Colors have a profound effect on our emotions, perceptions, and actions. When strategically incorporated into your direct mail strategy, colors have the power to influence consumer behavior, simplify messaging and leave a memorable brand experience. Direct mail already has a higher response rate compared to digital marketing methods and the use of colors adds an exclamation point to your messaging.

The Impact of Color on Consumer Behavior:

The average daily time spent with digital media has increased to close to 7.5 hours per day and, according to an article by Postalytics, email has become the new junk mail, with roughly 50% of consumers polled reporting that they receive too many emails. The fact is, people are digitally overwhelmed. Customers are craving a more personal connection and as a result, direct mail has been enjoying a moment. The average response rate for direct mail is between 2.7% and 4.4%, compared to email’s 0.6% response rate. As a result, the average return on investment for this channel is $4.09 for every $1.27 spent.

Brands and marketers understand the advantage of the personalization, retargeting and return on investment the medium provides. Mail is moving the needle—the question is: what is color’s impact?

For starters—

1. Color envelopes are 20% more likely to be opened than plain envelopes. As the standard color for mail, white envelopes tend to get lost in the shuffle unless it’s a larger size.
2. Research by Brand United shows that oversized envelopes have the highest direct mail response rate, followed by 5.7% in postcards and 4.3% in letter-sized envelopes but simply adding a person’s name and full color to your direct mail piece can increase response by 135%.
3. shows that color informs almost 90% of our decisions on products, influencing moods and feelings which impact a consumer’s attitude towards certain products.

Intentional Color Usage

Now that we know the extent of color’s influence on direct mail and consumer behavior, let’s talk about how you can implement it into your marketing strategy.

Domtar’s Lettermark™ Envelope Colors feature seven eye-pleasing colors—Canary, Blue, Pink, Green, Cream, Gray and Ivory. Crafted with meticulous attention to detail, they offer a calculated combination of smoothness, stiffness, and strength.

Each color can indicate an action to be taken or convey a message to your consumer, like urgency or importance. Color can also promote a theme, like pink for breast cancer awareness during October, but those aren’t the only colors that have an impact—

• Unlike pink, grey is rarely used in advertising materials to catch your audience’s eye. It stands for balance and neutrality and marketers can incorporate black and white into their grey-colored envelopes to create pleasing visual effects.
• Generally speaking, green stands for nature but it can also indicate generosity, health or growth. As green is a bright and relaxing color, it can lead to higher rates of engagement.
• Yellow and blue are bright colors that grab a lot of attention and convey reliability and trustworthiness. We have customers that rely on these options to indicate delinquent remittances or past-due payments.

As you continue to embrace the full set of tools in your marketing belt, remember that the power of color and the impact of direct mail marketing cannot be underestimated. By leveraging the psychology of color, you can evoke emotions, influence behavior and make a memorable statement with your marketing materials. By choosing Lettermark™ Envelope Colors, you have the tools to captivate your target audience and take your marketing efforts to new heights.

For more on how to take advantage of color, request a copy of our new Lettermark™ Colors brochure. Whether you are looking to stay organized, generate attention or make a visual impact, trust Lettermark™ Colors to help you make your mark on the world.