Mail in the 21st Century – how mail complements online

Author: Quadrangle
Date: 23 January 2009

'I do all my banking online. I wouldn’t be without it. But I wouldn’t be without my paper statements…'

We're all inundated by email, but pairing direct mail with online media can prove a powerful combination. Consumers reveal what communications they prefer to receive by post – such as bills and statements - and how mail can be used to channel and focus our online behaviour.

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Ivan: I find using a computer and a laptop easy.

Natasha: I use the internet most days, probably every day.

Heather: Emails. I email a lot of my friends.

Ivan: I check my bank online. I check news, like Spanish sports pages.

Natasha: I use the laptop a lot and the internet a lot for online shopping.

Heather: Recipes, I use the BBC food page.

Ivan: So when you do get a bit of mail, you think, oh that's quite cool, y'know.

Natasha: I'm quite disappointed if I don’t receive mail.

Heather: I absolutely love it when some mail comes through. I love it, absolutely love it.

Jermaine: It’s kind of like a service, it's coming to you, so yeah, you do get a bit excited.

Pauline: I do all my banking online every day. I wouldn’t be without it. Also wouldn’t be without my paper statements. I love my paper statements.

David S: I prefer to have it in hard copy again because I can take it into the kitchen instead of having to bring the calendar upstairs where my computer is.

Heather: I prefer to get my vouchers from Tesco in my hand.

David H: I prefer to look at a catalogue in my own hands rather than go through it on the internet.

Natasha: My preference to receiving brochures through the post or online? I would prefer to receive them through the post.

Heather: If you get it online it kind of, the excitement’s gone. It’s just another email from somebody who isn’t real.

Romain: Your spam filters filter out a lot of that junk stuff as well. So there's lots of companies that just wouldn’t get a look in.

Natasha: If I received an email from Wimbledon Theatre, I would maybe glance over it. I wouldn’t tend to maybe sit down when I get five minutes and have a real look through.

Matt: If there's something that took my fancy it would probably get put to one side. I’d probably go onto the internet again just to have a look at it and see if there was a bit more information.

Judith: Often you might not think to go on a site if you weren’t prompted by the post, if it didn’t come through the post you may not be prompted.

Romain: I get lots of booklets and pamphlets, leaflets about children’s clubs, whether it’s book clubs, toy clubs. Those types of things can sometimes lead me to researching further and going onto the internet.

Jose: I got a free DVD out the blue. I actually think I did go on the website afterwards, yeah, and I looked up all the new films.

David S: This is the main one I got through the door, it’s a Dell and I'm just having a look at the deals, and I was going to get one of these laptops.

Brian: We did get an offer through the post from a firm offering cruises at reduced prices, so we went on their website, seemed absolutely spot on. We booked a cruise on their website, which was absolutely super, no problem.

Helen: I was just due to renew my car insurance anyway, and I got this through the post with some of their online offers and I went online and it actually was really good and I ended up taking it up.

Judith: I usually buy something that I wouldn't have bought in the first place. 

 

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