The Door Drop Report 2023 found that annual expenditure on door drops has remained virtually flat year-on-year, reaching a level of £181.2m (vs £182.3m in 2021). Door Drop volumes also held up well at a level of 3.53 billion (compared to 3.54 billion in 2021).
The DMA said its partnership with JICMail has merged its industry data with JICMail’s industry-standard audience measurement, resulting in “the most accurate and detailed picture of the UK door drop market available”.
Ian Gibbs, director of insight at the DMA, said: “2022 was a year of two halves for door drop and the wider advertising industry. After a positive start in the first quarter, where it was performing at a three-year high, the ongoing challenges of high inflation, rising cost of living, and multi-sector strike action are likely to have had noteworthy impacts on the use of door drop.
“Overall, our latest data suggests that the door drop channel has held up well in a difficult advertising market. Volumes and value were virtually flat year-on-year, and mainly hampered by unprecedented issues such as paper availability and rising production costs following the energy crisis. It is positive to see these issues easing off now in 2023.”
Door drop also continued to display improved levels of efficiency and effectiveness. As of Q4 2022, the average door drop was shared with 1.05 people per household (a metric referred to as Item Reach), reflecting an additional 5% audience reach on top of campaign volumes. In addition, the average person in the UK interacts with each door drop 3.1 times a month.
Younger audiences continue to present additional targeting opportunities for advertisers in the mail channel, the research also found.
While all age groups measured have seen their door drop engagement increase since 2018, the under 35 category has overtaken the other two age cohorts and – despite those aged 55+ narrowing the gap during 2022 – they remain the most engaged age group overall.
Roughly the same amount of sectors have seen volumes increase this year compared to last year, with some larger sectors experiencing modest double-digit growth (e.g. supermarkets were around +10%) and others with smaller increases, but the DMA said there was plenty of opportunity to grow volumes (e.g. for local and national tradespersons).
The DMA added the growing use of the door drop channel among multiple, diverse sectors is indicative of it offering flexibility and effectiveness, even in an era dominated by digital advertising.
“The days of major door drop-using brands distributing hundreds of millions of them every year may be gone, but the client base using the medium is now much bigger and more widespread,” said Gibbs.
"The supermarket, retail, tradesperson, and charity sectors have particularly sustained volumes in 2022.”
