More growth marketers are turning to direct mail 

Key Takeaways:

• Direct mail is a proven performance channel for modern marketing teams focused on efficient growth. When measured against shared KPIs like CAC, it consistently delivers high-intent response and meaningful conversion quality.
• Successful direct mail programs are designed with structure, testing, and realistic timelines. Teams that plan for learning cycles and optimization unlock stronger results and long-term scalability.
• The most effective direct mail strategies integrate seamlessly with digital marketing. When coordinated across channels, mail amplifies overall performance and strengthens the entire market.

This is for all you growth marketing managers considering direct mail.

One of our strengths as a DM agency is taking startups from initial test, through rollout, and ongoing profitability. That puts us in position to witness the ebb and flow of the channel’s perceived value in the marketing ecosystem. Do other channels go through periods that swing from being on the sidelines to enthusiastic embrace? That said, right now is a good time for us to be experts in the DM space.

We still do business with legacy mailers — names that you might expect. But, a lot of our growth is coming from startups that call themselves “tech” companies. (fin, health, business, etc.). And now, we’re partnering with A16Z and other venture capital firms to engage with their startups.

Why is that? Here’s a quick list:

• Rising digital costs and diminishing returns
• Increasing competition for attention in digital channels
• Consumer mistrust of digital marketing messages
• DM’s ability to better target and attribute audience response
• Faster DM analytic timeframes
• Rising response rates, among even digital first demographics
• Better intent data sources and pinpoint retargeting
• Mass personalization capabilities similar to email

In a recent webinar with Demand Shift, Gundir partnered with Mochi Health to unpack how a fast-growing healthcare startup reduced customer acquisition cost by more than 50% using a thoughtfully designed direct mail program.

The story isn’t just about impressive results. It’s a lesson in how direct mail can be a surprisingly effective lever in a sophisticated marketing program.

Speed vs. effectiveness

In startup and growth environments, channels are judged quickly. Often the mindset is that if you can’t learn fast, it’s not worth trying. At Mochi, it took a brave growth marketing manager to get a direct mail test program up and running.

He saw it solving for increasing digital costs per lead and conversions, and a general decline in efficiency.

What he proved to his CMO is that direct mail operates differently. It’s slower to launch—but heavier when it lands. It doesn’t compete in the same attention economy as inboxes and feeds.

And critically, it doesn’t just convert on its own—it lifts performance across other channels.

The first thing that got the CMOs attention was the performance lift the DM delivered to all channels. The in-home delivery stats tied directly to increased activity across the board.

“Are we here to do things that are fast—or things that work?” Mark D., Mochi Growth Marketing

That reframing is at the heart of how marketing leaders are viewing the channel. They’re not abandoning speed. They’re balancing it with durability.

See how our work with Mochi Health, a fast-growing healthcare brand, direct mail became a core driver of efficient customer acquisition.

Three lessons from our Mochi experience:

1.  Direct mail drives high-intent conversion

Mochi’s experience mirrored what Gundir sees every day: people who respond to direct mail convert at dramatically higher rates than most digital channels. In fact, DM responders often convert 10–15x higher than baseline traffic.

This isn’t accidental. Mail reaches consumers in a focused environment—one that encourages consideration rather than scrolling. For higher-consideration decisions, that context matters.

2.  It complements digital, it doesn’t replace it

One of the most overlooked benefits of direct mail is its halo effect. When mail drops, search volume rises. Site traffic lifts. Other paid channels perform better.

In Mochi’s case, internal teams could feel when mail hit—because performance increased elsewhere. That’s not coincidence; it’s orchestration.

Modern direct mail isn’t siloed. It’s an amplifier.

3.  Patience is a strategic advantage

Perhaps the hardest lesson for fast-moving teams: direct mail requires patience. Response curves don’t peak in 7 days or even 30. For Mochi, meaningful incremental response continued out to 90 days. With experience, our predictive abilities will improve, leading to shorter decision timeframes.

The teams that succeed with mail don’t expect instant perfection. They plan for learning, optimization, and scale—intentionally.

Patience isn’t passive, it’s paired with disciplined measurement, clear KPIs, and leadership alignment from day one.

What it takes to win at direct mail

A marketing team’s approach to the channel from the start will play an important role in winning at direct mail.

Our most successful clients apply the same rigor to their DM that they apply to other channels:

• They define success clearly (often using CAC to compare apples to apples across channels)

• They build structured testing roadmaps

• They establish attribution protocols

• They balance program performance against testing and innovation

• They integrate mail with digital

At Gundir, this often shows up in a three-part framework—core, growth, and innovation—designed to protect what’s working while still creating space to learn what’s next.

That mindset allowed Mochi to start thoughtfully, learn quickly enough to satisfy management demands, and scale confidently—growing campaign volume while continuing to lower CAC with each mailing.

When to add DM to your channel mix?

Start early. Don’t wait for digital efficiency to erode to unsustainable levels. As you think about next steps in your marketing program, keep in mind that DM works best for businesses when:

• Conversion quality matters more than click volume

• The buying decision requires trust or consideration

• Channels are integrated to work together and attribution can be shared

• You’re willing to invest in learning before scaling

In short, it’s a channel built when your goal is optimizing for outcomes.

A thoughtful next step

If direct mail is becoming a more serious part of your growth conversations—or if you’re questioning whether your current program is working as hard as it could—having an outside perspective can help bring clarity.

Our GundirLaunch program is a proven program to get you from zero to rollout to ongoing optimization and we’d be happy to show you how it can work for you.

If that kind of strategic conversation would be useful, you can start one here.