Thinking about the future of direct mail, our Growth Manager, Steven Johnson, shares his perspective on how personalisation, digital integration, and the latest Royal Mail changes could shape your 2025 campaigns.
Direct Mail is undergoing a significant evolution in 2025, with a shift towards personalisation, integration with digital channels, and enhanced tracking and analytics to enhance engagement.
These changes reflect a move towards more targeted, relevant, and impactful Direct Mail campaigns.
In conjunction, major changes to Royal Mail’s delivery times and targets have also come into effect as of the 28th July 2025, as regulator Ofcom looks to cut costs and modernise the service.
Why these changes are needed
The way we use Direct Mail in the UK has changed dramatically. Twenty years ago, Royal Mail was delivering 20 billion letters. That number is now 6.6 billion a year, and Royal Mail expects it to be 4 billion a year in the next few years.
Declining volumes have driven up the average cost of delivering a letter – as postal workers are walking more routes than ever, but delivering far fewer letters
From this month (August 2025), Royal Mail will start delivering second-class letters on alternate weekdays, instead of six days a week. The target to deliver these letters will remain within three working days of collection, but the letters will no longer be delivered on Saturdays from the 23rd September.
Source: Ofcom - Protecting the postal service for the future
We are here to guide you through
So, with changing mail volumes and delivery and ways in which Direct Mail campaigns are being utilised, what does this mean for brands and businesses who use Direct Mail or are thinking about using the channel?
The good news is that we have been producing Direct Mail campaigns for years, we are leaders in the space and we have kept up with all of these changes to enable us to offer our customers the right advice, the best pricing and the right solutions for their needs.
We see these changes positively – ensuring that Royal Mail can continue to deliver mail reliably over the coming years to enable us to plan and schedule campaigns to land with your customers at exactly the right time.
Key changes and opportunities for brands:
Personalisation:
- Direct mail is becoming increasingly tailored to individual recipients, leveraging data to deliver personalised content and offers.
- This includes using customer data to create customised messages, product recommendations, and even local event information.
- Personalisation is crucial for driving engagement, ROI, and customer loyalty.
Integration with Digital Channels:
- Direct mail is being integrated with digital marketing efforts through the use of QR codes, personalised URLs (PURLs), and augmented reality (AR) experiences.
- It’s also now able to integrate with email and SMS journey flows like never before (especially with our ZAP~POST partnership), to allow triggered Direct Mail sends based on customer actions.
- This allows for a more seamless customer journey, bridging the gap between physical and digital marketing.
Enhanced Tracking and Analytics:
- Advanced tracking capabilities, such as QR scans and unique promo codes are enabling marketers to measure the success of direct mail campaigns with greater precision.
- Integrated data cleansing tools can remove decayed data to maximise deliverability and ensure maximum ROI.
- This provides valuable insights into key marketing metrics and allows for better performance reporting.
Sustainability:
- Consumers and businesses are increasingly focused on sustainability, leading to a greater emphasis on reducing volumes (no more batch and blast!), increasing frequency, and being more targeted with Direct Mail communication.
Increased Mail Activity and Marketing Budgets:
- Despite rising costs and regulatory changes, companies are actually planning to increase their Direct Mail volumes and marketing budgets over the coming years.
- This reflects a continued belief in the effectiveness of Direct Mail as a growth channel from a marketing perspective, combating ‘digital fatigue’ and utilising a more physical approach to get cut-through.
These changes indicate a dynamic and bright future for Direct Mail, where personalisation, digital integration, and sustainability are key drivers of success.
If you're considering direct mail as part of your offline marketing strategy and would like to discuss print solutions that align with your marketing goals, reach out to Steve, Growth Manager at steve.johnson@precisioproco.co.uk.