Research commissioned by Marketreach and carried out by Thinks Insight & Strategy, with fieldwork that took place during and after the election campaign, found that 27% of respondents said that mail was the ‘most influential’ on making decisions, compared to 24% who said TV and 18% who chose social media.

Mail was voted as having the highest level of engagement at 70%, i.e. it is most likely to be read, shared or talked about, and it was seen as most trustworthy in the run up to the 2024 general election.

It was regarded as almost twice as trustworthy by voters than other channels on average. Mail is also much less associated with misleading or inaccurate information (20%), compared with social media (34%).

The youngest age groups polled demonstrated the highest levels of engagement with mail. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, over four in five (81%) people said they had engaged with mail during the run up to the election, higher than social media (72%), posters (67%), online advertising (64%), and party political broadcasts on TV (51%).

Among 25 to 34-year-olds the figures were 69% for mail, followed by social media (63%), posters (52%), online advertising (48%) and party political broadcasts on TV (32%). In addition, 60% of 18 to 19 year-olds (new voters) kept any mail until a few days before the election versus an average of 27%.

Released during this year’s Parliament Week (18 to 24 November), the research and accompanying report from Marketreach, titled Landslide: How mail swept the board for political parties in the 2024 General Election, explores why certain channels are more effective over others.

Andrew Marr, journalist, broadcaster and commentator, wrote in the report’s foreword: “Elections are national, sometimes even global, events. But in our Parliamentary system, they are first of all local ones. We want a direct, emotional connection between ourselves, the candidates and ultimately the MP.

“It’s about intimate space – mail arrives at an actual address not an IP address; a physical postcode, not a digital identifier; something I can hold in my hand, not something only held, briefly, in the mind’s eye. And something that I can trust. This report is a welcome dose of reality, a happy corrective.”

The research found that mail is more effective at making people think about their voting intentions than other channels; being memorable – three quarters (74%) of respondents recalled a piece of mail towards the end of the campaign compared to one third (32%) for social media from political parties.

It was also found to be more effective at reaching voters locally, as it is the only medium that can be localised down to constituency level. 65% of respondents reported that mail was primarily focused on the election in their local constituency. This is almost three times higher than the figure for online advertising (22%) and for social media (23%).

Amanda Griffiths, head of planning and insight at Marketreach, said: “Everyone thought reaching voters in this election was going to be about digital channels. It wasn’t. In fact, mail proved to be the most effective way for political parties to communicate – according to the voters themselves. And it’s even more effective when integrated with other media.

“For all the talk about the shift to digital in all areas of life, there are some times when we want things to be tangible, steadfast and dependable. When it comes to important moments of contemplation we want to deliberate carefully and in our own time. Mail delivers on this desire, and it is effective with younger generations too.”