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January 08, 2008
Weighty marketing '07
Time for our third annual (or thereabouts) Weighty Marketing Matters weigh-in.
The total poundage of unwanted direct marketing I received during the 2007 holiday season: 21.5 pounds.
For me, that's a new, no-permission marketing record. It beats last year's mark of 19 pounds and the first-year benchmark of 14 pounds. And that's at a new address, in a new city and state.
For context, 21.5 pounds is:
- 9.75 kilograms
- About the equivalent weight of three newborn babies (or quintuplets for one couple)
- Two bowling balls and a tray of white russians
- A bit more than the average weight of the handbags of some women (contributing to a 30% rise in purse-related injuries)
- The weight of a scarily large catfish caught in Missouri last summer
Because of marketing overload and a growing concern for the environment, 2008 will be a busy legal year for the direct-marketing industry. In 2007, at least 15 states were considering do-not-mail legislation. That number is expected to grow to 25 states in 2008.
Until the industry seriously considers enforcing a permission-driven system, rather than its favored opt-out model, the tide against snail-mail spam will probably only get stronger.
Agree/disagree?
Update: In the comments, Graham does some math for us: 21.5 lbs of paper times an estimated 110 million U.S. households is approximately 1,056,000 tons of paper. If 8 trees are used to create a ton of typical (unrecycled) catalog paper, and 21.5 pounds is the average weight of unsolicited catalogs, then some 132,000 trees were used to send people junkmail during a one-month period.
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You know, I think I disagree with you. For the most part, the catalogs that we received at the house were retail businesses that we've engaged with in the past and continue to do business with. Additionally, the mail catalogs received at home are completely different than email received at home. In general, we enjoy a quick glance to see what special holiday discounts they are offering. And, if its something that we don't want, it's a quick toss (environmental issues being a different discussion). Of your 21.5 lbs., how many catalogs did you really have to look at? 20? 30? Over the course of 30 days?
While I agree that you should be able to opt out of their catalog easily, even if you do regular business with them, it seems like you are focusing on a relatively harmless are of direct marketing (holiday catalogs).
If you want to pick your fights in this area, look at the horrible come-ons that you get in the mail ... IRS look-alike mailings, new warranty on your car, mortgage junk.
IMO, that's a far bigger concern than holiday catalogs from retailers that you do business with.
Relatively harmless...I am not so sure.
After a little Googling, it turns out that 21.5 lbs of paper times an estimated 110 million US households is approx 1,056,000 tons of paper, which at approx 8 trees per ton of typical catalogue paper is the same as, wait for it... approx 132,000 trees.
Hardly relatively harmless. Particularly when most of the catalogues are simply junk.
Perhaps it is time the marketing industry became aware of the waste it generates in its profligate use of paper catalogues.
Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
George -- As I said in the post, it was 21.5 pounds of unwanted junk mail. None of them were companies I do business with, especially Pottery Barn Baby.
Graham -- Thanks for doing the math. Think I'll update the post with it.
I'm not sure if the "tide" against DM spam will continue to grow. From a personal point of view, it's indifference. I mean, when I go to my mailbox, I just chuck everything that's not real mail (mostly bills) into the recycle. I don't even look to give them a second thought.
But I don't harbour hate towards the companies that do it either. I think the difference between the "Do No Call" lists and "Do Not Mail" list is that nobody drops off mail in the middle of dinner. It doesn't distract me from my daily routine or rudely interrupt me, thus I am more inclined to indifference.
Catalogchoice.org is a great Web site that works with major retailers to help you opt out of receiving catalogs you don't want. I'm in favor of this from an environmental perspective, but as the owner of a mailbox that's about half the size of a shoebox, it's a practical consideration as well.
Great post! We at catalogchoice.org have created a free solution that lets you opt-out of unwanted catalogs. Please take a few moments to enter all the catalogs you do not want at our site and then hopefully Weighty Marketing '08 will break records by being less than prior years...and ultimately zero.
Great post...I can tell you that if the price of delivery keeps going up, many won't want to deliver anymore. The last mail price increase cost our company almost 100K more than the year before. It's getting ridiculous and we are searching for alternatives.
Christian -- My sense is that the debates will not be about inconveniencing people, as phone spam was, but more about the protecting the environment against waste.
Chuck -- Thanks for chiming in. Is CatalogChoice an DM industry offshoot or an entrpreneurial venture?
