Direct mail: why post is becoming more relevant, not less

At Vogelaar we see that shift every day. For us direct mail is not nostalgic print but a data-driven channel that we run alongside print and fulfilment under one roof, driven by our own platform. Below are five opportunities the DDMO 2026 reveals, and what they mean in concrete terms.

Five opportunities for direct mail in 2026

1. A smart addition to your digital channels

Email remains the most-used channel, but it is under pressure. 17% of marketers expect to use email less, mainly because the audience is harder to reach (25%) and legislation is getting stricter (25%). Direct mail is then not a replacement but an addition: precisely where digital falls short. Think of customers without a (usable) email address, customers who do not open your emails, or those with an opt-out. Customers you cannot reach by email but can reach by post: that is how you get more out of your own data. Within marketing automation and reactivation, a physical mail item is often the nudge an email no longer gives.

2. A personal channel that scales

The strength of direct mail has long ceased to be mass communication; it is relevance. Organisations increasingly use customer, prospect, CRM and geographic data for that. That is exactly where direct mail makes the difference: by approaching existing customers, dormant customers or promising prospects in a targeted way, you get communication that feels personal.

What is interesting is that marketers are shifting from full one-to-one personalisation (from 31% to 26%) towards smart segmentation (from 36% to 39%). That fits modern post very well: not every item has to be unique to feel personal. AI, segmentation and smart data insights are making that ever easier. Direct mail is therefore not a traditional postal channel but a data-driven part of the marketing mix: the right message, for the right audience, at the right moment.

At the same time, 69% of organisations say their customer data is still spread across different systems. And where it pays off, our digital presses personalise text and imagery down to the individual recipient; the technology makes bespoke affordable.

3. Attention, at a time when it is getting scarce

Getting enough attention is marketers' biggest challenge: 62% expect this only to become more important. At the same time 27% of organisations are taking 'digital detox' into account: consumers deliberately spending less time online. A mail item does not compete with dozens of emails, push notifications and social posts at the same moment. It gets its own place in the home and a calmer contact moment. That is exactly what post offers: undivided attention.

4. A measurable performance channel

A persistent misunderstanding is that direct mail is supposedly hard to measure. Now that budgets are being judged more sharply, insight counts: only 24% of organisations have full visibility of what campaign spend delivers. There is an opportunity there, because post is measurable. With QR codes, unique campaign codes, landing pages and response measurement you make a mailing's contribution to conversion and loyalty visible. What matters is not the cost of a mail item but the value of the contact moment. We build those measurement points in as standard, so that afterwards you know what the mailing delivered.

5. Stronger through data and AI

Direct mail benefits from the same developments that move digital marketing forward. 70% of organisations now use AI for marketing, against 62% a year earlier, and 72% are considering doing so more often in the coming year. For post that mainly means working smarter. AI helps with audience selection, content variations, personalisation and optimising the piece. The physical channel stays the same; the intelligence behind it becomes more advanced. We put AI to work in our own platform: not to replace people, but to work faster and sharper. The DDMO puts it neatly: competitive advantage comes from the combination of people, data and AI.

And the other side: the brake is on the cost

One figure from the same survey does not fit the optimistic story, and that is exactly why it is here.

Direct mail also appears in the list of channels marketers expect to use less. The reason the DDMO gives is not that the channel does not work, nor that the audience is turning away. It is the high cost and the limitations of the channel.

So two movements sit side by side: use is growing, and at the same time part of the market is looking at the bill. That is not a contradiction: it is the heart of the matter. Post works, but it has to add up.

There is more you can do about that than most senders think. Not through cheaper paper, but through the route:

• Mail unwrapped and address straight onto the cover. That saves film and an operation. Addressing on film is not possible; on the cover or the envelope it is.
• Fix size and weight before the design, not after. A millimetre or a gram over the line changes the postage on the whole run.
• Screen and clean before dispatch. Every item that does not arrive is postage and print wasted. Postfilter and the deceased register are also mandatory; see our explanation of Postfilter.
• Choose the dispatch moment. Anyone not tied to a date can choose a rate that suits the pace of the campaign.

Because print, addressing, finishing and dispatch sit in one place here, we see those choices in relation to each other. That is exactly where the bill is decided: not at the price per sheet.

Together with PostNL: your customer base in view

Knowing who your customers really are is the basis of every targeted mailing. And that is precisely where that 69% of fragmented customer data hurts.

So together with PostNL we offer Klant in beeld analyses, PostNL's customer-profiling service. With those we map complete customer profiles and find promising look-alike audiences to go with them: people who resemble your best customers. So you know who you are writing to before a single envelope goes out.

Would you like to look at that with us? Get in touch and we will schedule a session.

From mass to relevance

The most important lesson from the DDMO 2026 is not that marketers are sending more or less post: the survey shows both. It is that the value of post is shifting: from mass to relevance, from a standalone piece to a measurable part of the media mix. In a world where attention is getting scarcer and digital channels fuller, direct mail offers something that is hard to digitise: attention, tangibility and impact.

So the future of post is not in more post but in smarter post. And that is exactly what we are set up for: print, direct mail and fulfilment in one place, driven by data. Curious what that means for your next mailing? Request a quote or schedule a conversation.

Frequently asked questions

Is direct mail still relevant in 2026? Yes, and in fact its use is growing. In 2026, 51% of marketers use direct mail, against 46% in 2024 (DDMO 2026). The value is shifting from mass communication towards targeted, measurable and personal post.

How do you make direct mail measurable? With QR codes, unique campaign codes, personal landing pages and response measurement. That is how you link a mailing to conversion, response and loyalty, and see afterwards what the campaign delivered.