Marketing Study

IRVING, TX – A marketing services company has published a consumer preferences report which reveals that most consumers prefer direct mail over electronic media for most categories of product or service brands.

The 2011 Channel Preference Study is entitled, “The Formula For Success: Preference and Trust” and was undertaken by Epsilon Data Management LLC headquartered in Irving, TX about 30 miles northeast of Fort Worth and about 20 miles northwest of Dallas.

The report focuses on various categories of product and service brands and the different marketing channels used to reach customers. The most effective and trustworthy marketing channel for most product or service category turns out to be direct mail.

The marketing study was conducted in August 2011 and explored several categories of product and service brands and the channels used in promotional campaigns to find customers.

Mailing list managers should take note of these findings and use them in their marketing campaigns. A prudent use of mailing lists in direct mail marketing in combination with other social media and website marketing can take into account the conclusions of the study and make use of it for profitable results.

The study revealed direct mail to be the most effective and trustworthy marketing channel for most product or service categories. This study was done on a representative sampling of U.S. and Canadian consumers, 2,226 from the U.S. and 2,574 from Canada. The report was then compiled from the completed responses from an online survey.

Product and Service Categories

The report is interesting in that it rates consumer preference for direct mail vs. email for a number of product or service categories:

• Charitable causes / donations
• Cleaning product
• Financial services
• Food product
• General health
• Hobbies or interests
• Household services
• Insurance
• Mail order shopping
• Over-the-counter medication
• Personal care
• Prescription
• Retail information
• Sensitive health
• Travel

It is interesting that consumers prefer direct mail over email in every category, although some more than others. These results shed much needed light on how best to proceed with a direct mail marketing campaign and provides industry specific insight into the minds and buying habits of customers.

Too Much Email

One of the important findings of the study is that there is a general sense that customers receive too much email and, thus, an offer can get lost in a sea of email that arrives in one’s inbox on a daily basis. As a result, consumers are happier to receive a direct mail piece instead of an email.

Trust is Also an Issue

The trustworthiness of a promotional item is a key factor in whether or not a consumer would act on an offer. For example, there a lot of financial scams that flood the email marketing channel and this has a definite impact on whether or not the consumer will trust offers for financial services that are promoted via email. That is just one example.

The report also explores social media websites like Facebook and Twitter. People are much less likely to believe or trust information they read about from these websites than they would from television, newspapers or company websites. In the U.S. 8 percent of consumers would trust what they read in Facebook and 6 percent would trust Twitter as compared to 21 percent for newspapers or company websites and 15 percent for television.

Reasons Why Customers Prefer Direct Mail

The study tells why the results favor direct mail and mailing list marketing over email and social media marketing. In the report, consumers expressed their reasons for preferring direct mail:

• 32 percent say that they already get too much email
• 24 percent say that a lot of online information can’t be trusted
• 37 percent say the main reason for preferring direct mail over email is that it is more private
• 50 percent say that they would pay more attention to information received by postal mail than by email
• 60 percent simply say that they enjoy checking their mailbox for postal mail

It is revealing that privacy was a significant concern to consumers and today’s Internet is fraught with privacy problems, as witnessed by Facebook’s recent settlement with the FTC over privacy complaints.

The report can be downloaded for free from this link

Direct Mail Marketing Report Cover

SCHAUMBURG, IL – The marketing services division of the global information services company, Experian, has published a direct mail white paper showing that direct mail continues to be an effective way to reach new customers or reactivate old ones.

The marketing report, entitled “The Direct Marketing Report 2010″, is available from the Experian website as a free download in PDF format.

The report is filled with facts and figures to support its conclusions that there are current marketing trends towards an increase in the use of direct mail in mailing list campaigns.

As mentioned before in previous posts in this blog, direct mail is shown to be most effective when used in a coordinated cross-channel or multi-channel marketing campaign. Mailing list managers who are savvy have figured out that mail order catalogs and traditional mailing pieces are still very effective. Despite a slow economy for business, using direct mail in combination with electronic media and social networking will be more effective than online marketing alone or direct mail alone.

