You may have noticed that your direct mail packages no longer include the business reply card(BRC) and business return envelope(BRE) anymore. 

This leads us to question if the "full-dress direct mail package" is as effective as it once was in the past. 

We review 5 reasons why these components may have been eliminated from direct mail campaigns. 

As Trish Witkowski explains in her Design Great Mail Guide (which JR will be launching this Fall!), direct mail arrives in many forms - #10 envelopes, folded self-mailers, flats and more. But the most elaborate, which some consider still the most effective of all, is the "full-dress direct mail package." Here we consider why some direct mail marketers may have chosen to skip the BRC and BRE and what is behind this approach. 

• #1: PURLs - Personalized URLs, which can be completely customized and personalized to the recipient, provide an easy to use response avenue which is a quick and easy experience for some users.

• #2: Budget - As marketers look to find ways to cut costs, many have found that when they eliminate the cost of the BRC, BRE and consider the production and postage associated with them, they are able to achieve equal or better responses by utilizing PURLs as the main avenue for response. 

• #3: Generational - Again, as Trish mentions in her Design Great Mail Guide, "As marketers it is also important to understand that marketing preferences are generational. In other words, you may need to switch up your marketing techniques based upon which generation of consumers you plan to market to. For example, Generation Y(1985-2004) "Milennials" are the largest group at 100 million consumers. Smart, tech-savvy, socially conscious, and hard to reach by any one form of media. This group likes to receive mail, then research online."

• #4: The Web - With the average person checking their phone 110 times a day and every 6 seconds in the evening, we are engaged in emails, websites and social media now more than ever! A PURL or web response, for some, is much faster than filling out a form and mailing it.

• #5: Cross-Channel Marketing - Customers today are busy and expect to get their information from several different areas. Through Cross-Channel Marketing you are able to leverage your customers data and speak directly to them through their preferred means of contact. 

As you can see there are many considerations to review whether you should include the BRC and BRE, or not. We recommend many of our clients TEST the different approaches and allow data to determine which method is preferred. It is worth testing!