Tag: Europe

With the postal services market opening up, mailers could soon be able to select the day of the week in which direct mail and door-drops arrive. Despite being heralded as the most accountable medium, direct mail – and door-drops – do not offer any physical evidence of being delivered in the form of written confirmation by the postal service. One thing you can be sure about with advertising is that an ad has appeared. With TV ads, simply watching during the right slot will provide confirmation, even before the contractor sends out a written report. Radio and press ads can also be physically monitored – and research companies exist that do just that. Even door-to-door can now be monitored using a service like StepCheck. But once the mailing house has raised a docket saying items were handed over to Royal Mail, mailers just have to wait and see if the enquiries or orders start to come in. It is a surprising gap. The sheer volume of items makes it impossible to validate that every single item has been distributed. But the absence of proof reflects another gap in direct mail’s measurability: guaranteed delivery dates.