Blog

Engaging a Teen Audience with Direct Mail

Better-Letter

There are roughly 42 million teens in the US who spend, on average, about $4,000 each year. Is your business benefitting from a teen customer base? Although well over half of America’s teens are online, only 6% are emailing each other on a daily basis. Reaching them via email, therefore, is not necessarily the best avenue for marketers to take. Instead, your business might want to rethink its direct mail campaign to more effectively reach teens.

Why Market to Teens

Not every business needs to worry about the teen audience. If your business sells plumbing supply parts or sheet metal, there’s little reason to worry about the teenage demographic. If, however, part of your customer base includes teens, you can improve sales to this age bracket by targeting them with a direct mail campaign. Marketing to teens is important because teenagers are likely to become brand loyal early on. Marketing experts also suggest that teens wield considerable buying power. While twenty years ago teens were still focused on buying clothes and music, they are, today, purchasing more expensive merchandise like mobile tablets and smart phones.

Teens and Direct Mail

Marketers have found that, simply put, teens like getting mail. Direct mail provides teens with what they love: to be treated as adults. While most of the direct mail that teens receive is from colleges and universities attempting to market to them, savvy businesses are also targeting this group with campaigns designed to tap into teens’ largely disposable income. When it comes to the teen audience, the novelty of direct mail has not worn off. Businesses simply need to provide relevant content to teens about merchandise or upcoming sales.

Designing a Direct Mail Campaign for Teens

Studies have shown that teens respond to informative content. A direct mail campaign should attempt to provide information about products that are relevant to teens. Providing a teen with an incentive like a buy-one,get-one free offer is the type of giveaway that teens find hard to resist. Short, bold headlines with a clear call to action should reach teens.Imagery is also important to teens, so be sure to choose images that are likely to appeal to this demographic.

The fact is, direct mail has been shown to be the most effective means to reach teens, according to a study by the Center for Media Design of Ball State University. The reason colleges continue to connect with teens via direct mail is because it works. If it works for them, it might just work for your business too.

Recent Blogs

Why Direct Mail Wins During the Holiday Marketing Rush (Even in 2025)

Every December, businesses scramble to get their marketing messages in front of customers before the year ends. Inboxes overflow. Ad costs surge. Social feeds get noisy. Consumers tune out.   But one channel continues to rise above the chaos — direct mail.   And in…

5 Ways to Get Holiday Marketing Campaigns in Mailboxes Before Black Friday

The holidays are the most competitive marketing season of the year. Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday all hit at once—and if your message isn’t in the mailbox early, it risks getting lost in the rush.   That’s why November is the perfect…

Supporting Veteran-Owned Businesses This Veterans Day: Why It Matters

Every Veterans Day, we pause to honor the courage and sacrifice of those who served. But there’s another meaningful way to show support year-round—by choosing to do business with veteran-owned companies.   At Better Letter, we’re proud to be a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB),…