Direct Mail Advertising

Direct Advertising mail, also known as direct mail, junk mail, or ad mail, is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The delivery of advertising mail forms a large and growing service for many postal services, and direct-mail marketing forms a significant portion of the direct marketing industry. Some organizations attempt to help people opt out of receiving advertising mail, in many cases motivated by a concern over its negative environmental impact.

Advertising direct mail includes advertising circulars, catalogs, CD, “pre-approved” credit card applications, and other commercial merchandising materials delivered to both homes and businesses. It may be addressed to per-selected individuals, or unaddressed and delivered on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood basis. Income from advertising mail represents a significant and growing portion of some postal services' budgets, and it is a service actively marketed by them.  Postal services employ the terms advertising mail, ad mail, and direct mail, while avoiding and objecting to the pejorative term junk mail. In many developed countries, advertising mail represents a significant and growing amount of the total volume of mail.

Direct mail advertising is a common form of direct marketing, and may be employed by for-profit businesses, charities and other non-profits, political campaigns, and other organizations. Advertisers often refine direct mail practices into targeted mailing, in which mail is sent out following database analysis to select recipients considered most likely to respond positively. For example a person who has demonstrated an interest in golf may receive direct mail for golf related products or perhaps for goods and services that are appropriate for golfers. This use of database analysis is a type of database marketing. Alternatively, unaddressed direct mail advertising may be sent on a neighborhoods-by-neighborhoods basis. Whether at the individual or neighborhoods level, direct mail marketing allows recipients to be targeted, attempting to match the demographic profile of the recipients to one most closely matching that of likely customers. Individually targeted direct mail may be tailored based on previous transactions and gathered data. For example, all male recipients of an offer may receive a personalized package with a man’s picture on the cover, while all female recipients receive a picture of a woman.