Direct Mail is Much Greener Than You Think (And Email Is Not)
It’s easy to see why email has become a sort of poster child for green marketing: at first blush, it seems like email is totally carbon-free – it’s just electrons floating through the air, after all, right? Actually, no. Email marketing in reality is far less green than one might think. And conversely, direct mail – long the bad boy on the environmental block – can actually be quite green (at Click2Mail it is).
2 reasons why email marketing is not as green as you think
Millions of people have switched to email for marketing messages, newsletters, even bills. But it’s not as green as most people think – and even less so the more we rely on it. Here’s why:
1. It uses a lot of energy – Many people have this idea that email floats around in cyber space without any real physical implications. But the fact is that sending and storing email requires a lot of energy. Every email ever sent is sent through and stored on a server that needs to be powered and cooled. Together, all those servers account for somewhere around 3% of all of the energy used in the U.S. That’s a lot of energy!
2. Email’s effectiveness is much lower than direct mail’s – Direct mail remains a much more effective marketing tool than email. Direct mail has a much higher response rate, on average, than email does, and it’s easy to see why: it is far more targetable and personalizable. When you rely solely on email marketing you have to send more emails to come close to the total number of responses that direct mail yields, and all those extra emails add up to extra energy.
3 reasons why direct mail through Click2Mail is greener than you think
Direct mail is not naturally or by default environmentally friendly. But it can be. At Click2Mail, we work hard to reduce our ecological footprint and provide our customers with greener ways to send direct mail. We do that in three ways:
1. Hybrid mail production process – Click2Mail prints your mailers at a location closest to the end destination. If you’re sending out a direct mail campaign in Southern California, for example, your mailers will be printed at a facility in that area. That way, the mail has less far to travel – decreasing the transportation required, and the emissions that go with.
2. Energy efficient printing – With Click2Mail you can have your mailers printed, sorted, labeled, and transported without ever having to print a page or step foot in a post office. That’s green because we print in bulk using high-efficiency printers that use less energy. And, we’re saving thousands of trips in individual cars to local post offices – keeping a lot of cars off the road.
3. Recycled and recyclable materials – Our products use recycled content paper, and they’re recyclable. The quality and performance of our paper and printing is equal to that of virgin paper, but it’s more environmentally friendly because we’re using paper that has been recycled. Also, all of our products are recyclable. Whether your mail recipient brings a postcard coupon to you for redemption or reads your booklet newsletter at home, when they’re finished with it, they can recycle it instead of throwing it in the trash. That’s because Click2Mail uses the kind of paper, ink, and coatings that can be recycled – even the UV-coated postcards.
At Click2Mail we care about the effectiveness of your marketing and about environmental sustainability. That’s why we work hard to make our mail green – because direct mail done right is such an effective marketing tool. Ready to start your campaign? Get started online at Click2Mail.com or call us 1-866-665-2787.
