The Power of Paper

Few will deny the delight of opening a birthday card, wedding invite, job offer letter or even a brochure for that new car/gadget or product you desire in your wildest dreams, but in recent years as texting, tweeting and ecards and ebrochures have become the norm and with a green agenda some have struggled to reconcile traditional hard-copy vs the online alternative....plus in these frugal times you don't want to waste budget on time wasters!

Only last week, I went to test drive a few new cars and despite the brochure for each brand being online I wanted to take away a hard-copy to review at leisure - all 3 of the car dealerships I visited had only a over-thumbed internal copy to peruse at their desk and didn't have any to give away. I felt robbed of the enjoyment of reviewing the car, page by page whilst I sit in the bath or sipping a coffee at the dining table. As rich as the video and flash technology on their respective websites for me it just doesn't become part of the rich shopping experience I seek from a luxury purchase... even a "request a brochure" on the website has failed to make the brochure appear on my doormat.

I can almost understand that an online enquiry should solicit an e-brochure - the enquiry mirrors the medium of response but why not demographically profile me using some clever technology and decide whether my request for a hard-copy brochure is warrantied (do i have the credit score/lifestyle profile to match my enquiry etc) then send me the extra-value brochure as it would seem I'm a worthy bet for the extra investment and then follow-up with a phone call or a personal email (not an automated one!)

I would suggest that these days hard-copy versions of your online documents actually hold more value than ever before (especially if you combine it with intelligent data capture).

We are all bombarded by emails (spam and otherwise), it is so very hard to stand-out when images don't download unless accepted by the receiver (as in outlook), every email looks pretty much the same - you can't smell or feel the difference that a fine paper or finish gives a printed document on screen and I guess that is why - for me at least - the values I associate with a quality printed document retains its value. After all, which has the greater impact another email in your inbox marked "high priority" or the one well-crafted formal letter to arrive in your mail today expressing a customer's concerns/supplier's desire to supply to you an item they know you're interested in?

I think technology gives us huge benefits in not having to produce huge ranges of documents that require constant updating and product data changes but to encapsulate your brand in a way that stands out from the crowd there is still a place for the well-printed, target-focused document. And, it doesn't have to come at a compromise to the planet - with sensible use of environmentally aware inks and papers (even Conqueror - seen by many as the premium brand of paper - is CO2 neutral these days!)

Recently UOE did an email and traditional letter-based comparison communication. Both targeted the same group of interested parties with the same words, but one sent by post on a quality letterhead, personally addressed, personally signed; the other a personalised email (sent from the same person's email address)....the response rate: 40% of those we emailed opened the email, 12% clicked the link and 4% responded. Of the posted version we obviously don't know how many opened it (but as we were sending it to their home - I'd reckon over 95% will have), the response rate was 35%....still think it isn't worth it? Perhaps it's time to think again about targeted offline marketing?

So if you want to stand out - try using some paper, some ink and bit of old-fashioned quality design - the results will be amazing.