If you’ve ever added an item to your cart while shopping online and then changed your mind, only to receive a “Looks like you forgot something …” email in your inbox the next day, you’ve experienced direct marketing. But there’s way more to this marketing technique than abandoned cart emails.
Learn more about direct marketing and the advantages and disadvantages of reaching customers through smaller, more personalized channels.
What is direct marketing?
Direct marketing is a targeted form of advertising that businesses use on prospects who are likely to become buyers. This approach focuses on personalized communication sent directly to customers via direct mail, email, SMS, or social media, as an alternative to mass marketing techniques like outdoor advertising and PR campaigns.
Catalogs are a classic example of direct marketing. Instead of paying for a print ad in a magazine (or hiring a public relations team to try to get a mention in that same publication) and then hoping their target audience will pick up a copy, brands can use catalogs to reach existing customers and others likely to make a purchase.
Today, there are more options for reaching customers directly than just sending catalogs—and many of them can be automated.
What is the purpose of direct marketing?
Even though your direct marketing plan might reach millions of people, each instance of direct marketing should feel like a one-on-one conversation between a brand and a potential customer. The main aim of personalized outreach is to persuade a prospect to take an action, such as:
- Viewing a website
- Making a phone call to learn more
- Requesting a quote
- Sharing contact information
- Completing a purchase
- Providing feedback
To achieve this, direct marketers use personalization techniques, such as mentioning the recipient’s name in a broader message or referencing a recent action they’ve taken to increase the likelihood that the customer will engage.
For example, clothing brand Lisa Says Gah asks customers for feedback on their recent orders in exchange for a discount.
7 direct marketing types and examples
- Social media
- Direct mail
- In-person (direct selling)
- Telemarketing
- Mobile marketing
- Interactive marketing
Here are seven common types of direct marketing and examples of how marketers might use these channels to reach a target audience:
1. Email
Email can be a powerful marketing strategy. Direct marketing tools like Shopify Email allow you to send automated personalized messages to individual prospects after they take a specific action, and Shopify’s built-in segmentation tools make it easy to target small groups of customers.
“You can create segments based on basically any customer data that you have in Shopify,” says Desirae Odjick, product marketer at Shopify. That means you automatically email customers when it’s time to restock, or let them know about a related product you think they’ll like.
You can also target customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while, like skin care company Dieux does with this win-back email sent to customers who haven’t made a purchase in five months.
Remember to follow email marketing best practices like implementing double opt-in to comply with privacy regulations like CAN-SPAM and GDPR.
2. Social media
Social media marketing uses platforms like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram to reach audiences. Brands can send direct messages or use targeted ads to reach potential customers, leveraging a vast user base and data-rich environment.
Social media DMs and comments
Direct messages on social media are personalized messages that you can send followers or potential customers. They offer a direct and instantaneous line of communication, allowing brands to address specific customer queries, concerns, or interests.
Some platforms let you send automated messages. For example, you can use Meta Business Suite Inbox to automatically greet a customer the first time they message you on Facebook or Instagram or to answer frequently asked questions. You can even auto-comment on posts containing a specific hashtag.
There are also third-party tools that can automate your direct marketing efforts. ManyChat helps businesses send automated messages on Instagram. For example, if you offer customers a 15% coupon if they message you “coupon,” then a DM tool will automatically send them the coupon. Of course, you can also respond to comments and messages manually.
Dieux invited followers to comment “waitlist” on an Instagram post to be the first to purchase the newest version of its Forever Eye Mask—and receive a bonus gift. By responding to each comment with a personal message, Dieux makes its customers feel seen (and encourages social media engagement).
Targeted social ads
You can tailor targeted ads based on a user’s age, gender, interests, purchase and browsing history, and other demographic factors. This allows brands to reach the right audience with the right message. For instance, followers of Instagram influencers popular with teens might be served Facebook ads for an acne remedy, based on the assumption that they’re more likely to show interest in the product.
You can enable the Meta pixel on your Shopify storefront to use data from your store to help you create more targeted Facebook and Instagram advertisements.
