JICMAIL Highlights Record-Breaking Mail Engagement

The Joint Industry Currency for Mail (JICMAIL) has announced that mail read-rates reached an all-time high in the final quarter of 2024.

Results from the industry body’s Q4 update showed the impact of mail throughout the crucial Christmas trading period.

This includes the headline statistic that 77% of all mail was read or looked at, a record figure since JICMAIL began its mail measurement tracking eight years ago.

Direct Mail Q4 2024 headline statistics

Direct Mail Engagement and Attention Remains High

Direct Mail is interacted with for 133 seconds on average, across a 28-day period. This represents a nine-second increase on 2023’s corresponding figure and highlights the effectiveness of DM throughout the most competitive time of the year.

Frequency of interaction also climbed year-on-year (+0.9%) to 4.43 interactions. Meanwhile, Item Reach remained fairly static at 1.13 people and the Lifespan of items in the home fell slightly to 7.0 days.  

These latest statistics compare favourably with other advertising mail, with figures for all mail formats listed below:

Download the Q4 2024 Direct Mail Factsheet

Super Touchpoint Shows its Strengths

The mail channel demonstrated its Super Touchpoint status, as outlined in a recent report by JICMAIL.

As well as benefitting from consumer engagement, advertisers continue to benefit from mail’s conversion potential.

It’s been revealed that 6% of mail prompted a purchase in Q4 2024, with half of those purchases made online.

And according to JICMAIL-endorsed Nielsen circulation data 7,763 advertisers used Direct Mail or Door Drops in 2024. This amounts to 15% of all UK advertisers tracked by Nielsen.

Supermarkets, retailers, charities and financial institutions were some of the biggest beneficiaries, with those sectors reporting above average response rates across both Door Drops and Direct Mail.

Loyalty reward statements proved to be one of the most effective drivers of response to Direct Mail. For Door Drops, the use of vouchers and special offers were particularly effective.

JICMAIL: “Mail has again proven its strengths throughout the purchase cycle”

JICMAIL is a not-for-profit industry organisation which provides the gold standard of information and independent research relating to consumer activity with mail in the home. Utilising JICMAIL data gives media planners a clear and accurate picture of the efficacy of mail campaigns.

Ian Gibbs, JICMAIL, Director of Data Leadership and Learning, said “Everyone knows that the competition for consumer eyeballs is more fierce than ever in Q4. Combined with the ongoing challenges of platform dominated ad spend, persistent use of last-click attribution models, and rising levels of digital ad fraud, it is more important than ever for marketers to consider their investments in Super Touchpoints in this crucial trading period. Mail has again proven its strengths throughout the purchase cycle in Q4 and the record levels of mail read-rates show just how much appetite consumers have for marketing comms delivered through the mail channel.”   

Mark Cross, Engagement Director, JICMAIL added, “The power of mail as a Super Touchpoint across the most critical trading season of the year for many was apparent again in this season. The question to ask for non-users is what reward did you sacrifice by not using mail when your competitive users converted 133 seconds of attention from direct mail into response rates just not achievable in digital.”  

Download the Q4 2024 Direct Mail Factsheet

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