Written by Alan Sherman, VP of Marketing Strategy
Direct mail remains the original — and in many ways still the best — channel for behavior-based targeting in customer acquisition.
Before making the case for direct mail, let’s consider how other marketing channels — like display advertising, social media advertising and paid search —attempt to personalize using behavioral signals, and the inherent challenges they face.
Display ads appear on websites and apps, targeting users based on behaviors, interests, location and demographics using tracking technologies like cookies, device IDs, browser fingerprinting and data partnerships. Advertisers often retarget users who have interacted with their brand in hopes of increasing conversions. Google Ads, for instance, may use up to 1,000 data points to target an individual.
Challenges: Display advertising raises significant privacy concerns due to the extensive tracking of online behavior. Repeated exposure can lead to ad fatigue, while misfires in targeting waste media dollars. Worse, when ads retarget based on sensitive behaviors (e.g., health-related searches), it can feel invasive. And as we all know, third-party cookies are being phased out, making this type of tracking more difficult.
Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, target users based on platform-specific data, pixels, and custom audiences, all fueled by deep user profiling and cross-device tracking. Advertisers can build custom and lookalike audiences to enhance reach and targeting.
Challenges: Again, privacy concerns are top of mind. The volume and intimacy of the data collected on social platforms often make users uneasy, especially when ads surface around personal events or interests. The algorithms used can reinforce filter bubbles, and inaccurate targeting can erode brand trust and waste marketing budget.
Search ads appear alongside organic search results when users search for keywords. These are typically personalized by search history, location and device. Retargeting allows brands to re-engage users who previously visited but didn’t convert.
Challenges: Search ads rely heavily on intent — but intent is often fleeting. Outdated or misinterpreted data can result in irrelevant or even awkward ad placements. Regulations around data privacy further limit targeting options, and inefficient bidding strategies can drive up costs without a clear return.
Direct mail not only utilizes better and more comprehensive data — it also allows marketers to act on it with greater precision and control, and at greater scale.
Unlike the paid search channel, which relies on someone actively “looking” for something — i.e., expressing intent — direct mail expands your universe of qualified prospects. This is a critical distinction. Direct mail allows you to reach a wider audience of people who may not have searched online, but whose behavior, demographics and other data points strongly indicate they are likely to be interested in your offer.
At Nahan, for example, we often leverage up to 30,000 data points from over 30 online and offline aggregator sources to build a refined target audience. This allows us to uncover and engage high-potential prospects who haven’t yet raised their hand.
What’s more, direct mail delivers to real people at verified addresses — no guessing based on cookies, no uncertain or off-base IP-based targeting. Our “Best Address” process aggregates multiple sources to identify the most accurate and deliverable mailing address for each prospect. That translates into higher deliverability rates, more impressions and more opportunities to convert. Our ability to link thousands of data attributes to a given household or individual enables multi-sourced predictive models generating results superior to the usual single-source models.
When you consider that a successful direct mail campaign often hinges on incremental gains — a difference of only 0.20% vs. 0.40% response (only 20 basis points) can double your ROI — expanding the number of high-quality prospects who receive your message can be a game-changer.
In a marketing world that’s increasingly constrained by privacy laws and signal loss, direct mail stands apart: it offers scale, personalization, precision and permanence. That’s why, in my view, it remains the most powerful and underutilized personalization tool in the marketer’s toolbox.