According to The Radicati Group, Inc., a technology marketing research firm, the number of emails sent and received per day in 2015 totaled over 205 billion. This rate is predicted to increase to 246 billion by the end of 2019.

With this volume of emails clogging our accounts, it may come as little surprise that, on average, 51.1% of customers delete an email less than two seconds after opening it. Two seconds. This is a short window of opportunity in which to convince your customer to keep reading, and while technology has changed the landscape of marketing and how we conduct business, one thing remains the same: catalog marketing delivers results.

Here are 3 reasons why catalog marketing drives sales:

  1. Unlike a mailbox, a customer’s inbox is a constant stream of content, a mix of personal email, spam, newsletters, updates, coupons, offers, and even news updates. With 24-hour access, it is an endless cycle of wanted and unwanted content. Without much thought and with little effort, (one click!) every email can be deleted.

Not every customer checks their inbox daily. However, according to the United States Post Office, 98 percent of people check their mailbox every single day.  This leads to less overload and more success, as mail is not piling up and set aside. In fact, people find “catalogs the most interesting type of standard mail – even surpassing newspapers and magazines by 31%.”

 

  1. Pat Friesen, author of Revisiting the Power of Print, states that people read best on paper for three reasons:
  • “It makes content more intuitively navigable.”
  • “It facilitates better mental mapping of information.”
  • “Reading on paper drains fewer of our cognitive resources, making retention easier. This adds up to better retention and understanding.”

 

When a customer is reading a catalog, there is not an email notification in the corner displaying a number of unread emails.  Customers can easily set down a catalog and pick up where they left off, verses scrolling through an email, trying to find the end point.

 

  1. According to an article by Sappi called The Neuroscience of Touch, “Studies have shown that even the simple act of touching objects, like catalogs, brochures and direct mail, can trigger the endowment effect, subconsciously increasing the perceived value of the brand and its products in the eyes of customers.”

 

Catalogs are tangible and end up in the homes of customers, on their coffee tables, and end tables.  They offer a personal touch that email marketing cannot. Computers are distracting, allowing for more interruptions and less click through. A catalog, in a customer’s home, is a reminder to buy.