According to Royal Mail: “The study highlights the importance of using bright colours and strong visuals to generate impact and stand out among consumers.
Providing a compelling reason to interact with the door drop also came out of the study, with samples and vouchers proving popular.
The research, carried out on behalf of Royal Mail by eyetracker, used screen based eye tracker technology and special tracking glasses for participants to measure how a mail piece was read and which areas attracted most attention. It also involved qualitative interviews with consumers.
The study also revealed that when consumers start looking at a door drop, their eyes usually focus on the front centre top for portrait and front centre left for landscape mailings, making those locations the place to position the key visual or offering.
If the recipient is interested in the mailing after studying the key visual, the eye movement tracks up the communication, then down and to the right. As a result, advertisers should place clear branding at the top for reassurance and further information on offers to the right.
The research also revealed that the backs of the door drops should reinforce the messages and visuals on the front.
When including a letter with the door drop the study revealed that advertisers should think twice about addressing the recipients as ‘Dear homeowner’ as it attracted a higher rejection rate. Many prefer no salutation to an impersonal one.
It also concluded that the letter should be well spaced out, easy to read, and provide information to help buy, rather than to hard sell. With envelopes, the brand logo should be placed on the top left and the main offer centre right.
Phil Ricketts, Head of Strategy, Sales and Marketing for Door to Door, Royal Mail, said: "This eye tracking research provides unique insight on how consumers interact with unaddressed mail in their homes, from picking it off the doormat to taking action.
"By combining conventional qualitative research techniques with state of the art eye tracking technology, these findings really provide a blueprint to help advertisers hone their unaddressed mail activities to deliver highly impactful campaigns that will deliver greater return on investment."
