Direct mail services are a form of direct marketing. Direct marketing refers to advertising that reaches out to the public directly through various channels. The direct mail services are a channel in which the company sends solicited or unsolicited mails to a specific audience. They are popular as they allow an organization to target its message to a particular audience and customize it as they see fit. Another reason for its effectiveness is that this form of advertising is easily measurable.

Direct mail services are beneficial to most types of companies. It essentially refers to, all types of communication that is physically sent to a target audience. Advertisers claim that success of the direct mail service depends on the effectiveness in targeting the right audience. The types of organizations that can benefit from direct mail services are ones that are looking to increase their customer base, increase sales, notify existing and potential customers of a development, promote a new product, raise funds, conduct market research, etc., to name a few.

Being a more inexpensive mode of advertising, direct mail services are preferred when using other modes of advertising is impractically expensive. As mentioned before, the effectiveness of this form of advertising lies greatly on the mailing list. Thus it has been found that direct mailing is of greater use to companies that wish to communicate with existing customers or that have a definite target audience they are sure of. For instance, a bank sending pre-approved credit card applications or a restaurant sending residents of that area its new menu, etc.

Another advantage of direct mail is that it can be customised for different customers. Thus it makes more sense for an organization that knows its customer base well enough to be able to use this feature effectively. It has been found that small organizations use this mode regularly and to great success. Numerous examples of small and medium sized organizations that use this service to send out promotional material can be found all over. That said direct mail services find their applications in various sectors from local neighbourhood stores to multinational organizations.

Some examples of effective direct mail usage can be found with non-profit organizations that use it for fund raising and newsletters. Many marketing departments of industrial and commercial organizations also use direct mail to send print catalogues to potential customers they have met at trade fairs. In conclusion, direct mail services can work for anyone provided one knows exactly who he or she wishes to target and what he or she wants to say.