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There seems to be a few ways to counter the Do Not Mail effort.
1) Contact your state legislators to try to stop legislation from advancing in your state. You will need to supply them with some statistics and facts, such as these from Gene Del Polito in an article in the MST e-newsletter.
2) Point out the shortcomings in the current registry effort. Presumably, non-profits, political organizations and candidates for office would be exempt from the registry, as would messages from existing business partners. (I already get most of my direct mail from my existing partners, such as banks, credit card processors, and phone companies.) Exempting giant business partners with huge product and service offerings like Bank of
3) Promote the existing and voluntary Do Not Mail registry operated by the DMA. http://www.directmail.com/directory/mail_preference/Default.aspx.
This can help forestall legislative action by showing that a viable voluntary alternative to legislation exists. And I'm not convinced people are really offended by receiving direct mail. Studies suggest people like receiving direct mail messages compared to other forms of mass marketing.
4) Continue to educate your customers on the value of direct mail. Sharing success stories of previous campaigns, and details about your investments in new technologies that are designed to improve results, are good techniques and will help generate support.
5) Focus more on multi-channel messaging capabilities, i.e, invest in up-stream messaging and distribution technologies, or affiliate with firms that offer such capabilities. The migration of customer messaging to electronic channels -- such as e-mail, web postings, sms text messaging, along with the emerging use of video -- is unmistakeable. Capitalize on the shift to multi-channel messaging.
Remember, mail is an immense, vital and universal communications channel. Even if overall growth is stagnant, or declining, there are opportunities to be the best and prosper.
Still, I think the best long-term security will come to those who are involved more upstream, and can help shape and arrange for the distribution of customer messages, though whatever channel, i.e, traditional hard copy mail or newer electronic forms, is best. Companies that want to stay in touch with younger consumers in particular will have to deliver at least a portion of their messaging via channels these new consumers prefer to use.
Pitney Bowes has some information available, as the two links below show.
http://www.dmnews.com/DMNews-debuts-first-DMNewsPitney-Bowes-survey/article/99883
The USPS has information on the benefits of Direct Mail.
http://www.usps.com/directmail/research.htm
Here's another news story from the
I hope this helps.