NEWS: Q2 2025 Results: Mail interaction rates and digital effectiveness reach a five-year high

The Q2 2025 results reveal that the frequency of interaction with Direct Mail, plus the effectiveness of all mail types (DM, Door Drops and Business Mail) at driving key digital actions among consumers, have reached a five-year high and are closing in on the record set during the lockdown of Q2 2020.

The mail channel has continued to assert its Super Touchpoints strengths in delivering omni-channel customer engagement in Q2 2025. The 9.2% of Direct Mail, Door Drops and Business Mail that prompted a visit to an advertiser website is a five year-high reading of this key digital metric and is close to the all-time-high figure of 9.4% set during the first lockdown of 2020. In addition 5.9% of mail prompted consumers to look up their account details: again the highest reading of this metric in half a decade.

These key digital actions are also closely linked to other vital digital touchpoints that advertisers are keen to engage with consumers via such as app downloads, email sends and QR code scans. For example 8% of the mail that prompts an account look-up also triggered the downloading of an advertiser’s app in Q2.

While these metrics point to the significant role that mail plays in engaging with customers, its effectiveness at acquiring new customers and sales also grew in Q2. The overall proportion of mail prompting a purchase increased 15% year on year, with half of these purchases transacted online. The proportion of mail prompting voucher redemptions and large-purchase planning also increased.

These figures are closely linked to mail’s ability to deliver highly creative and attention-worthy marketing comms. Frequency of interaction with Direct Mail also recorded a five-year high reading of 4.56 interactions per item (again approaching the record levels set during lockdown 2020), while the average amount of time spent with a DM piece increased by 13 seconds year on year. The average Door Drop now generates a minute of attention per item, while for Business Mail the figure sits at 186 seconds.

While in the Direct Mail space, the NHS, Tesco and HMRC continued to deliver a higher proportion of attention than mail volumes (i.e. delivering disproportionality effective mail), in the Door Drop space Farmfoods and Checkatrade commanded two thirds of all of the time spent with mail sent by the top ten advertisers in Q2.

According to JICMAIL-endorsed Nielsen circulation data, combined Door Drops and Direct Mail volumes grew 4% year on year in the first half of 2025.

Key Mail Metrics are as follows:

Mail interactions captured by JICMAIL panellists take many forms and range from opening and reading mail, to passing it on to someone else, putting it in the usual place, putting aside to look at later or taking it out of home (amongst a list of many other actions). In addition, JICMAIL captures the industry category and advertiser details of almost every mail item in its 365,000+ strong mail item database.

Ian Gibbs, JICMAIL, Director of Data Leadership and Learning, said “The last time we saw mail engagement and digital effectiveness at similar levels, the nation was locked down at home and highly responsive to in-home advertising. Now five years later life is back to normal, yet mail is still proving to be a highly engaging medium among consumers. Furthermore, its strength as a Super Touchpoint channel is that it seamlessly triggers and “hands-over” to other key touchpoints in the customer engagement journey: prompting account look-ups, website visits, app downloads and email sends. While mail is a powerful channel in and of itself, it also stimulates activity across a range of other owned-media channels.”   

Mark Cross, Engagement Director, JICMAIL added, “Since lockdown, consumers have witnessed another rise in ad saturation across digital touchpoints and devices, and in response have been granting advertisers at best, fleeting attention. Meantime the steady incremental impact of mail that prompts undivided levels of attention in the home, up to 80 times more from an item of mail than from an in feed ad in social, is increasingly cutting through, and amongst other effects, enriching digital experiences. These consistent results suggest that If you want a better digital experience, send mail!”

 For more information on how you can access JICMAIL data and use it to plan more efficient and effective mail campaigns, please get in touch.