According to the USPS, the Mail Moment “defines the highly interative daily ritual that consumers devote to bringing in their mail and discovering what it offers” from sorting and organizing to allocating and reading. Hence, marketers should always consider including mail as one of the channels to be used for reaching customers.

Aside from the obvious benefits USPS derives if every businesses embark on direct mail, I can totally relate to this so-called “mail moment.” When I’m out of the house around lunchtime (the mail delivery time in our neighborhood) and calls home to check on the kids, one of the questions I always ask is “What came to the mail today?” In fact, when I reach home, checking the mail is one of the very first things I do. And when I am at home, I love checking the mail box to see our mails.

The USPS study says that mail evokes emotion:

• 56% say receiving mail is a “real pleasure”
• 55% “look forward” to discovering the mail they receive
• 67% feel mail is more important than the Internet

Below are other insights from the Mail Moment study:

1. Mail gets your message into waiting hands = people look forward to receiving their mail (unless of course they are anticipating bad news like collection or more bills they can’t afford to pay :o)

• 98% of consumers bring in their mail the day it’s delivered
• of these, 72% bring it in as soon as possible
• 77% sort through their mail immediately

2. Mail takes you to the person in charge = mail is usually sorted by the person in charge of managing household operations, of which:

• 90% determine which mail is kept for review
• 81% review financial documents
• 84% are the principal grocery shoppers

3. Mail boasts a loyal readership = while time has become a very precious commodity, consumers spend a bit of time with their mail

• Consumers spend an average of 30 minutes reading their mail on any given occasion
• They spend 45 minutes with magazines, 30 minutes with catalogs and 25 minutes with Direct Mail

4. Useful mail performs direct tasks = consumers look to commercial mail to:

• Browse for new consumption
• Manage the home
• Oversee finances

You can find other interesting direct marketing studies from the USPS website