Shawn -- That'll be a key test: How much will companies cut back on direct mail vs. raising prices to compensate for increased mailing costs?
We saw our junk mail amount triple after our son took the ACT. He said he checked a few boxes pertaining to colleges, so I am sure that is how he got on their radar. Colleges could charge less if they kept track of how many times they send the same brochure (and I mean the SAME brochure) to a potential customer/student over the course of a year. They were all from colleges he had never heard of, nor was he interested in attending them. And they just keep coming. He took the test several times, raising his score considerably each time. It was interesting to see the caliber of college brochures rise each time, finally topping out with a very thick package from Harvard. However, of the four colleges he asked to have his score sent to each time, only one stayed in contact with him, after the third test, one finally went, "Oh, okay, we'll send you something." I wish I would have kept it all, my stack would have made yours topple, unfortunately.
It's interesting that I keep seeing magazine covers telling people how to go green, or their green issue. The same magaznies (or their parent company) send me direct mail offers every month with the same offer configured a differnt way each month, that I send straight to the recycle bin. Why should I listen to all their green advice?
I wish there were a way to figure out cost per pound.
I am reminded of Seth Godin's two wise-words="Permission Marketing."
If you wanted to go the "green" angle you could always buy $5,808,000.00 worth of carbon offset credits from a company like CarbonFund. I'm all about no more direct mailings unless I truly request them. I think the ones I get the most tend to be from Yahoo for their search marketing division and local companies that design displays and booths from tradeshows. No idea why since I don't need a booth.
I used to work as a graphic designer for a direct mail agency. The sale of personal information in the form of mailing lists is big business. Shutting down the direct mail business will impact an entire branch of the advertising industry as well as the printing industry, and we'd see a large rise in the price of stamps as the lack of bulk mail cuts into the already-waning profit centers of the US Postal Service.
I'm not opposed to 'do not mail' lists, in fact I would personally welcome it. But let's not forget that there will be some real economic impact that's going to accompany the effort to revise our social attitudes about direct marketing.
Cari -- The thing about direct mail is, there are high, yet accepted levels of rejection or indifference. The cost of doing business. It's the invisible collateral cost that's becoming less acceptable, IMHO.
James -- So true! Call 'em out, OK?
Captain -- That would be pretty helpful; indeed, it would be an interesting -- and tangible -- metric.
Shama -- You got it.
BJ -- My question about carbon offsets is: Are they real?
Adam -- Not necessarily shutting down the direct mail industry. Just making it more responsible.
What we need is a Do Not Mail List, just like we have with telemarketing and the Do Not call List. The impact to the environment would be substantial and all it would take is us marketers embracing a tried and true concept - permission based marketing.
And what about all the ink that goes into all that printing?
I've opted out of numerous junk mail, yet it doesn't seem to do much good... :(
No one likes junk mail, but most everyone loves good direct mail. Recall when you last went to the mailbox and nothing was there. What were your thoughts? "Is it a holiday? Is the postal carrier running late? Was there mail delivery today?" You likely found it hard to believe that YOU did not get any mail on that given day.
Postal mail and good direct mail make us feel wanted and known. If done correctly it educates us and often includes great offers about products and services that interest us.
I love direct mail.
As for 21.5 pounds of mail, I'd ask what does one year of your local paper weigh? I can assure you it's much more than 21.5 pounds.
No one likes junk mail, but most everyone loves good direct mail. Recall when you last went to the mailbox and nothing was there. What were your thoughts? "Is it a holiday? Is the postal carrier running late? Was there mail delivery today?" You likely found it hard to believe that YOU did not get any mail on that given day.
Postal mail and good direct mail make us feel wanted and known. If done correctly it educates us and often includes great offers about products and services that interest us.
I love direct mail.
As for 21.5 pounds of mail, I'd ask what does one year of your local paper weigh? I can assure you it's much more than 21.5 pounds.
Direct mail that I and others have *explicitly* granted permission to receive? Sure. Send away.
Direct mail that and I others have not asked for, that arrives by way of my affiliation with similar companies or organizations that quietly rent my private information to brokers, or to one another? Shameful at best. Let's hope future legislation makes it illegal.
Thanks for all the great posts. Just starting to wade into the biz myself. I got a lot of great info from this site. And would like input. http://public.ifbyphone.com/blog/smb-telephone/squawk-box-podcast/
