Did you know?

At Nova Direct Mail we pride ourselves on keeping up to date with industry trends. Below are some key statistics on the Direct Mail industry taken from research done by the Direct Mail Information Service (DMIS). It gives you a snapshot of the Direct Mail industry in terms of volume, expenditure and other key statistics taken from recent surveys, allowing you to quantify the DM industry in real terms.

• 5418 million items were mailed in 2004 (-0.4% on 2003)

• The overall volume of Direct Mail has increased by 87% in the last 10 years

• £2,468.63 million was spent on Direct Mail advertising in 2004

• Direct Mail expenditure has increased by 118% in the last 10 years

• It is estimated that Consumer Direct Mail generates nearly £27 billion worth of business every year (+ 2.3% on the 2003 figure)

• For every £1 spent £14 is generated

• 60% of consumer Direct Mail is opened, 40% is opened and read, 13% is kept to read later or passed on by somebody else

• 37% of consumers had responded to Direct Mail at least once in the past 12 months, with 41% saying they had ever made a purchase

• Overall, 9.8% of Direct Mail is requested by consumers

• The average consumer spent just under £590 through Direct Mail in 2003

• Business managers receive an average of 13 items per week at work

• Business Managers open 70%, 9% is redirected to a colleague and 20% is filed or responded to

• The cumulative total spending for business managers in response to Direct Mail over the last 12 months had a mean of £8,476.15

• 80% of consumers are either "very" or "quite" satisfied with the products they buy through Direct Mail

• 64% of consumers said that value for money was the main benefit of buying through Direct Mail, whilst 60% said convenience

• 52% of consumers like to receive special offers or money-off vouchers through the post

• 36% of business people consider Direct Mail a "useful" or "quite useful" source of information

• Just 7% of companies say they have directly replaced Direct Mail with Web-based marketing

• One third of total advertising expenditure is spent on Direct Mail in the top 3,000 companies who have someone responsible for Direct Mail

• 61% of Direct Mail users and potential users claimed Direct Mail would become more important in the next five years

Source: Direct Mail Information Service (DMIS)

Click here to visit the DMIS website www.dmis.co.uk