Reaching a New Generation of Voters with Direct Mail
With an estimated 8 million members of Gen Z being eligible to vote in 2024, campaigns should take time to understand how to target them. Summit Research and KRC Research conducted a study to understand voter perceptions of political advertising channels. During the 2022 Midterm Election season, there were one billion more pieces of direct mail than there were during the Midterm Election in 2018. With Gen Z being highly engaged in the political process, a section of the study focused specifically on how they responded to direct mail compared to online advertising during the election cycle.
The study found that direct mail remains the most credible political advertising channel for all generations, including Gen Z. This statistic is interesting for a generation that grew up in the digital age. The study found that Gen Z trusts direct mail 62% more than online political advertising. Additionally, they found that 67% of them act online after receiving direct mail.
The study also aimed to understand how this increase in direct mail influenced voters across different demographics. This goal led them to holding focus groups in Georgia, Nevada, and New York. The goal was to understand younger voters in these states. These findings allow political campaigns to understand what has shifted and what has stayed the same concerning voter behaviors and preferences.
Georgia was a spotlight state following the 2020 Presidential Election and leading up to the 2022 Midterm Election. Georgia voters are more likely to want information about a candidate’s stance on local, domestic, and global issues more than the national voter. They’re also more likely to read a mail piece upon seeing it.
Nevada is a perennial swing state with changing demographics, making it a critical state to focus on for this study. The study found that 75% of Nevada voters find direct mail easier to recall compared to 62% of national voters. 70% of them also read a direct mail piece upon seeing it.
New York saw a shift in voting patterns during the 2022 Midterm Election. New York voters want direct mail pieces to be more personable and about topics that affect them in their local area. Also, compared to the national average of 63%, New York voters find direct mail credible 73% of the time.
In conclusion, the study found that campaigns should utilize the unique experience that voters have with direct mail. Direct mail can lay the groundwork for broader campaign messaging on other platforms. 41 million members of Gen Z will be eligible to vote in 2024, and political campaigns must understand how to reach them.
To summarize:
- Leverage direct mail as part of the media mix. Direct mail drives high recall rates with voters and reinforces information they saw on television and online political advertising.
- Utilize the mail moment experience to reach voters. The timing of direct mail is crucial.
- Engage voters by delivering personalized messaging. Highly personalized advertising breaks through the clutter.
- Understand the unique political landscape in your state.
