The humble mailshot has proven once again that it is far from outdated. 

According to the latest Q2 figures from Jicmail, interaction with direct mail, door drops and business mail has reached its highest level in five years – rivaling even the extraordinary engagement levels last seen during the UK’s Covid lockdown in Q2 2020.

Frequency of interaction with mail now stands at 4.56 per item, a figure closing in on the record highs set when the nation was confined at home. 

Consumers are also spending more time with each piece of mail: up 13 seconds year on year. Door drops now command an average of 60 seconds of attention, while business mail attracts an impressive 186 seconds – more than three times that amount.

Driving Digital Actions Like Never Before

What is perhaps most striking about the latest data is the extent to which mail continues to drive digital behaviour. A record 9.2% of mail prompted a visit to an advertiser’s website – the highest proportion in half a decade, narrowly shy of the 9.4% peak achieved during the first Covid lockdown.

Mail is also prompting consumers to dig deeper into their digital accounts. Some 5.9% of recipients were inspired to look up their account details – the highest reading since 2020. Significantly, 8% of this group went on to download the advertiser’s app, underlining the seamless connection between the letterbox and the digital world.

Other digital touchpoints such as email engagement and QR code scans were also directly triggered by mail, with Jicmail pointing to mail’s strength as a “super touchpoint” in the omnichannel customer journey.

Sales, Redemptions and Big-Ticket Decisions

The Jicmail report also highlighted growth in mail’s role as a sales driver. The proportion of mail prompting a purchase increased by 15% year on year, with around half of these purchases completed online. 

Voucher redemptions also climbed, and mail played an increasingly important role in helping households plan larger, high-value purchases.

This success is closely tied to mail’s ability to deliver marketing communications that command undivided attention in the home. According to Jicmail, a single item of mail can attract up to 80 times more attention than an in-feed social ad – a fact that underscores why brands continue to invest in creative mail campaigns.

Who’s Winning the Mail Attention Battle?

Certain organisations continue to overperform when it comes to capturing consumer attention via mail. In the direct mail sector, the NHS, Tesco and HMRC all delivered a disproportionately high share of attention relative to their volumes.

For door drops, Farmfoods and Checkatrade proved dominant, commanding two-thirds of all time spent with mail sent by the top ten advertisers in Q2.

Overall, Nielsen-endorsed circulation data shows combined door drop and direct mail volumes grew by 4% year on year in the first half of 2025 – a clear sign of renewed confidence in the channel.

Mail’s Modern Relevance

Jicmail’s director of data leadership and learning noted that the last time engagement was at such a high level, Britain was in lockdown and consumers were highly receptive to in-home advertising. 

Five years on, with everyday life firmly back to normal, mail is still outperforming expectations. Its strength lies in the way it triggers follow-up actions across digital channels – from website visits to app downloads and email engagement – making it a vital driver of integrated campaigns.

The organisation’s engagement director added that, in contrast to digital channels where consumers are bombarded by fleeting ads, mail delivers sustained, undivided attention – a quality that is enriching digital experiences rather than competing with them.

Conclusion: A Super Touchpoint That Keeps Delivering

The figures from Jicmail show that mail remains an indispensable part of the marketing mix. It not only generates impressive levels of attention in the home but also fuels digital interactions across websites, apps and email. 

With engagement levels at their highest in five years, and effectiveness approaching the extraordinary benchmarks of 2020, mail is proving itself once again as a “super touchpoint” – bridging offline creativity with online action.

For brands looking to cut through the noise of digital ad saturation, the message is clear: if you want to deliver a better digital experience, start by sending mail.