In today’s always-on, digital-first world, consumers are constantly browsing, buying, banking and paying online. Advertisers, especially in banking sector marketing, are eager to capture attention across the digital spaces where people live, work and play. With this digital dominance, it might be tempting to think that traditional direct mail has lost its relevance — but that assumption would be a mistake.
Despite the USPS projecting a 33% decline in total mail volume over the next decade — from 104.6 billion pieces in 2025 to 71.2 billion in 2035 — direct mail remains a dominant force, accounting for roughly half of the Postal Service’s annual revenue which has risen in recent years. According to Marketing Charts, direct mail continues to demonstrate its effectiveness in driving engagement and enhancing overall campaign outcomes, even as digital alternatives gain traction.
Vericast is leading the charge, helping financial institutions leverage advanced bank marketing solutions like personalization and precise audience targeting to drive engagement and improve the effectiveness of direct mail. This approach has proven to be a game-changer for marketing in the banking sector, where competition for customer attention is fierce.
Why Direct Mail Still Delivers Results
In a world dominated by digital noise, direct mail stands out as a high-impact, tangible medium that delivers results. While it’s easy to dismiss direct mail due to perceived higher costs, its unique benefits make it an essential part of any marketing strategy.
The Power of Personalization
Data analytics and advanced modeling enable predictive, needs-based offers and highly personalized messaging. This level of relevance makes direct mail more compelling than ever before, especially when integrated into broader bank marketing solutions. Personalization is essential for effective banking sector marketing, where understanding customer needs and behaviors is critical to building trust and driving engagement.
A Multi-Sensory Experience
Unlike digital ads, direct mail engages more than just the sense of sight. The act of holding, opening and interacting with a physical piece creates a tactile experience that digital can’t replicate, leaving a lasting impression and making the message more memorable.
Making a Lasting Impression
Ballooning digital budgets, ad fatigue and rising costs of digital advertising are setting the stage for the rediscovery of direct mail. Far from a relic of the past, it persists — literally — on kitchen counters for days, while banner ads vanish with a scroll.
The numbers speak for themselves. According to Statistica, direct mail campaigns achieved a return on investment (ROI) of over 160% in 2023, outperforming email, paid search, digital displays, social media and SMS. In a 2024 survey, over half of U.S. adults said they expect direct mail to be personalized and find it more meaningful than receiving an email from a brand. In a world saturated with fleeting digital impressions, direct mail offers a tangible, trusted and effective way to connect with your audience.
How Bank Marketing Solutions Make Direct Mail More Targeted and Cost-Effective
Direct mail has evolved far beyond its traditional roots, thanks to advanced bank marketing solutions. These innovations are transforming banking sector marketing by making it possible to craft a strategy that balances precision, cost-effectiveness and impact. Financial institutions now have a range of approaches — from highly targeted mailings to mass-mailing campaigns — that can be customized to meet specific goals. This evolution is particularly impactful for marketing in the banking sector, where precision and personalization are critical to acquisition success.
Strategy 1: Trigger-Based and Ultra-Targeted Mailings
Targeted mailings are trigger-based and/or ultra-targeted, hitting a finite group of prospects. This direct mail strategy is geared toward a select household, new movers, for example, which generally have higher response rates than non-targeted mass mailings.
The problem with this approach is that it’s risky — while higher response rates are likely when the targeted advertising is spot-on, the costs are also higher. It is unclear whether the return on investment will be sufficient to make up for those costs.
Strategy 2: Mass Mailings
The second direct mail strategy goes to the other extreme, using mass mailings. This approach treats everyone within a certain geographical radius exactly the same, regardless of income, age, gender, socioeconomic status or other information. It requires a huge volume of mailings to reach the relatively few prospects who are a right match for the financial institution.
If you’re following only one or the other of these approaches, you’re almost certainly spending too much and getting too little in return. Advanced bank marketing solutions can help bridge this gap by offering more precise targeting options that reduce waste and improve ROI.
Strategy 3: A Smarter Hybrid Model With Custom Modeling
A third direct mail strategy is now possible. This strategy combines the best of both worlds: highly targeted, customizable mailings at mass-mailing prices. It focuses on neighborhood clusters with the highest likelihood of responding to an institution’s offers.
The “best of both worlds” approach relies on custom modeling, which can be a sensitive area. Most providers of acquisition solutions don’t model because their data is too finite in scope, and those that do often use generic models based on the national footprint of checking account holders. This treats all markets the same (back to a mass-mailing approach), sending identical mail pieces to vastly different audiences — like using the same messaging for Des Moines and New York.
Custom modeling is possible, however. It involves creating sub-models tailored to specific areas of interest. With hundreds of attributes available — such as age, education, income, debt and even unique behaviors like being an avid reader or organic food shopper — you can target prospects with incredible precision. This granular approach, combined with the right creative, allows your financial institution to segment mail pieces on a much more granular basis — right down to the house your ideal prospect lives in.
Personalization and Precision with Direct Mail Strategy
The bottom line is that, whether online or in the tangible world, targeting advertising to the right prospect with the right messaging and creative can be a differentiator that sets your financial institution apart from the competition — and direct mail is still a very viable way to engage your ideal prospects. In today’s highly competitive financial services marketplace, the right balance of digital offers and direct mail can help your financial institution stand out from the crowd.
Vericast takes direct mail to the next level by combining personalization, precision and scale. With access to over 100 million households, Vericast direct mail solutions —including dynamic postcards, solo direct mail and localized ad inserts — ensure your message reaches the right audience. Additionally, our predictive intelligence tools help identify ideal consumers and neighborhoods, allowing for highly targeted campaigns that drive engagement and deliver measurable results. When it comes to flawless execution and outstanding outcomes, Vericast is the partner you can trust.
Download Vericast’s “Multi-Wave Household Acquisition Campaign Results in 340% ROMI” Case Study