Internet Marketing Augmented by Catalog Mailings

The report points out these facts:

• The number of catalog orders placed online has increased from 50% in 2006 to 61% in 2010.
• Most households will not simply throw a direct mail advertisement into the trash. 74% will either scan or read the direct mail they receive.
• When placing online orders, customers who receive a catalog in the mail will spend 28% more than those who do not receive one.

These facts support the notion that even though customers are increasingly using the Internet to place their orders, when a customer receives a catalog or other direct mail piece, it will drive more orders to the website than when a catalog is not mailed.

The report points out that this is partly due to online ad fatigue. Marketers who depend solely on online ads will not do as well as those who use mailing lists in combination with a website to place the orders.

Multi-Channel Marketing

The report contained some interesting facts about combining online sales with catalog mailings:

• When the report was published in 2010, it was forecasted that for every dollar spent to produce direct mail catalogs, it would generate $7.34 in sales.
• Customers who are 55 or older prefer to shop from catalogs and place their orders by phone – presumably because they would like to speak to a live person instead of navigating through a website and placing orders without customer assistance.
• Prospects who are directed to a website from a catalog tend to be more qualified than those who arrive from search engines and other online sources and will convert to sales at a higher rate.
• Catalog shoppers also tend to be more familiar with products when they arrive at the Website and are more prepared to make a purchase.

Helpful Tips For Mailing List Managers

In addition to its facts and figures, the report contains some helpful advice for mailing list managers.

Co-Mailing: Flats mailers can achieve significant postage savings through co-mailing. Co-mailing with other titles will increase your available postage discounts. For example, if you have a 3 million-piece mailer and you could co-mail it with an additional 2 million-piece mailer, your postage rate will be based on a 5 million-piece mailing and the postage savings would be significant.

Consider First-Class Post Cards: If it is not practical to mail a catalog for a promotional event, then consider mailing a First-Class post card instead. Post cards are cheaper than mailing catalogs and are most likely to be read by customers.

“or Current Resident”: Include “or Current Resident” on your address labels when mailing a generic offer like a catalog. Your mailer will be delivered instead of being thrown out or returned and your chances of getting a sale will increase.

Data Hygiene: Make sure your mailing list provider is able to provide data hygiene to increase the mailing efficiency and cut down on duds. Mailing responses will be improved with advanced suppression tools. For example, good data hygiene practices will use suppression files such as “prison” and “deceased” in addition to “child” and “undeliverable address” files.

Mailing list accuracy: Reliance on the USPS changes of address may not be as effective as proprietary change of address tools used by some mailing list providers. According to the US Postal Service, about 22 percent of people who move each year do not file an official change of address. Thus, targeting can be improved with a more accurate mailing list.

The report can be downloaded from the Experian website from this link:

LISTSERV was a free mailing list service that allowed people from far-flung corners of the world to connect with each other and keep abreast of topics through email notifications.

LISTSERV was among the earlist forms of social connectivity along with IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and USENET (news groups). These were the early forerunners of social media. Before Twitter and Facebook, employing email with a free mailing list service was the dominant form of social connectivity.

The official shutdown date for LISTSERV is scheduled for December 1, 2011. Earlier, the company wanted to shut it down on November 1st, but then decided, instead, to push it out another month to December.

AOL sent out an email notice to mailing list administrators with a statement about the shutdown:

If your list is still actively used, please make arrangements to find another service prior to the shutdown date and notify your list members of the transition details,” … “If you are no longer actively using this service then no other action is required.

At one time in the late 1990s, the service’s popularity was at its peak and AOL was the third-largest provider of mailing lists. Currently The AOL LISTSERV mailing list service hosts about 640 mailing lists with topics that range from computer programming to ancient history to acting and theater to professional sports teams.

AOL’s decision to terminate the mailing list service may have been influenced by it’s decrease in popularity in recent years, but mailing lists provide a unique role in the online community.

A mailing list differs from social media sites like Facebook because they are specific to a certain topic. Comments posted on a Facebook wall of can get buried among a seemingly random array of subjects.