3. Direct mail
You can send this type of marketing material physically through direct mail. Direct mail often includes information about recently launched products and services, or news of an upcoming sale or special event.
Catalogs
Printed catalogs showcase a brand’s products and are the quintessential form of direct marketing. Typically, you send them to customers who have shown previous interest in products, offering a tactile and branded way to browse.
Fashion brand Karen Kane sends interested customers a catalog through the mail as part of its direct marketing strategy. The glossy magazine shows buyers how to style items for specific seasons and includes lifestyle elements, like a recipe and photos of how its team gives back. Like many brands, Karen Kane also makes its full catalog available digitally.
Flyers and postcards
Direct mail can also include sending flyers or postcards to potential customers. While sometimes seen as an old-fashioned form of direct marketing, the presence of a physical (perhaps personalized) piece of branded content in your prospect’s home can be a more persuasive sales tool than an email sitting in their inbox.
For example, supplement brand Obvi generated a 1,052.8% return on investment with a direct mail campaign targeting repeat purchasers who hadn’t returned to its online store in 90 days.
4. In-person (direct selling)
In-person direct selling involves selling products or services to customers face to face. This allows for immediate feedback and personal interaction, enhancing the customer’s connection with the brand.
Pop-ups
Pop-ups are temporary sales spaces that allow customers to experience products or services firsthand. They offer a unique and engaging shopping experience, often in high-traffic areas, to reach a broad audience.
Canned bean brand Heyday Canning Co. held a four-day pop-up event in New York City. The brand accepted only beans as currency—customers could bring in a generic can of beans and exchange it for a can of Heyday’s flavored beans or bean-centric merch made just for the pop-up.
Door-to-door sales
Direct selling often involves personal selling tactics, such as door-to-door sales. This approach allows for an emotional connection between the salesperson and the customer, often leading to higher engagement. Door-to-door sales is a less crowded channel, which means you may have less competition.
Events
You can also sign up to sell at related events. Lil’ Libros, which sells bilingual children’s books, attends different Los Angeles–based events to connect with different types of audiences. For example, in 2025, it attended LA Comic Con, which put it in front of a more general audience, and the LA Kids Book Festival, an event that is within its niche.
5. Telemarketing
Telemarketing involves contacting potential customers over the phone to sell products or services. This direct approach allows for immediate interaction and response, making it a powerful tool for sales and customer engagement.
Cold outreach is a specific telemarketing strategy where businesses call large lists of potential customers, often without prior contact. Despite being unsolicited, it can reach a broad audience and can generate leads if executed effectively.
6. Mobile marketing
One of the advantages of mobile marketing is that people tend to have their phones with them for much of the day. One study found that in the United States, people checked their phones 144 times a day.
SMS
SMS marketing involves sending promotional text messages to customers. With the rise of messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, businesses are finding new ways to reach customers via text. For example, a brand might send a text message with a reminder about items left in a shopping cart.
Clothing brand Farm Rio uses SMS to regularly interact with customers. The business uses the phrase “your wardrobe” to make its messages feel personal.
To get started with SMS marketing, offer customers an incentive like a discount on their first purchase in exchange for opting into texts.
Push notifications
Brands can send customers personalized push notifications, such as limited-time sales, cart reminders, and reminders to complete an action in exchange for a discount. To create customized messages, you can include the recipient’s name, preferences, and reference their past shopping behavior. You can connect your Shopify store to an app like PushOwl to send tailored push notifications.
7. Interactive marketing
Interactive marketing opens up a two-way communication between brands and customers. Brands can use games, quizzes, videos, audio, and emails to create an interactive direct marketing campaign. For example, a brand can start a live to answer customer questions about its products.
Or it can feature a quiz, like Stumptown Coffee does. The coffee brand features a five-question quiz on its website to help customers narrow down the coffee best suited to them.
At the end of the quiz, Stumptown asks customers to sign up for emails in order to see their results.
