Is Direct Mail in The UK Dead?

Just I've never ever received one

No, not at all.

If you're on the their list you'll get mailed!

When you say "never ever received one" do you mean never received one in your name or never at all?

Well I receive offers from large companies etc but never the real long sales letters selling reports etc

webdev, I believe Australia is much the same. I can count a total of 4 long-form sales letters I've ever received. 3 of them stemmed from the 1st (I think the marketer rented out his list).

That said, Direct Mail is far from dead! Why? Well, for example, the very first sales letter I ever received... I devoured! And of course I bought the product. (It was about Direct Mail. It's the reason I'm here today.)

IMO, people are more likely to respond to your mailings because they've never seen anything like it!

I've heard descriptions of people in the US standing over their "waste paper basket" (we call "rubbish bin") and tossing unopened direct mail away. I've never heard of that happening in Australia. As in the UK, we don't get bombarded with direct mail.

If direct mail is quiet in the UK, see it as your opportunity!

There's certainly some long-format direct mail in the UK. However, as Tom Jones said, you need to get on the lists to receive it.

I get long-format from Nightingale Conant (it's worth getting on their list just to check out their copy - BTW does anyone know who writes it?).

Also, because I'm a horse racing enthusiast, I get every "you can get rich betting on my inside horse racing information" letter going. And those are all long copy letters.

So, I can assure you that, behind the corporate, 3 paragraphs, "give us your business because you've heard of us" nonsense, there's a long-format direct mail industry in the UK.

Steve

Thanks for the responses

Have you read The Final Chapter?

Read the comments about Michael M. F. to the writer.

Perhaps they're still in the process of waking up?


Bard

Webdev

No worries, direct mail is literally dead here in Singapore too...

Except for a couple of fancy brochures and glossy handouts chucked into our mailbox...

That's why the Direct Response World need guys like me to blaze the trail

The general market in Singapore isn't big enough to sustain the cost of direct mailing. Because we can't play the number game.

Perhaps that's the reason why DM copywriters are rare while institutional copywriters control the scene -- The advertisement industry needs them.

That's why finding out the ROI prior to mailing is extremely vital when we do it in Singapore. If I were you, I'd sell high-ticket items by mailing to other people's customer lists.

You could also rent general list from Times Magazine, Forbes, or Reader's Digest. I understand that the subscribers are generally affluent buyers.


Bard

Hi Bard

You seem to be pretty familiar with the DM scene in Singapore...

Are you a Singaporean?