The LISTSERV email list manager was originally written in 1986 by Eric Thomas when he was a student in Paris. It is now a product of L-Soft, which was founded by Thomas and where he now serves as its CEO.

DMA 2011 Conference & Exhibition held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center

The event was held at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. Among the topics discussed were brand interaction, data, integration, networking, creating relationships, engaging customers and making adjustments in real-time.

In today’s marketing environment, the lines between marketing channels are blurring and integration is the key to success. There are the traditional marketing channels such as print ads, direct mail and mailing list campaigns and media advertising (TV and radio) plus there are newer online channels such as a company website, Internet marketing, email, social media and mobile devices that allow instantaneous messaging and response.

An integrated marketing strategy that reaches and engages your customers while at the same time allows adjustments in real-time is essential in today’s fast-paced, connected world. At the conference, the DMA discussed the tools, technologies, and best practices necessary.

The How-To’s of Integrated Marketing Covered in Concurrent Tracks

All in all, the conference covered the best of the how-to’s of integrated marketing along concurrent tracks:

• Lead Generation & Acquisition
• Customer Retention & Loyalty
• Real-Time Marketing
• Trigger Marketing
• Fundamentals of Digital & Direct Marketing
• Cross-Channel Marketing Strategy
• Data Measurement & Attribution
• Promotion – Creative & Production
• Brand Marketing
• Social & Content Marketing
• Mobile Marketing Strategies

Today’s business environment is heavily dependent on social media where customer satisfaction – or the lack of it – is announced to the whole world and satisfied customers is what drives sales.

Pitney Bowes conducted a survey at the conference and discovered that 80 percent of those who attended anticipated increased marketing spending for 2012. This was also true for 2011. In an economy where marketing budgets have been taking a hit since the recession first began in 2008, 2011 saw an increase in marketing expenditures of 5.6% to reach a total of $163 billion. This was according to the latest release of the DMA’s biennial marketing study, The Power of Direct Marketing.

The Pitney Bowes survey of conference attendees also touched on another topic. According to their survey, almost 94 percent surveyed agreed that a multi-channel approach to marketing is more effective than one that addresses only a single channel.

Multi-Channel Marketing

Currently, there are so many marketing channels available to the direct marketer or business person that unless expenditures and results are closely managed, one can come up short on critical sales targets and fall prey to poor results and excess spending.

Some suggestions for managing multiple channels are:

• Call center conversations
• Social Media
• Live chat on a Web site
• Mobile/App Marketing
• Direct mail
• Mailing List Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Digital Out-of-Home Marketing
• Print Ads
• Telemarketing
• Display Advertising
• Search engine optimization / marketing (SEO/SEM)
• SMS (short message service – e.g. text messaging) activities
• QR code marketing activities

These activities can all be utilized and aligned with data analysis and application in order to deliver dynamic personalized interactions throughout the customer experience.

The art is in the management of these channels and their effective use as tools to acquire and retain customers, achieve customer satisfaction and, ultimately, brand loyalty.

Mailing Lists Direct is a full service direct mail list company where  you can find consumer lists, business lists and specialty lists at  competitive prices. Mailing Lists Direct provides first rate customer  support. No matter what your business needs in the way of an address  list or managing your mailing list campaigns, Mailing Lists Direct will  be able to satisfy all your needs. Call toll free at 800-741-0116.

State Capital building in Pierre, South Dakota

The direct mail piece used in the campaign features Gov. Dennis Daugaard along with the headline, “Tired of taxes? Call me.”

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development in Pierre, SD has the states of Illinois, Minnesota and California in its sights.

Pierre is located in Hughes County, South Dakota in the central part of the state about 226 miles northwest of Sioux Falls.

Map showing location of Pierre, South Dakota

The thrust of the mailing list campaign is to use the relatively low taxes in South Dakota to persuade businesses in other states with higher taxes to relocate to South Dakota.

South Dakota taxes at a glance:

• No personal income tax
• No corporate income tax
• No personal property tax
• No business inventory tax
• No inheritance tax

Apparently the campaign is working and has generated 50 leads between Minnesota and Illinois, so far. Call backs from California are just beginning.