Advantages of direct marketing
Direct marketing isn’t a scattergun approach. Instead, it targets your marketing resources at people who likely have an interest in your product or service, based on information you’ve gathered about them.
Direct marketing has several other advantages:
Personal touch
With your own customer data, you can tailor a message to make the recipient feel it’s just for them, such as using their purchase history to recommend new products or asking them to stop by a pop-up in their city. This personalization can increase engagement and response rates.
Cost-effective
With direct marketing, you are often marketing to customers already interested in your products, making it more cost-effective than reaching people who are unaware of your brand. Retaining existing customers who have already made a purchase costs less than acquiring new customers, and customers in the early stages of your marketing funnel—those who have just discovered your brand but are still considering purchasing—are more likely to convert than people who don’t know your brand. This means you’re not wasting resources on those unlikely to be interested.
High ROI
Direct marketing can offer a high return on investment. The odds of making a sale are higher when your customer list is already inclined to purchase your product or service than when you’re trying to persuade someone to make a purchase for the first time. You also have more information on returning customers, letting you build more personalized campaigns compared to potential customers.
As Neil Hoyne, chief strategist at Google, explains, spending time building relationships with existing customers can be more beneficial in the long run. “Clicks and conversions may be a little shortsighted,” Neil says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “You lose touch with customers who may come back multiple times, contribute a lot of value, but are lost in the noise of people who are simply transactional.”
Measurable
Direct marketing provides ways to track the success of each campaign. For example, with email you can use open rates and click-through rates to determine if the messages are resonating with your audience. This data lets you tweak and improve your approach with each new campaign cycle.
Disadvantages of direct marketing
While direct marketing has its advantages, it’s not without its downsides. Here are a few potential challenges to consider:
Cost
Direct marketing can be a cost-effective way to target potential customers, but the initial outlay for creating and launching a campaign can also be high. This includes costs for market research, designing the marketing materials, and distribution.
Shopify has built-in marketing tools that help you with lead generation and sending emails, meaning you don’t have to spend extra money to create targeted direct marketing campaigns.
Balance
Finding the right balance between sending too many direct marketing communication messages and too few can be challenging. Sending too few means you might not reach your goals, but sending too many can be offputting to customers.
Lower reach
Direct marketing is targeted, which means it’s not always the best method for reaching a broad audience quickly. If your goal is widespread brand awareness, there may be more effective strategies than a direct marketing campaign.
Direct your efforts
Direct marketing, with its targeted approach and personalized touch, can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. It’s about focusing your efforts where they’re most likely to yield results, whether through an email campaign, a social media blitz, or a good old-fashioned catalog.
Remember, direct marketing isn’t just about reaching out—it’s about reaching the right people, in the right way, at the right time.
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Direct marketing FAQ
What is direct and indirect marketing?
Direct response marketing is a type of marketing designed to elicit an immediate response, typically a purchase, from the consumer. Indirect marketing, which includes blog posts and newsletters, is not actively trying to make a sale; it’s more about building brand awareness.
What are the 4 main types of direct marketing?
- Email marketing. This involves sending promotions, newsletters, and other messages to a list of contacts via email.
- Mobile marketing. This strategy reaches consumers through SMS text messages, push notifications, and other mobile technologies.
- Social media marketing. Brands can study its audience on social media to create targeted campaigns to promote products and services.
- Direct mail. This involves sending promotional materials directly to consumers via post.
What is the most common method of direct marketing campaign?
Email marketing is one of the most common methods of direct marketing. It’s popular because it’s relatively inexpensive and easy to implement. You can design, test, and send an email message without a considerable investment, making it a go-to choice for many businesses.
What is the aim of direct marketing?
The objective of a direct marketing campaign is to generate a specific response (such as making a purchase or viewing a website) from targeted groups of customers. This data-driven approach lets brands focus their resources where they’re most likely to produce results. Plus, it offers the ability to measure the success of campaigns accurately by analyzing responses.
How much do direct marketers make?
Direct marketers make an average of $33 an hour across the United States.
