Email, television and any other digital medium can only engage two sensory organs (eyes and ears) that are constantly stimulated and therefore desensitised in many respects. Direct mail, on the other hand, can stimulate all five senses.
It is amazing how the smell of freshly baked white macadamia nut cookie can transport someone back ten years to their grandmother’s kitchen or the taste of Cajun crawfish can instantly remind people of a trip to New Orleans.
Why does smell have such a large association with memory and emotions? The olfactory bulb in the brain is part of the limbic system, which controls the storage of memories, based on the emotional response associated with the event.
In an attempt to engage this emotional response, UK lawn care company Trugreen sent out one million direct mail pieces to potential customers. At the bottom of the mail piece was a call to action which stated, “For the smell of a healthy spring lawn, peel here.”
Customers commented that the smell made them want to be outside and it was enjoyable. TruGreen reminded people of the pleasure of sitting outside on a healthy lawn by recreating a smell associated with those enjoyable memories.
Taste also has a very strong correlation with memory as it is partly based on smell. Our taste buds detect sweetness, saltiness, sourness, bitterness and umami, but something else happens too when we eat.
As food and beverages enter the mouth they release vapours that travel up through the retro nasal canal, past the nasal passages, until they reach the olfactory bulb where they are translated as flavour by the brain. This gives the person the perception that the aroma they smell is a flavour they taste.
Recently one soft drink company sent out 5,000 mail pieces which included a flavour strip with an attached survey. Some 76% of the 1,650 respondents said they were somewhat or very likely to buy the beverage within the next week.
Direct mail is the only advertising medium that has the ability to engage all five senses. Sight and sound has long been an option among direct mailers but within the past few years video capabilities have surfaced.
While people view video advertisements every day on television and through the web, they rarely see a video in a mail piece, and as a result the advertisement has a vastly improved effect to the consumer’s attention and recognition of the ad.
A California company, mailPOW, has seen positive results from a recent direct mail piece which has a sound chip which plays a recording of a personal trainer talking when it is opened. People do not expect their mail to talk to them, so when it does, it leaves an impression.
There is also the all-important sense of touch. A restaurant in Yarmouth, Massachusetts used a piece of paper that was treated to feel like plastic. It included a removable 'credit card' giving prospects money towards a meal which they could put in their wallet or purse for later use.
The restaurant saw a 30% response rate from this campaign. Having the physical feel of a credit card in their hand made buyers feel as though they already had money when in reality, they simply had a discount on a meal.
The goal for companies using sensory direct mail is to provoke an emotional response which causes the prospect to have better retention of the information presented.
Direct marketers worry so much about cost per piece and short term ROI, but a higher response rate can end up being more beneficial in the long term.
Companies currently using this type of marketing are demonstrating just how profitable it can be, and while the trend has not yet caught on, there is great potential in sensory stimulating direct mail.