The direct mail campaign is part of a total marketing effort involving print, radio and mailing list ads conducted by the state of South Dakota at a total cost of nearly $143,000.

The mailing list was comprised of a little over 7,800 companies to be contacted by mail and by phone.

Pat Costello, the commissioner for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, made the following statement about the mailing list campaign in an article appearing in The ArgusLeader.com website:

We’re out there just trying to promote South Dakota and the business environment we have, the positive business environment — tax structure, low regulation, high productivity workforce — it’s something we’re not afraid to tell people.

The mailing list campaign was triggered after successfully attracting some California businesses and after receiving some unsolicited requests from Illinois businesses. According to the ArgusLeader.com article, the purpose of the marketing campaign is “to educate business leaders about benefits of operating in South Dakota.”

South Dakota is hoping that the current economy might cause businesses in other states to consider South Dakota for relocation and/or expansion.

Mailing Lists Direct is a full service direct mail list company where  you can find consumer lists, business lists and specialty lists at  competitive prices. Mailing Lists Direct provides first rate customer  support. No matter what your business needs in the way of an address  list or managing your mailing list campaigns, Mailing Lists Direct will  be able to satisfy all your needs. Call toll free at 800-741-0116.

QR Code from Wikipedia

LARGO, FL – The Florida-based marketing firm, Valpak Direct Marketing Systems, Inc., owned and operated by Cox Media, has developed an innovative use of QR codes for its Valpak direct mail coupon pack. The company plans to mail 80,000 direct mail pieces in the next two months which contain QR codes printed on the outside of the envelope and on individual coupons inside the mailer.

QR codes are a digital scanning technology similar to barcodes where digital information can be scanned into a computer with a digital camera on a hand held mobile phone.

Many new hand held mobile devices like the Motorola Razr or Rokr, or some newer phones made by Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson support this technology. One simply points and shoots the code with the camera and a response will then be initiated on the phone’s screen.

Ramifications For Mailing List Managers

Mailing list managers should pay attention to this move as it will probably have ramifications for the future of direct mail marketing. In a recent press release at the PRNewswire website that describes details of the upcoming marketing campaign, Michael Vivio, president of Cox Target Media remarks, “This huge initiative is a great example of the power of print and digital working together.”

In the Valpak campaign, the QR codes will send the user to a webpage where he or she can fill out a form and provide details for the response.

The company had some interesting comments in their recent press release at the PRNewswire website:

This is the first national QR campaign for Valpak, providing consumers a new way to engage with The Blue Envelope®. It also positions Valpak as leading the way in direct mail. As an industry leader for 43 years, Valpak continues to grow and evolve using the latest technology.

Television Campaigns To Promote The New Technology

Valpak is planning two television campaigns in July and August of 2011 to promote the new technology. The promotional campaign is aimed at engaging its existing audience as well as a new, younger audience who are the current generation of social media and smartphone users.

The QR code campaigns put together fir the Valpak direct mailer were designed by Seattle-based mobile marketing company, SPARQ.ME.

The press release goes on to explain why this campaign is new and unique:

While most QR Code solutions point to sites that are not mobile-optimized and not built to drive new customers, SPARQ.ME has built a platform that is specifically geared to deliver an easy experience for today’s mobile consumer, and to deliver new customers to its advertiser partners.

More Than One Way To Respond

One of the offers that will be using the new QR codes will be a Valpak “Shop in New York City” Sweepstakes. The upcoming campaign does not plan to exclude people who do not have a smart phone. People will be able to respond by one of three ways – by mail, by scanning the code or by visiting the website manually in a browser. Respondents who choose the traditional response by mail will be able to cut-out and fill out a registration form printed on the inside of the Valpak envelope. They can also mail a hand-printed 3″ x 5″ sheet of paper with required information such as name, address, city, state and zip code.

Mailing Lists Direct is a full service direct mail list company where you can find consumer lists, business lists and specialty lists at competitive prices. Mailing Lists Direct provides first rate customer support. No matter what your business needs in the way of an address list or managing your mailing list campaigns, Mailing Lists Direct will be able to satisfy all your needs. Call toll free at 800-741-0116.

