With the ever-increasing awareness of the "Do Not Contact" lists that are being formed right now for telemarketers and anti-spam legislation recently passed, there are those who are concerned that the next industry to feel the hit from this trend is the direct mailing industry. Fear not! The difference is, people enjoy getting mail. It doesn't come in the middle of supper and pull you away from the table or clog your e-mail; it's there in your mailbox waiting for you and ready for review at your convenience. You can choose to read it or throw it away.
In an effort to ensure the mail's detachment from the "intrusive marketing" label associated with telemarketing and spam, we posed this question to several leading manufacturers of mailing software: "What can mail industry software do to assist mail managers in dealing with the Do Not Contact trend?" One thing for sure is the future and accuracy of delivery for direct mailing is in good hands. Software vendors are on top of methods to ensure direct mail acceptance by consumers. Here are the responses that we received:
AccuZIP Inc.
Steve Belmonte
It is important for all of us to respect the privacy of others. The Do Not Contact trend is a positive marketing opportunity. Think about it for a moment. What if you knew ahead of time that the individual you were contacting via phone, fax or mail would most likely hang up or immediately throw your fax or printed material in the trash without first listening or reading the material. You now have a way to purge these "uninterested" individuals from your call center or mailing list prior to contacting them. The Do Not Contact trend is a win-win situation for everyone. The consumers win because they no longer are bothered by unwanted marketing. The marketing companies win because their return on investment (ROI) increases due to less waste, both in material and labor cost.
Direct mailers should not be concerned about the Do Not Contact trend. The mailing industry should seize the moment now and turn this trend into a profit center by providing a new revenue-generating service that will purge these Do Not Contact records from any potential mailing or telemarketing campaigns. The cost benefit to your customers could be enormous. By providing CASS, GOLD PAVE-Certified presorting, direct imprinting and/or variable data printing along with comprehensive database management, which includes accurate merge/purge and duplicate detection, you can assist your customer on receiving the highest ROI.
What software-related solutions can/should mailers use to address this trend? The AccuZIP6 Postal Software has an integrated Merge/Purge feature that can link to Do Not Call data downloaded from the official National Do Not Call registry (www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx). Once the files are downloaded, you can use the integrated merge/purge feature in the software to remove the records from the contact/mailing list, provided the list contains matching data. If contact information is also downloaded, data can be purged based on an A.K.A. match (e.g., Bill vs. William or Colette vs. Nicolette), which will yield more credible matches, ensuring that data derived from multiple sources does not cause you to inadvertently mail to an individual on a Do Not Contact list.
www.accuzip.com
BCC Software Inc
K. Jon Runstrom
Will Do Not Call lead to Do Not Mail? I don't think so, but at least three factors improve the chances of such legislation eventually being enacted:
mail an eco-menace (one group, the
Center for a New American Dream,
claims a postal carrier annually delivers the weight of four elephants in "junk mail").
Still, without advertising mail, our economy would be in dire straits. Direct marketing generates 20 million jobs and US revenues of $1.86 trillion, while advertising mail represents only 0.4% of our country's solid waste. That's a terrific ROI and, to me, a pretty good use of trees.
Part of our industry's lobbying efforts against this legislation includes the Mail Preference Service (MPS), a voluntary program managed by the Direct
For a small fee, anyone can purge the MPS names from mailings. If time and budgets seem too tight to bother, that's precisely the reason to do it: those listed in the MPS are most liable to pressure legislators into making this voluntary mechanism a legal requirement. (Besides, mailing to these folks is unlikely to prompt any response besides irritation.)
Some groups make it easy to send anti-mail messages to lawmakers. On the New American Dream's Web site, a mouse click sends a letter urging Congress to act. I've encouraged mailing groups to make our side of the story heard; in the meantime, I used the site to send my own counter-argument. I hope they don't mind.
www.bccsoftware.com
Datatech Smartsoft
Mike Maguire
The Direct
The second thing is that the industry, in general, is self-policing; in order to do a direct mailing, you have to go on record with your name, address and phone number if you get a mail permit. We are very cognizant of what we send out and where because we are on record with the USPS. We don't just call people out of the blue for unrelated offers because it is important for us to not get our permit revoked. The Postal Service can take away your Bulk Mail permit, whereas in telemarketing, that doesn't exist.
The third thing is that direct mail is more expensive than a phone call, and we put a lot of research into the list, a lot of research into the mailpiece, a lot of research into the offer. So you are going to find that our list is pretty targeted. What we do as a mailing list or software provider is that we make it easy for a mailer to find these lists and pull out the gem those clients that are truly interested in the offer.
Our software allows mailers to trace people right down to the census level track. We can follow customers, and that is important so that mailers don't mail to people who have no business receiving the mailing.
www.smartsoftusa.com
Firstlogic, Inc.
Eric Lieberman
The recent trend in Do Not
However, direct mail has undergone extensive changes in recent years. The Postal Service continues to refine its delivery network, offering greater opportunities for mailers to reduce their postage through workshare discounts and provide greater visibility in mail delivery. The days of bulk mailing a single message and hoping for a two percent to five percent response is over. The smart mailer now leverages advanced data quality technology to precisely verify address delivery, target a message based on geographic and demographic data and purchase history and can now see responses of 20% or more.
