Young Adults Prefer Direct Mail to Online Offers

North American consumers in the 18-34 year-old demographic prefer to learn about marketing offers via direct mail and newspapers rather than online sources such as social media like FaceBook, according to survey research from ICOM, a division of Epsilon Targeting. The ICOM research shows that attitudes toward the trustworthiness of mail versus online offers increased for all age groups from 2008 to 2010. The study, based on 4778 households in the U.S. and Canada, focused on consumer preferences for receiving marketing information, offers and promotions. Responses came from consumers ranging in age from 18 to 55 and above. With the exception of travel related promotions, which show a slight preference for online, direct mail offerings were preferred by a ratio of two or three to one. 

"A key takeaway from this research is that marketers targeting coveted 18-34 year olds, who are tempted to invest solely in social media could be missing a significant portion of their audience," said ICOM Vice President Warren Storey.

Product Offline Preferences  Online Preferences  Food Products 66% 23%  Cleaning Products 66% 20%  Personal Care 62% 22%  Over the Counter Medicine 53% 21%  Sensitive Health Products 46% 21%  Prescription Medicine 45% 22%  Financial Services 44% 19%  Insurance 43% 21%  Travel 35% 42%

Social Media Flops as Source of Business

Here is an interesting report on the impact of social media in buying decisions from Print in the Mix:

"According to ForeSee's 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Business Report, which looks at trends in customer satisfaction with e-business industries, social media is not found to be a significant source of product recommendations or purchases for most American Internet users.

Of the four social media sites covered in the survey (Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia and YouTube), there was little differentiation in regards to users seeking out product or service recommendations from these sources. More that eight out of 10 users say they do not seek out product recommendations from these sources."

That people aren't using social media to help them make buying decisions is probably not a surprise to most users. That is not really what they signed up for. Business people who hope to capitalize on social media, are using it to develope a closer relationship with potential clients. But is a closer relationship what really happens with FaceBook or MySpace? Maybe not. At least one marketing blogger, Rich Meyer, doesn't think so. He is predicting the decline of social media. He links social media use to the frustration people feel with big business or big government. Being connected, he asserts, "is more of a hassle than it's worth." Could it be that real relationships still require personal (as opposed to electronic) interaction?