According to research carried out by Royal Mail last year, over two-thirds of people had used a sample delivered through their door and 38 per cent had redeemed a coupon or voucher that dropped on their doormat. While this media channel may not be on the scale it was some years ago, it is increasingly proving its effectiveness, says Graham Dodd, founder and managing director of The Letterbox Consultancy.
“FMCG used to be massive players, doing hundreds of billions door to door,” he recalls. “That area of business has been relatively decimated and the size of the marketplace isn’t anything like it was 20 years ago, but there are still a lot of major FMCG companies out there using it.”
Renewed interest in door-to-door among promoters has been fuelled by a number of factors that are proving and improving its effectiveness. Companies such as Stepcheck and Front Door provide independent validation of the distribution of door-to-door leaflets and samples, bringing scientific analysis to a technique whose efficiency was poorly researched in the past.
“What validation has done is set benchmarks and allow the clients to have a much greater understanding about what is going on out there,” Dodd explains. “They have given door-to-door a much greater credibility with a lot of clients.”
More recently, there has been innovation in the way that samples and coupons can be targeted at particular audiences. Traditionally, the dominant distribution level was postcodes, which typically cover an average 12,500 households, with broad demographic criteria applied to them but, according to Vlad Radivojev, head of data planning at agency Billington Cartmell, advances in targeting have markedly improved the medium’s effectiveness. “These advances have all evolved around data: not just changes in how it’s analysed, but also changes in where it comes,” he says.
“Historically, the only data used for door drops was demographic. Targeting was created by ranking postal sectors on typical household composition in that area. This is fairly blunt targeting, relying on a raft of assumptions. Now targeting can be built on multiple sets of data, not only demographic but also product distribution, sales data and shopper basket data.”
Billington Cartmell used door drop to distribute samples and coupons for United Biscuits’ Go Ahead brand which, says Radivojev, achieved a response rate comparable with direct mail. “This door drop looked to launch a new variant in a firecely competitive market,” he explains. “Success in this market was achieved by creating a targeting model built on combining demographic data and sales data of the most vulnerable competitor brands.”
Dodd at The Letterbox Consultancy also predicts that even tighter targeting will be achieved through using the distribution channel of free newspapers. “What’s becoming more readily available in the marketplace is that free newspapers are arranged in rounds as small as 150 to 200 households. Sub-sector targeting is the way forward, and there are clients out there calling for it.”
However, he is not prescribing this channel as the answer to all door-to-door activity. Both have their advantages, with free newspapers normally having a shorter lead time than Royal Mail, for instance, and, Dodd says, the best solutions are often a combination of the two. Another option is solus distribution on days when newspapers are not being delivered.
Royal Mail has been promoting the effectiveness of door-to-door through new research, highlighting how well it works if integrated with other marketing activity. “Door drops have a high customer penetration and can get across complex messages,” says Ross Drake, general manager for door to door at Royal Mail. “Used with TV, the leaflet stand-out can be enhanced and overall campaign return on investment increased.”
Its research has also revealed that integrating digital advertising and mail campaigns increases customer spend by 25 per cent.
The effectiveness of door-to-door is also proving timely in the light of growing concern about the environmental impact of direct marketing. “In the days of carbon footprints, door-to-door can help a client to distribute fewer items that are more tightly targeted,” explains Dodd.
Royal Mail has enhanced this through the launch last year of its Carbon Neutral Door to Door Scheme which provides advice on types of paper, inks and varnishes to use as well as targeting. After a campaign’s environmental impact has been minimised, Royal Mail calculates the remaining carbon dioxide emissions generated and pays to offset this through schemes run by the likes of the Woodland Trust.
Door-to-door may not be on the scale it once was, pioneered by household products group Lever when it sent 10 million packs of Omo washing powder to homes in 1952, but advances in technology and distribution have modernised it for a greener, leaner age.