humans naturally want to protect their property – and the previous section shows that these fears are not unjustified.

This is why home alarm systems are always a popular commodity among those with a strong sense of loss aversion, prompting many businesses and marketers within the industry to focus on the security benefit of alarm systems and cameras. 

As Nancy Harhut explains the “loss aversion” principle in her book Using Behavioral Science in Marketing:

“People are about twice as motivated to avoid loss as to achieve gain. Marketers can see this human tendency by emphasizing the pain your product or service can help someone avoid, or by highlighting the pain people may find themselves in without it.”

As marketers, it’s important to understand our customers and learn about what drives them to act.

And with direct mail, your campaigns can target ideal customers, take advantage of location targeting, and instill trust within your audience during each campaign. 

Relevant: Home Security Leads | How Direct Mail Makes A Difference

1.) Target Ideal Customers

It goes without saying – it is much easier to market for a home security system when you know for certain that every campaign is reaching only homeowners.

Email marketing, digital marketing, and even telemarketing cannot always guarantee that the person they advertise to are viable prospects, resulting in lots of unnecessary ad spending just to filter out those who do not live in or own their residential property. 

In addition to only targeting homeowners, direct mail is an excellent marketing medium to identify those with the highest lifetime value.

For home security systems that offer financing or continued subscription services, targeting the customers who will stay with your company long-term is much more desirable than those who frequently cancel or fail on their monthly payments. 

These prospects, the homeowners that are likely to stay on the books longer than those making a one-time purchase, have a tremendous opportunity to become lifelong customers – and only direct mail has the power to find them. 

2.) Location Targeting

Not only is direct mail great at targeting the TYPE of prospects based on homeownership and matching customer profiles, but it is also an excellent medium when targeting by location. 

Although not every location will have the same types of property crime, the Bureau of Justice Statistics notes in their National Crime Victimization Survey that urban locations saw higher rates of total property crime (including burglary, trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other theft), while rural areas saw the least amount of property crime. 

Based on data (and intuition), it makes sense to target locations with denser populations as those residents are strongly incentivized to guard their homes due to higher threats of property crime.

While a family of 4 may feel the need for a home alarm system on the outskirts of a large city with a history of frequent crime, they may not feel the same sense of urgency living in more rural areas. 

Direct mail’s location targeting allows you to structure your campaigns around the areas with a stronger need for security systems.

And by targeting the households with a greater incentive to protect their property, your company can cut out unnecessary mail volume with every campaign. 

3.) Instill Customer Trust

Unlike email or telemarketing, where the customer is urged to “click now” or “buy now”, direct mail offers several alternatives for the customer without overwhelming them. In some campaigns, and especially with services that require a stronger level of trust in the company/customer relationship, the power to choose is a great advantage. 

Customers with a higher aversion to risk (such as those who have a strong desire to protect their home) might be more hesitant to respond to flashy call-to-actions that push for a response right away. 

With the FCC urging people to ignore unknown calls and avoid clicking on unknown email links, an urgent digital or telemarketing offer may have the opposite intended effect on your most risk-averse customers.

The messaging of the mailer can still provide a sense of urgency (for example, using limited-time promotional offers), but without the requirement that the resident respond in that exact moment. 

Thankfully, direct mail creates an unintrusive presence within the home. Customers are free to read, interact, and research more about your offer before ever picking up the phone to call. 

Related: Top 30 Benefits of a Direct Mail Campaign