New Industry Data: Direct Mail Is Quietly Winning

8 May 2025

While the marketing world argues about AI, the letterbox has been getting on with the job. JICMAIL — the industry body that measures mail the way BARB measures TV — has published its latest Response Rate Tracker, drawing on thousands of real campaigns, and the numbers deserve your attention.

The headline figures

• Warm direct mail (to existing customers) achieved an average response rate around 7%, with a return of roughly £9 for every £1 spent.
• Cold direct mail came in near 0.9% response — modest-sounding until you compare it with typical cold email — with ROI around £3.20.
• Door drops returned about £2.90 per £1, with response rates up sharply year on year.

Why print is thriving in a digital flood

Simple scarcity. The average inbox receives more messages before breakfast than the average doormat receives in a fortnight. A well-made piece of post gets held, read, put on the fridge and picked up again — physical attention that no banner ad has ever received.

And here's the twist: mail and digital aren't rivals. A large share of mail prompts a website visit or an online search. The letter does the interrupting; the website does the converting.

The takeaway

If you have a customer list and you've only ever emailed it, a well-crafted mailing to your best customers is one of the most reliably profitable tests you can run this year.