It’s a truism that Christmas always seems to start earlier and earlier. One minute we’re choosing ice lollies and the next we’re being offered mince pie samples in aisle 3.
But as marketers, we know there’s a very good reason for that. The so called Golden Quarter is the most lucrative trading period of the year and it’s also the most competitive – according to the latest Advertising Association/WARC figures, £12.9 billion was invested in media during the Q4 festive season.
It’s an incredibly noisy period and difficult for bands to be heard, but doing just that was the subject of the latest JICMAIL webinar, Winning with Mail across the Golden Christmas Quarter. It offered plenty of food for thought, backed by some compelling data about how people interact with mail during the busiest shopping season of the year.
Here’s what you need to know to make sure you have a successful Golden Quarter:
1. Standing out is harder than ever
Christmas has always been a noisy place for marketers, but every year that noise ratchets up a notch. While everyone is fighting for the same attention, the temptation is to spend more, shout louder. What JICMAIL’s data reveals is that the better approach is to appear somewhere people are actually prepared to pay attention – direct mail.
2. Attention is worth more than reach
Digital channels can deliver impressive reach, but reach isn’t the same as attention. JICMAIL’s research shows that 77% of all mail is read or looked at during Q4, which is an all-time high for the Christmas period.
Even better, people don’t simply glance at direct mail before moving on, each piece typically gets an average 134 seconds of valuable attention. For comparison, the average Instagram advert gets 1.3 seconds of attention.
3. Mail is a Super Touchpoint
One of the most interesting insights from the webinar was the idea of mail as a Super Touchpoint. In an era of multiple touchpoints, especially in the elongated decision making of the Golden Quarter, mail is one that boosts results.
It commands more attention, has longevity, builds trust and drives online action. Mail isn’t a replacement for digital, it’s a supercharge.
4. It pays to hang around
One reason mail performs so well during the Golden Quarter is that it stays in the household, for days. Unlike online advertising, mail gets picked up again, discussed with a partner and might even get pinned to the fridge as reminder.
This extended lifespan matters because Christmas purchases are rarely impulsive, as families compare prices, discuss options and start compiling shopping lists. A campaign that remains visible throughout that process clearly has a distinct advantage.
5. Don’t wait!
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the webinar had nothing to do with statistics, it was about planning. The brands seeing the strongest results aren’t putting together campaigns in November. They’re planning months in advance, using customer insight, creative messaging and carefully targeted direct mail as part of a wider, integrated campaign.
We certainly see that PSE too. The best-performing campaigns match the right audience with the right format and the right message delivered at exactly the right time. And achieving that takes planning.
