Door drop volumes surge in Q4 2021

The recently released JICMail Q4 2021 mail data update, contained powerful statistics for the door drop medium.

In TLC’s opinion, the chart below is quite possibly the stand out element of the entire presentation.

Virtually all industry sectors have been responsible for the above average growth rate in Door Drop volumes:

Given its unbiased background, JICMail simply presents the facts generated by its panel based research tool and for those of us working in the industry, confirms without doubt the surge of client interest and use of the door drop medium at the end of last year.

The green columns represent the year on year volume change by market sector, in comparison to direct mail and business mail and almost across the board, door drop was the stand out performer.

Some categories have produced astonishing scores in comparison to the other media; telecoms, mail order/online retailer, supermarkets, government/council.

Other categories such as travel, letting or estate agents, medical, local tradesperson, charity and financial services have still performed very well, but with more equal scores in comparison to the other two media.

The only real surprises were the low scores in retail and restaurant/takeaway, particular retail given historically it has been the biggest market sector for door drop, though Covid at that time was an obvious factor.

But possibly the most interesting fact here, is the astonishing score for mail order/online retailer.

Online retailers using offline media to drive traffic to their websites!

There is no doubt these scores will have been heavily influenced by a stay at home audience and whilst we all sincerely hope we are working our way through the Covid nightmare, has that awful experience changed the working style of many people going forward?

TLC are still holding as many, possibly more Teams/Zoom calls with clients because in many instances some client staff are still working remotely, as are we.

Our limited client research suggests going forward, many people are only intending to work from the office perhaps 2-3 days a week at best, so they will continue to be a more regular at home presence when the letterbox flutters with future door drops.

Further confirmation of the surge came when in January we published our annual door drop volume report (read here), which suggested an average weekly receipt of just under four items.

We also flagged up a promising start to 2022 and now 7 weeks into a new year, the weekly average to date is exactly 4.5 items, so it’s not unrealistic to suggest a continued level of buoyancy in the medium.

With Spring/Summer on the horizon, a dawn also now beckons for more seasonal clients such as outside attractions, zoos, wildlife parks etc., and with a population I’m sure desperate to spend time outdoors with family, door drop could prove to be an engaging medium?

So if you are a potential new user to the medium and seek support in how to plan and implement a door drop campaign, TLC will be happy to help and advise on how to access discounted rates as a new user.

If you are a lapsed user, we can provide the same level of support and guidance to encourage your future use of the medium.

And if you are an existing user who would simply welcome a second opinion on how to plan and successfully execute your activity, we would equally love to hear from you.

Feel free to call Neal or Chris on 01992 637333.

Graham Dodd, CEO