MarketingSherpa has just released their latest research, which states that 60% of all customers prefer to receive updates and promotions via email. When given the option, customers prefer to set email frequency; giving the choice to receive emails daily, weekly, or monthly makes a significant difference in sign-up rates.

Direct mail came in a customer’s second favorite choice, only lagging email by six percentage points. Business owners aren’t necessarily as fond of direct mail, as it’s exponentially more expensive than email marketing, but it’s important to recognize the value customers place on this communication channel. If you’re pondering the role of catalogs, postcards, and other direct mail pieces in your ongoing marketing campaigns, talk to your customers about it. Asking them what they like and what you could do better will help you get a clear understanding of whether or not you need to keep moving forward with direct mail. Remember, too, that building tracking into your direct mail can help you objectively assess a campaign’s performance.

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Text messaging and social media are becoming increasingly important contact channels. The brands that are driving sales using messaging apps are doing so on a very highly individualized basis; high-touch retailers like jewelers and automobile dealerships are good examples of sectors that have used apps this way. Currently, more people report preferring to go to the brand’s website to receive updates and promotion than following the brand on social media as a way to access this information. It will be interesting to see if this trend changes over the course of time, especially given the extensive lengths Facebook and other platforms are willing to go to in order to keep users on their site.

It is a good best practice to check in with your customers regularly regarding their contact preferences. Make this part of the ongoing conversation you have on social media and other platforms. That way you’ll be aware of changing trends in customer preferences as they happen and will be able to adjust accordingly.