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Is there Interactive Marketing Burnout?
By Luis Paez | December 30, 2009
It’s true that direct mail sometimes has a tougher challenge of trackability when compared to the email realm. This is the way it should be – no one should be in my home looking over my shoulder as I open my mail. It’s a question of place, and privacy. Direct mail gives us the time to consider a message before acting upon it or recycling it.
There was a comment on a blog about the trackability challenge of direct mail vs. email – that was not on topic. It didn’t talk about effectiveness metrics, but instead cried out at the emotional appeal of a message sent through the physical mail. Here is an excerpt:
I don’t know about anyone else – but I LIVE on my computer 8-10 hours/day – nearly all of it either in research or in email correspondence. Although only one lady’s experience and therefore hardly a trend…I must say I now look forward to mail delivery (again) and opening traditional envelopes and reading traditional postcards. Beyond the visual impact – it’s tactile and it’s (now) DIFFERENT! I own a business that needs to make decisions on which medium to use, and based on this personal experience, I continue to use at least color postcard mailings in my mix. This is backed up by a duplicate digital mailing to both the same as well as wider audience. – Jane
Are we headed this way as a society? Are we on the cusp of societal online burnout? Having been at technology companies for the last 10 years as a “knowledge worker” in sales, marketing and tech roles, I can say that personally, I love to unplug when I get home. Frequently, I’ll go a few days time without dilligently going through all my email messages – only will scan any emails from friends/family. It’s all about catching up at the dinner table, seeing the family, and talking about the physical real world things that we are going to do that week. It’s at those moments when we talk about any flyers or mail correspondence we got in that day… and that is the moment that marketing departments who focus on exclusively “interactive marketing” are missing out on. They’ll just have to wait another few days until I sit down for an hour and sort through my personal email.
I love digital. I love online. But there’s no replacement for the physical.
January 14th, 2010 at 11:15 pm
I never thought this would be an issue.