Useful definitions

JICMAIL aims to provide the media industry with a measure of exposure to advertising mail comparable to those metrics used by other JICS such as BARB, RAJAR and PAMCo.

As a form of direct marketing, advertising mail cannot be measured by simple behavioural proxies (for example presence in the room while the set is on for TV, or read/looked at the front page for print) and requires a more sophisticated item by item approach to building up a picture of mail item exposure. Asking consumers to directly record exposures has been found to be ineffective, with under-reporting and over-reporting of exposure (e.g. for mail items on constant display) both prevalent.

The approach taken involves using interactions with mail as a proxy for mail exposure. Physical mail interactions are recorded by a single household co-ordinator who is responsible for logging all mail activity for all household members.

JICMAIL panellists can record any of the following types of interaction that they have had with each individual piece of mail delivered to them:

• Opened it

• Threw it away
• Recycled it

• Read/looked/glanced at it

• Took it out of the house (e.g.to work)

• Put it on display (e.g. on a fridge, noticeboard)

• Used/did something with the information

• Filed it for reference or records

• Passed it on/left out for the person it’s for

• Put it in the usual place

• Put it aside to look at later

These interactions are recorded both when the mail is initially received and then follow up interactions are recorded at any subsequent occasion that an interaction takes place over a four week period, or until the item in question has been thrown away. Each interaction is logged as an opportunity to see.

If a panellist discards or throws away an item then it is recorded as a single impact (since the brand is featured on the envelope for advertising mail) and is then considered ‘dead’. If it is passed on to somebody else, any other actions are then attributed to that other household member.

Item Reach = The number of people in the household who have interacted with a mail item over a four week period. For example addressed advertising mail reaches 1.14 people in the household on average.

When a mail item has been delivered, it is automatically assigned a reach of one on the assumption that the household co-ordinator will be exposed to that item through the act of sorting through the mail.

If a second member of the household interacts with the mail item, the reach becomes two, and then increases for each additional household member interacting with the mail item.

Item Frequency = the number of times a mail item has been interacted with in a four week period based on the following list of interactions:

• Opened it;

• Threw it away;
• Recycled it;

• Read/looked/glanced at it;

• Took it out of the house (e.g.to work);

• Put it on display (e.g. on a fridge, noticeboard);

• Used/did something with the information;

• Filed it for reference or records;

• Passed it on/left out for the person it’s for;

• Put it in the usual place;

• Put it aside to look at later.

For example, addressed advertising mail has an average frequency of 4.5. All delivered items have an automatic frequency of 1 upon delivery.

Audience Frequency derived from the JICMAIL Audience dataset = the number of times the average person interacts with a mail item across a four week period.

The number of people in the population who have been exposed to a certain type of mail – either expressed as 000’s or %.

Frequency of Interaction x Audience Reached

Lifespan is the average number of days that elapse between a mail item first being interacted with and it then being discarded or filed away.

Lifespan for items still live at the end of the 28 day tracking period  have their lifespan capped at 28 days.

Attention is the average number of seconds that a mail item is physically interacted with by any household member across a 28 day period.

Mail that prompts any of the following commercial actions is regarded as being commercial effective:

 

• Discussed with someone
• Visited sender’s website
• Bought something/made a payment or donation (NET)
• Searched online for more information
• Looked up my account details
• Used a voucher/discount code
• Called the sender
• Posted a reply to the sender
• Used a tablet or smartphone
• Visited sender’s shop/office
• Made a purchase/payment/donation online (from Q3 2023)
• Made a purchase/payment/donation in a shop (from Q3 2023)
• Planned a large purchase
• Made a purchase/payment/donation by other means (e.g. postal, phone) (from Q3 2023)
• Emailed the sender (from Q3 2023)

The % of mail items prompting any of the following actions: visit sender website, look up account details, search online for more information, used a QR code, emailed the sender, used or downloaded the senders app.

The % of mail items prompting a purchase in-store, online, by other means (e.g. post of phone), or through the redemption of a voucher.

% of mail items prompting a website or store visit, account look ups, sender calls, postal replies and emails to sender.

% of items prompting consumers to search for more information online or plan a large purchase.

% of mail items which have any sort of physical interaction other than being immediately being thrown away with no other action taken.

% of Mail Ad Impressions generated by mail items which stimulate a commercial action

% of JICMAIL panel volumes derived from a specific advertiser or sector.

% of mail volumes accounted for by a specific advertiser. Measured with census level circulation data via Nielsen Ad Intel.

The total carbon output of the campaign measured in CO2e (include raw materials, manufacturing, distribution and disposal of mail). Can also be expressed as Carbon emissions per mail item or Carbon emissions per mail ad impression / impact

% of mail items driving measured response, as reported by the JICMAIL Response Rate Tracker. This is campaign-centric data that differs from self-reported purchase rates reported by the JICMAIL panel.

ROI is Return On Investment: The profit returned for every £ spent on mail, including delivery, production and creative.

Average Order Value: average spend by recipients of mailer per campaign.

Cost per Acquisition: cost of acquiring new customer or new sale per mail campaign.

A super touchpoint is:

a high-performing marketing channel consumer interaction that delivers disproportionately effective outcomes. An example of this would be a customer receiving a perfectly timed reminder in the post or by email, right when they’re in the mood to make a purchase decision.

Super touchpoints deliver full-funnel effectiveness by combining smart audience insights, robust targeting data, high levels of attention and trust, emotional resonance, and robust measurement.

Super Touchpoints Evaluation Points can be assigned to different channels in your marketing plans to help ascertain which are disproportionately effective. A detailed framework for assigning STEP scores is available in the Mail: The Super Touchpoint report.