📬Hypnotic direct mail

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Good to have ya this morning. No doubt you’re ready to attack the day. Or take cover under your desk for a nap. Either way, chew on today’s Main Thing. 

It covers a phenomenon I witnessed as I rolled past two women walking away from their mailboxes in a hypnotic trance. We’ll look at why direct mail is working so well now. And two clever campaigns that boomed sales.

After that, I’ve got Monday Marketing News teed up for you. Let’s get to it…

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The Main Thing

Direct Mail Marketing is Hypnotic

Rolling back to my house from the walking trail at a local memorial park I noticed two different people in a trance.

Couple miles apart. But the same look on their faces.

Both were walking away from their mailbox. And whatever mail was in their hand had 100% of their attention.

They were staring down at papers they believed to be really important. 

No idea what the papers were about. But it’s rare these days to see someone so focused on something that’s not a smartphone dinging and flashing.

Those two scenes told me all I needed to know about using direct mail, without seeing the fresh stats I looked up afterward (and coming up below).

• Direct mail is effective

• It stands out

• It seems important to recipients

• Mail arrives when the recipient has quiet time to focus on it

Now, let’s dig into what the actual statistics say about brands using direct mail in 2025.

Direct Mail Stats

So you have the full picture. Three more notes about how people check their physical mailboxes. From my observations over the years.

1. People with P.O. boxes often let mail pile up before checking it.

2. Homeowners in rural areas have long walks back from the mailbox to their house (time to scan the mail).

3. Some drivers risk their lives checking the mailbox from their car on the wrong side of the road in blind spots.

Maybe those things help you. Maybe not. But the following direct mail stats will definitely help you decide if you wanna test the waters or ramp up your current direct mail efforts.

Engagement and Response from the Mailbox

Physical mail recipients interact with each piece at least four times at home, on average (Postcardmania).

Direct mail’s average open rate is 42.2% — case studies below show how to increase open rates (Data Axle USA).

62% of Millennials read advertising mail rather than discarding it.

What about the financial payoff of licking stamps?

Direct Mail ROI

84% of marketers said direct mail delivered the highest ROI of any channel (Postcardmania).

ROI is shown to hit as high as 162% (Deep Sync).

One out of four people bought something as a result of receiving mail in the past year (RR Donnelley).

Finally, the tide is turning as 81% of marketers said they planned to increase their direct mail budgets in 2025.

Why Direct Mail Gives Brands Better Shots at Reaching Customers

Besides the trance-like states I saw people in at their roadside mailboxes, there are reasons direct mail works so well in 2025.

1. There are no ad blockers in a physical mailbox.

2. The USPS lady isn’t throwing your sales papers in a “spam dumpster” like Google does email.

3. Gen Z and Millenials get excited by physical mail as the shine of digital crap has worn off.

4. Direct mail is more trustworthy since scammers aren’t paying postage to scam folks when it’s free to send a million phishing emails.

5. Physical mail has a personal feel versus random ads served up by an algorithm.

Now, don’t just do the bare minimum with direct mail marketing. Get creative. The next section shows you clever ways to do it.

2 Direct Mail Case Studies

#1 Knorr wanted to change consumers' perceptions about frozen meals. For their direct mail campaign, they mailed out a piece printed with a hard-to-miss message→ “unlike any F****N dinner you’ve ever tried” using special ink that reveals a hidden message when exposed to cold. 

Recipients were prompted to put the mailer in their freezer (in regular ink). Once chilled, the message became visible… “FROZEN meals can be this delicious.” The campaign was so effective that stores had to postpone the second half of the mailing to keep up with demand. Results: 17,000+ purchases and a 10.2% response rate.

#2 Nestlé did a slick campaign for their Kit Kat Chunky bar. The mailer looked like one of those “failed delivery notes.” Said the Kit Kat Chunky was too chunky for the mailbox. The notice included a voucher to pick up one of the oversized Kit Kats at local providers. 

This not only generated future sales with a freebie, it generated free PR and lots of sharing of the “stunt” on social media.

The Bottom Line

Nobody’s saying ditch digital marketing. 

Matter of fact, mixing direct mailers with your digital channels is shown to increase the effectiveness of both options. 

All I’m saying is using direct mail is a great way for your marketing messages to stand out. 

I can testify to that simply by driving by folks staring at their mailbox contents. And the fact that I receive only about three pieces of postal mail a day… versus 150+ emails a day.

Plus, more YouTube Ads than I can count — or recall what they were about.

I CAN recall which businesses land in my mailbox. Because so few do.

Bonus note. Try “lumpy mail,” as John Jantsch calls it. Adding physical books or non-flat items to mailing envelopes gets your brand even more time with prospects checking their mailbox. 

Alrighty then. Time for Monday Marketing News…

Please share Inbox Hacking with a fellow marketing go-getter or business owner. Many thanks…

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” ~Anne Lamott