JICMAIL: Engagement and Sustainability Boost the Mail Channel

The latest results are in from the Joint Industry Committee for Mail (JICMAIL), covering the third quarter of 2025. It was another bumper period for the mail channel – particularly Business Mail – with engagement and sustainability very much top of mind.

Mail Recycling Reaches All-Time High

While consumer engagement continues to grow across all mail types, the big headline is that the proportion of mail being recycled reached an all-time high.

The share of discarded mail that is recycled rather than thrown away has now reached 88%. This is the highest reading of this metric since tracking began in Q3 2023.

JICMAIL has also announced the addition of a Carbon Footprint Calculator to its suite of mail planning tools. By drawing on data from CarbonQuota, JICMAIL Discovery users can now gain a vital perspective on the total carbon footprint of mail campaigns, carbon emissions per mail item and carbon emissions per ad impression (all measured in kilograms/grams of CO2e).

This follows the introduction of a CarbonQuota-driven carbon calculator on the PrintGreen website earlier this year, complete with integrated JICMAIL data to report on carbon emissions per mail ad impression.

We are also driving sustainable change, following the successful launch of our Fuel Carbon Calculator for bulk mailers. This calculates emissions and provides the option to use Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) rather than diesel for collections and trunking routes. Customers signed-up to the service include HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the UK tax authority.  

Improvement for Key Business Mail Metrics

Business Mail Q3 2025 Headline Statistics

Business Mail was the star performer in Q3 with improvements across key metrics. For starters, the amount of time business mail stays in the home reached 9.3 days, a 6.5% increase year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the number of interactions with Business Mail hit a five-year high with 4.97 interactions recorded per item. Another positive is the number of people in the home exposed to the average mail item has increased across all mail types.

The time we spend on average with Business Mail also jumped to 193 seconds, up from 186 seconds in the previous quarter. This is a whopping 18 second increase compared to last year’s corresponding period.

Below is a comparison with other mail types:

Business Mail Attention Rises Again

The time we spend with Business Mail soared to a new high in the third quarter, climbing to 193 seconds per item.

Direct Mail Attention and Partially Addressed Mail also saw jumps to 150 seconds and 93 seconds respectively.

PAM ‘attention’ has been rising steadily throughout the year and is now five seconds above the levels seen in Q3 2024.

• Direct Mail Attention was 150 seconds (+16s y-o-y).
• Partially Addressed Mail Attention was 93 seconds (+5s y-o-y).
• Door Drops Attention was 50 seconds (-6s y-o-y).

Download the Q3 2025 Business Mail Factsheet

Mail Website Visits Equal Lockdown Record

Mail’s impact on full-funnel marketing was cemented throughout the quarter. The number of website visits prompted by mail shot up to 9.4%, matching the record set during Q2 2020.

Elsewhere, JICMAIL reported that the amount of mail prompting purchases (half of which are transacted online) increased 7% year-on-year.

Mail is a conversation starter too. The number of discussions prompted by receiving mail hit 16% in the third quarter, up from 14.9% the year before. 

All the above is more great news for brand or performance marketers looking to grab attention and drive commercial actions.

JICMAIL: “It has become even more important to measure the environmental impact of the channel.”

JICMAIL is the industry’s leading source of reporting on the effectiveness of mail. The organisation’s comprehensive and independent research is based upon data that offers clear and actionable insight into how to mail can impact upon buying behaviour.

Ian Gibbs, JICMAIL, Director of Data Leadership and Learning, said: “With the latest figures from AA and WARC telling us that ad spend in the mail channel has grown for four straight quarters, it has become even more important to measure the environmental impact of the channel.

We hope marketers will use our carbon calculator data to target set, benchmark and optimise mail carbon emissions. Of paramount importance however is transparency in measurement – only by accurately assessing how mail contributes to overall targets can marketers expect to make sustainability-driven decisions with their marketing budgets.”

Mark Cross, Engagement Director, JICMAIL added: “Another release of JICMAIL data that demonstrates the Super Touchpoint powers of mail in the noisiest of ecosystems, challenging planners to unlock new value through combinations of Super Touchpoints, including mail, that drive disproportionate effects.

We are also very pleased to add a new gold standard metric on sustainability which can now be added to every mail plan.”

Download the Q3 2025 Business Mail Factsheet

The Whistl Group helps businesses and advertisers deliver Business Mail, Direct Mail, and Door Drops across the UK.

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