JICMAIL: Business Mail Demonstrates Impact on Digital Behaviours

The mail channel continued to show its influence on driving digital traffic and sales in the first quarter of 2025, according to data from the Joint Industry Currency for Mail (JICMAIL).

Business Mail fared especially well in the first three months of the year, with year-on-year increases across all four key metrics (Reach, Frequency, Lifespan and Attention).

Overall, the results from JICMAIL highlighted the ever-growing confidence in mail. Volumes on JICMAIL’s panel of 1,100 households rose by 5% year-on-year. Meanwhile, circulation data from Nielsen AdIntel revealed that 17% of UK advertisers used mail to acquire new customers or engage with existing ones between January-March 2025.

Business Mail Posts Strong Performance

Bulk Business Mail is enjoying a bumper period with its performance continuing to better all other mail types.

Frequency reached 4.83 interactions whilst in the home (+3.3% year-on-year) with each item reaching 1.17 people (+0.2%).

Lifespan in the home also witnessed strong growth in hitting 8.9 days (+7.6%). Attention remained at 191 seconds in the most recent quarter, a 16-second increase on 2024’s corresponding figure.

Below is a comparison with other mail types:

Business Mail Remains the Big Attention Grabber

Business Mail Attention remains at an all-time high of 191 seconds per item over a 28-day period.

While each of the other mail types posted at least quarterly increases in Attention, none can topple Business Mail as the leading format for holding the recipients’ gaze.

Attention has been steadily growing since JICMAIL began tracking this key metric. Recipients now spend 41 seconds longer reading Business Mail than they did three years ago.

• Direct Mail Attention was 145 seconds (+11s y-o-y).
• Partially Addressed Mail Attention was 87 seconds (-5s y-o-y).
• Door Drops Attention was 58 seconds (+3s y-o-y).

Download the Q1 2025 Business Mail Factsheet

Mail Prompts Purchases and Engagement

Mail has been building on its Super Touchpoint status, prompting consumers to browse, buy, and take various other commercial actions as a result of receiving items through the post.  

JICMAIL’s headline reveal is that 53% of all purchases attributed to the mail channel were transacted online in Q1 2025. This is a record high reading since tracking began two years ago and further highlights the power of mail in a blended marketing mix.

Other results include an increase in the proportion of mail prompting an online purchase. Elsewhere, voucher usage, online searches, website visits and account look-ups also saw increases driven by Business Mail, Direct Mail, Partially Addressed Mail and Door Drops.

These trends strengthen mail’s credibility amongst marketers and key campaign decision makers. Another appealing factor is the 87% of discarded mail being recycled, with mail’s sustainability credentials another huge positive when making decisions about where to place marketing spend.

JICMAIL: “To be able to attribute digital effectiveness to a traditional channel like mail is a really important task”

JICMAIL is the industry’s leading and trusted 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: “Measurement isn’t getting any easier in a world of platform power and digital-centric attribution models. To be able to attribute digital effectiveness to a traditional channel like mail is a really important task for marketers seeking greater accuracy and transparency with their marketing spend.

“With the mail channel displaying increasing effectiveness at prompting online searches, purchases and customer engagement, now more than ever it is vital to factor these types of metrics into attribution models.”

Mark Cross, Engagement Director, JICMAIL, added: “Another quarter where mail has demonstrated its potency as a Super Touchpoint across the categories, with more engagement and attention prompting multiple-digital behaviours. Almost 10,000 brands according to Nielsen enjoyed these benefits across Q1.”  

Download the Q1 2025 Business Mail Factsheet

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