PRIMIR Marketing Report

RESTON, VA – Market information and research organization announces the release of a new marketing study on direct marketing.

In the new report entitled, “Trends and Future of Direct Marketing”, The Print Industries Market Information and Research Organization (PRIMIR) commissioned J Zarwan Partners, an outside consulting firm to conduct the study.

According to an April 29, 2011 press release from PRIMIR, the purpose of the study was “to investigate direct marketing and where opportunities exist for the graphic communications industry.”

PRIMIR is an association for the graphic communications industry, which conducts in-depth market research studies for the graphic communications industry. It conducts over $500,000 of research annually which is available to its members. It receives funding from membership dues as well as support from NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies.

Direct Mail is Still King

One of the key findings in this report are that direct mail is still the largest direct marketing channel in the USA with telemarketing coming in a close second. According to the 420-page report, in 2009 direct mail accounted for 31% of all advertising spending and telemarketing accounted for 29% of all advertising spending. The study reveals that mailing list marketing and direct mail is still the number one channel used by marketers and businesses.

The PRIMIR press release at their website makes the following comments about the study:

The study addresses the impact of technology, economic and social issues, environmental concerns, postal rates, and demographics, as well as developments and differences in more than 16 key vertical market sectors such as retail, finance, insurance, healthcare and business services. J Zarwan Partners teamed up with INTERQUEST to conduct this important research for the PRIMIR members. In addition to responses from more than 550 individuals with knowledge about the graphic communications industry and direct marketing, the extensive methodology included a review of primary and secondary literature.

Not Only is Direct Mail Still King … It’s Growing!

A second key finding in the study is that marketing spending on direct mail shows a “strong upward trend” over the last decade and it continues to grow. This may come as a shock to many marketing managers, who are frequently given the impression that electronic and social media are taking over the planet. I get emails almost daily from marketing gurus who are selling this message but when it comes down to the facts, direct mail is still king.

It is true that electronic and social media do play a vital role in today’s marketplace and it would be foolish to ignore them. The PRIMIR press release did have some comments about this:

In the PRIMIR research, marketers noted the cost of print and competition with electronic/digital direct marketing channels as the two biggest issues confronting print direct marketing. Other challenges and issues include timeliness, personalization, and measuring ROI. Despite the challenges, however, marketers believe that print has a number of significant advantages—particularly deliverability and the ability to finely target. These marketing executives believe that print is more personal than other media and that customers prefer print.

The report concludes that in spite of the favorable opinion about the outlook of direct mail and print advertising it expects that online marketing will continue to grow in sophistication. The report identifies threats as well as opportunities for all participants in the print supply chain. It is believed that print is more costly and it will continue to lose volume to alternative media.

The Effect of The Economy on Printed vs Electronic Advertising

The slow economy in recent years has been a concern for marketers. The press release did address this issue:

One of the central questions of the study was the degree to which marketers will return to printed direct marketing when the economy recovers. And by the conclusion of the study in late 2010, direct mail volume had increased; the consultants believe this trend will continue.

The report is available exclusively to PRIMIR members and can be obtained by contacting their website.

The 3-Minute Guide to Direct Mail

WASHINGTON, DC – Mailing list marketers and regular business people are seeing the light about the effectiveness of direct mail and, as a result, more and more are using direct mail in their marketing efforts. This is true to the extent that two companies have teamed up to publish a free guide on the topic, and the advice given in the guide is short and sweet and right to the point.

The publication is entitled, “The 3-Minute Guide to Direct Mail” and is co-produced by The Mighty Copywriter out of Washington, DC and Bethesda List Center out of Bethesda, MD. It is available as a free download from either of their websites.

We have been advocating direct mail since inception of this blog and despite the recent growth in the use of social media and the integration of online marketing into the plans and programs of many businesses, incorporating the traditional, reliable “tried and true” basics of direct mail will usually bring success if applied intelligently. It is not difficult to learn. Any business can start using it to increase sales.

