The door drop industry – leaflet, flyer and brochure marketing – has seen annual spending and volume increase year-on-year since the pandemic, with under-35s engaging more than any other age group.
In a new partnership with JICMAIL, the Data and Marketing Association has revealed that door drop spending has increased by 15.5% year-on-year to £182 million (£143.5 million in 2020), while volumes have increased by 14.3% to just over 3.5 billion units (2.7bn last year).
With ‘above average’ growth rates, the door drop industry share of the total mail market has strengthened, rising from a 20% share in 2020 to 23% in 2021.
Leaflets have also continued to make up the majority of the door drops sent in 2021 (86.7%), with both envelopes and booklets reducing slightly year-on-year (to 7.3% and 6% respectively).
READ MORE: Marketing campaigns that include email are more effective, DMA reports
“While there has been a healthy return to volume and ad spend growth in the market in 2021, lower than average ad spend growth means that door drops have lost share in overall media budgets,” DMA director of insight Tim Bond said.
“However, this also presents a key opportunity for advertisers that are willing to seize it. Brands that move first to ramp up door drop activity while their competitors are less active in this space, these are the businesses that will enjoy a higher share of doormats and greater visibility in consumers’ homes.”
“It’s these brands that will also benefit from the engagement and effectiveness the channel can offer both in the short and long-term too.”
Further to these findings, the association also found that under 35s now interact with door drops more than any other age group, which many marketers may find surprising given Bulbshare’s findings that 99% of Generation Z are skipping advertisements online.
DMA Print Council chair of the Door Drop Hub, Neal Dodd, added: “One of the most interesting takeaways from this has been the changing audience of those receiving door drop items, with younger age ranges being targeted far more than in recent years.”
“Some of this will be due to a reduced set of media options during Covid lockdowns, but with home working far more prevalent now and seemingly here to stay, perhaps brands are realising that they can reach these audiences effectively and efficiently with an engaging media option that will stand out from digital media.”
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