Did you evolve your mail strategy last election cycle? Earlier this year, we hosted a listening session with dozens of political operatives, and nearly 80 percent of them admitted that they had evolved their mail strategy during the last election cycle.
For over a decade, I’ve been working with campaigns as a direct mail consultant at the United States Postal Service and what I saw on the ground last cycle reenforced what these campaign operatives shared with us. Campaigns evolved. And they are mailing earlier, more frequently, and smarter.
Here are five mail trends I saw during the last election cycle that you should adopt for your campaign today (if you haven’t already):
Trend: Mail earlier to establish credibility during the introduction phase of the campaign
What it means: Campaigns should mail early and often to establish credibility. Timing direct mail to arrive earlier during an election cycle gives campaigns the best opportunity to reach voters and potentially impact their decisions. When received at the right time, 48 percent of surveyed voters in our latest research stated that direct mail was the most memorable form of political advertising.*
Trend: Sequence your campaign messaging to arrive at the optimal time
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What it means: Just as important is a campaign’s messaging sequence. It’s crucial to send direct mail when voters want to receive it, and then follow that communication with the information they want at different points throughout the election cycle. Our latest research highlighted the importance of finding the “sweet spot” to have the most impact and influence. For example, a majority of surveyed voters preferred to learn about a candidate’s stance on domestic and global issues right before debates took place, as opposed to at the very beginning or end of the election cycle.*
Trend: Expand use of direct mail campaigns to supplement digital targeting
What it means: Campaign consultants continue to express the importance of direct mail’s effectiveness as a powerful tool to enhance digital political advertising outreach. New and evolving challenges of digital advertising – including targeting limitations, rising costs, and increased skepticism among voters – are further emphasizing the importance of direct mail within the media mix, especially when it comes to supplementing digital advertising. Direct mail’s unique ability to target specific audiences and provide memorable personalization makes it a superior weapon in a campaign manager’s arsenal. For example, in our latest research, 39% of Hispanic voters received political mail in Spanish – this increased the likelihood to read the mail piece for 51%.*
Trend: Incorporate Informed Delivery® into every direct mail campaign
What it means: The Postal Service has several tools – including Informed Delivery® feature – that allow campaigns to interact with voters beyond the traditional mailbox and digitally integrate their direct mail program with other political advertising outreach. Almost two-thirds of Informed Delivery® feature preview emails are opened – three times more than other adverting emails. And it’s free! In our latest research, among those using the Informed Delivery® feature who recalled seeing political mail previews, 40% were more motivated to read the direct mail piece when it arrived in person.*
Trend: Increase personalized direct mail messaging to younger voters
What it means: Gen Z voters have a unique relationship with direct mail that runs counter to the narrative of digital-first culture. While they check their mailbox less frequently – with only 59% checking at least 4 days a week, compared to 86% of older voters – Gen Z has a higher tendency to take action when they do engage with direct mail. By focusing on personalized messaging and customization, campaigns increase the likelihood of younger voters taking action after reading mail pieces. This allows campaigns to create a tangible connection with this generation as it comes of voting age.*
Contact a USPS Direct Mail Specialist to discuss how to incorporate the latest direct mail trends into your campaign. At the Postal Service, our expert team of Direct Mail Specialists have marketing and campaign insights, can share best practices in direct mail design, and can provide operational support to help you evolve your campaign strategy this election cycle.
Visit the DeliverTheWin® website for more voter insights and to connect with a Direct Mail Consultant today.
*Voter Insights Sourcing: All 2022 Midterm Election data sourced from post-election survey and focus groups conducted on behalf of the Postal Service by Summit Research and KRC Research from November 2022 through January 2023.
Jim Richard is a 25-year postal employee with over 35 years of sales and marketing experience. Jim has been working with political campaigns for 12 years and currently serves as the USPS National Political Mail Strategist to leverage the power of political mail for winning elections. Jim also works within the sales enablement team at the Postal Service to build campaigns, sales tools and collateral for leveraging mail’s multiple touchpoints in a customer’s purchase journey.