The publication of the guide was spawned by a recent surge in the popularity of direct mail and mailing list marketing. We believe this surge is due in no small part by the confluence of two factors: first, the economic recession putting a damper on advertising budgets and second, the realization by some business that they are getting their pants beaten off by small upstarts using direct mail.

Business is a blood sport and competition is fierce. Smart entrepreneurs and small startups will realize from their experience being on the receiving end of an effective competitor that they had better get smart fast with their marketing if they are to survive. Direct mail is often discovered to be the make/break factor in such a crisis. It can be deployed with a small to medium sized marketing budget and refined over time to maximize its effectiveness. Any business can do it and parts of the campaign can be done in-house or the entire campaign can be done with outside vendors.

Direct mail marketing campaigns are best done a little at a time with careful tracking of sales revenues versus production and mailing expenses. The idea is to figure out how to put together an effective mailing piece at low cost and then match it up with the best mailing lists and determine how often to mail. With careful tracking any business can discover how to produce the best results with the right combination of these basic factors.

The free guide will help you get started. You can download it from the Free Report page at the The Mighty Copywriter website:

Mailing Lists Direct is an established and  reputable mailing list company that offers numerous consumer lists and address lists for direct mail marketing.

Thousands of customers from Fortune 1000 to small-office/home-office and individual salespeople  have used their products and services to increase revenue,  find new customers and grow profits. They  focus on understanding the overall business goals of each of their clients.  They have a very knowledgeable staff and will listen to your needs. They will make excellent recommendations that will get you results and help to grow your business in a cost-effective manner.

Mailing List Direct’s online count and order system is the quickest and most cost-effective way to find qualified prospects for direct marketing campaigns. Their system puts the client in complete control of the list buying process where the client can run counts and order data in real time right from the desktop.

Their online count system is available 24/7 so lists can be obtained when needed whether day or night.  Also, there’s no need to wait for a salesperson to “get back with you”. Run and re-run your counts as many times as you like. Once  satisfied with the results, the list can be directly downloaded to your computer.

Please contact them if you would like expertise advise on ways to market your business or if you would like to buy mailing lists from a reputable company. To speak to a qualified representative,  call 800-701-6531.

Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan

BELLEVILLE, IL – Illinois Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against Illinois marketing firm, Select Marketing Solution Management for allegedly misrepresenting “lead lists” of potential customers the company sold as being verified and screened. Consumer lists are used in direct mail campaigns and it is important that a mailing list be accurate.

Lawsuit Announced

On February 1, 2011, Illinois AG, Lisa Madigan announced the lawsuit in a news release at the Illinois Attorney General website. The case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Deborah Sterling-Scott for the Consumer Fraud Bureau.

The lawsuit, filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court, alleges that the defendants sold lead lists to companies without first checking to see if the names in the lists were on the national Do Not Call registry or if the people truly wanted to be contacted.

Complaints Filed Over Inaccurate Lists

Madigan’s office received complaints from a number of businesses who reported losses of more than $11,000 from the purchases of lists they thought were accurate.

In addition to requiring Select Marketing to pay refunds to all affected customers, the lawsuit also seeks to impose a $50,000 civil penalty per violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act plus an additional $50,000 penalty for violations found to be committed with the intent to defraud as well as prosecution costs associated with the litigation.

Excerpts From The News Release

Following are some excerpts from the news release announcing the lawsuit:

Attorney General Madigan made a statement about the case:

At a time when small businesses are struggling to stay afloat, this company charged business owners hundreds of dollars for information that could have caused them to violate the Do Not Call List and leave them potentially liable.

The news release also contained some details about the businesses who complained to the Attorney General’s office about the inaccurate mailing lists:

Businesses in Cook, Madison, St. Clair, DuPage, Saline, Adams, Jackson, Douglas, Edgar, Will, Lake and Piatt counties and out-of-state businesses reported to Madigan’s office losses totaling more than $11,000 from purchasing the lists they believed were accurate. Companies that contacted consumers on the lists found numbers were disconnected or consumers reached had never been contacted by Select Marketing for their approval.

Read the news release from the website of the Illinois Attorney General at www.IllinoisAttorneyGeneral.gov.