Despite the rise of digital, direct mailing as a marketing communication tool remains relevant and widely applied in practice. Nevertheless, research into the effectiveness of direct mailing in the online environment is scant. Key questions that remain entail how direct mails affect different online and offline consumer activity metrics throughout the purchase funnel and how they interact with digital marketing communication tools. The current paper, therefore, investigates these two questions by conducting two studies. First, we focus on the effect of direct mailing on zip-code level upper, middle, and lower funnel performance metrics over time by analyzing quasi-experimental data from a large European insurance firm. The results reveal that direct mailing significantly influences consumer activity metrics in the online channel (i.e., online search and clicking behavior), in support of cross-channel effects of direct mailing. Moreover, direct mailing is shown to be effective throughout the purchase funnel, both directly and indirectly, with a positive net sales effect. Second, we study the joint effect of direct mailing and display advertising by analyzing field experiment data from the same insurance firm. The results show positive synergy between direct mailing and display advertising. Therefore, despite the rise of digital, direct mailing still serves as an effective marketing tool, both by itself and in combination with digital marketing.

尽管数字化的兴起，直接邮寄作为一种营销传播工具在实践中仍然具有相关性和广泛应用。然而，对在线环境中直接邮寄的有效性的研究很少。仍然存在的关键问题涉及直邮如何影响整个购买渠道中不同的在线和离线消费者活动指标，以及它们如何与数字营销传播工具交互。因此，本文通过两项研究来探讨这两个问题。首先，我们通过分析来自一家大型欧洲保险公司的准实验数据，重点关注直邮对邮政编码级别上、中和下漏斗性能指标随时间的影响。结果表明，直接邮寄显着影响在线渠道中的消费者活动指标（即，在线搜索和点击行为），支持直邮的跨渠道效应。此外，直邮在整个购买渠道中都表现出直接和间接的效果，并具有积极的净销售额效应。其次，我们通过分析来自同一家保险公司的现场实验数据来研究直邮和展示广告的联合效应。结果显示直接邮寄和展示广告之间存在积极的协同作用。因此，尽管数字化兴起，直邮仍然是一种有效的营销工具，无论是单独使用还是与数字营销相结合。我们通过分析来自同一家保险公司的现场实验数据来研究直邮和展示广告的联合效应。结果显示直接邮寄和展示广告之间存在积极的协同作用。因此，尽管数字化兴起，直邮仍然是一种有效的营销工具，无论是单独使用还是与数字营销相结合。我们通过分析来自同一家保险公司的现场实验数据来研究直邮和展示广告的联合效应。结果显示直接邮寄和展示广告之间存在积极的协同作用。因此，尽管数字化兴起，直邮仍然是一种有效的营销工具，无论是单独使用还是与数字营销相结合。