2004 may in many ways be a "calm before the storm." With a Rate Case almost certain to occur in early 2006, theUSPS will spend much of this year working on initiatives to · include in this filing. Emerging changes such as product redesign, cost-based rates and emerging niche classifications are just a few such changes on the near horizon.
So how will mail managers in 2004 do more than just comply with regulatory issues? We believe that many will look to "market smarter" by learning as much as they can about the recipients of their promotional messages. For some, this may require utilizing advanced "householding" capabilities to understand relationships between individuals in a family or an organization. For others, broadening markets across borders or oceans may be an alternative.
No matter what 2004 holds, we realize that our job as a mailing software vendor will be to continue to build partnerships with postal authorities, industry consultants and especially our customers. That in itself requires a commitment to remain an active and regular participant in industry groups and keep our customers and the broader mailing industry informed through Web seminars, newsletters, speaking engagements and regional technology summits. It's a commitment we look forward to fulfilling.
www.firstlogic.com
Group 1 Software
Bob Bowen
For over two decades, Group 1 Software has provided a wide range of direct marketing software solutions to many, if not most, of
Today, the direct marketing industry finds itself under attack. Existing and proposed Do Not Contact legislation is certainly disturbing, as the entire industry is being penalized for the unprofessional business practices of a few. Our experience has shown us the vast majority of direct marketers are hardworking, reputable business people determined to offer relevant goods and services on an increasingly targeted basis to businesses, households and individuals.
Do Not Contact is not limited to e-mail and telemarketing. Do Not Mail legislation has been introduced in
Our software systems are utilized to reach customers. Fortunately, our software can also be leveraged to comply with any form of Do Not Contact. For mailers, as well as for telemarketers and e-mailers, our software offers proven technology that allows direct marketers to suppress Do Not Contact prospects from marketing campaigns. To meet the industry's broadest requirements, our software runs on virtually every platform and operating system. Additionally, our technology has been used for years in conjunction with the Direct
In summary, we are well aware of and greatly concerned with Do Not Contact trends. We do, however, expect to be able to provide the technology to permit our clients to comply with whatever legislation may be forthcoming.
www.g1.com
Melissa Data
Ray Melissa
The year 2003 will surely go down in history as the year when consumers said, "Do not contact me" and the politicians listened. Two significant pieces of legislation that shield consumers from unwanted messages easily won approval and were signed into law.
Last September, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) launched the Do Not Call registry, which has since grown to more than 60 million names. The CAN SPAM Act, which was passed on
But what are the implications of these laws for the mail industry? Will direct mail ever be subject to the same restrictions that govern telemarketing and e-mail?
Included in the CAN SPAM Act is a provision that gives the FTC the authority to build a Do Not Mail registry. Given the importance of direct mail and its contribution to the economy, it is doubtful that such a law would ever see the light of day. We're talking about a $900 billion industry that shows no signs of slowing down.
Not only does the mailstream deliver critical documents, it also helps build business success. In fact, more than half of the respondents to a recent survey in BtoB Magazine plan to increase direct mail spending in 2004 to help generate sales leads. It's no surprise that we have seen renewed interest in direct mail given that budgets for telemarketing have been reallocated.
At Melissa Data, we can help you build your credibility as a mailer. Every product or service that we offer has been designed to improve deliverability and relevance of mail.
We can help you purge duplicate names from your lists, find customers who have moved, verify mailing addresses, personalize letters with proper gender salutations, target more accurately with census data or geographic data, match your database against suppression lists, distinguish between residential and business addresses and more. ·
Given these tools, you can boost the effectiveness of your marketing communications and keep customers interested in what you have to say through mail marketing.
www.melissadata.com
Pitney Bowes Inc.
Bernie Gracy
More than 60 million households signed up for the Do Not Call list. This has had a profound effect on marketing. According to the Direct
This year, unwanted Spam is expected to account for 60% of e-mail, up from 54% last year. It's unlikely that the CAN SPAM legislation will reduce that number in the way that the Do Not Call list cut down on telemarketing. But one thing is obvious there is a disconnect between what marketers are providing and what consumers want.
In a recent survey that was completed by International Communications Research, it was revealed that even in today's electronic world, consumers prefer the mail for receiving documents and messages; new product announcements and offerings; and confidential communications, such as bank statements and financial reports.
Mail was also preferred by two thirds of respondents of the survey for receiving unsolicited information on products as well as services from companies they are not doing business with. Three out of four respondents chose regular mail for receiving new product announcements or offers from companies that they do business with, which is also an increase from the 73% in the 2001 survey. For confidential communications, such as bills, bank statements and financial reports, respondents overwhelmingly preferred mail (86%) as their channel of choice, down just slightly from 93% in 2001.
Although the number of households with access to e-mail went from 34% in 1999 all the way up to 62% in 2003, the mail is still the most effective marketing tool that businesses can use when communicating with its consumers. With that in mind, business-to-customers marketers would be well served to continue to use and even consider increasing their use of the mail as part of the companies overall marketing mix.
www.pb.com
