Study: The Impact of Reading Print

Recent MRI and EEG brain wave measurement studies show how print marketing leaves a deeper impression and more engagement.

In a study titled “A Bias for Action – The Neuroscience Behind the Response-Driving Power of Direct Mail” by Canada Post/True Impact Marketing (2015), these three attributes of reading were measured: cognitive load (ease of understanding); motivation (persuasiveness); attention (how long subjects looked at content).The physical printed piece performed much better than its digital counterparts.

Direct mail requires 21% less cognitive effort to process than digital media, suggesting that it is both easier to understand and more memorable.

Post-exposure memory tests validated what the cognitive load test revealed about direct mail’s memory encoding capabilities. When asked to cite the brand (company name) of an advertisement they had just seen, recall was 70% higher among participants who were exposed to a direct mail piece (75%) than a digital ad (44%).* The engagement factor seems to be reiterated in study after study, with indications that when a consumer receives a printed piece, they simply retain information better.

According to a Royal Mail Market Reach study, print and mail has a powerful impact on long-term memory encoding**

To download the entire e-book How Print Marketing Lights Up Your Customer’s Brain For More Sales, fill out the form below. Bonus: We also reveal how you can mail postcards to your website visitors!

*Canadian neuromarketing firm TrueImpact, on study sponsored by Canada Post.
** Neuro-Insight, 2018

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