Bob McCarron
Despite budget cuts and the growing use of social media, insurance companies maintained their use of direct mail throughout 2009, according to research from Mintel Comperemedia, a direct marketing intelligence firm.
For full year 2009, life insurance offers increased 9% from 2008, while health insurance offers sent via mail also increased 4%. However, property and casualty direct mail offers declined 5%.
There are probably several reasons for these numbers. First, direct mail has the ability to present a lot of information as well as solidify a company’s brand message with other media forms. This doesn’t mean that a company can ignore social media and solely rely on direct mail. Quite the opposite. But it does mean that the “old” direct mail channel will continue to be part of a broader strategy that 
includes “new” channels such as social, search, etc.
Interestingly enough, Mintel also released data showing that credit card direct mail offers increased by 47% during last year’s fourth quarter. However, for all of 2009, the total number of credit card mailings was less than 2 billion, a 66% drop from the year before. Compare that number to the 7 billion pieces of mail the credit card industry saw annually from 2004 through 2007.
You can plainly see that not all industries continue to make direct mail the primary focus of their marketing strategy.
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About the Author:
Bob McCarron serves as SIGMA Marketing Group’s Financial Services and Insurance Practice Leader. Connect with Bob on , or follow him on .
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