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Direct Mail 101
Direct Mail 101
Prospect or Customer?
To start managing your mail, one of the first things you'll need to figure out is whether companies consider you a prospect or a customer. What's the difference? Glad you asked.
If you receive mail from companies you've never bought from, you're a prospect—and your name is on a list they're using to try to find new customers as a potential prospective customer.
However, if you have purchased from a company in the past, you are considered a customer and you may be on the list as a current customer entitled to customer benefits, updates and offers.
Why is this important? Well, if you request to stop receiving mail for an entire category (for example, you don't want to receive catalogs anymore), companies are asked to remove you from their prospect list. But if you are a customer, that company needs to keep you on their list for invoicing—and in case you ever return an item. So, you will keep receiving mail from them and you will need to contact them directly to be removed. On DMAchoice, companies that receive your preferences will no longer prospect to you—making the process of managing your mail easier and more effective.
If you receive mail from companies you've never bought from, you're a prospect—and your name is on a list they're using to try to find new customers as a potential prospective customer.
However, if you have purchased from a company in the past, you are considered a customer and you may be on the list as a current customer entitled to customer benefits, updates and offers.
Why is this important? Well, if you request to stop receiving mail for an entire category (for example, you don't want to receive catalogs anymore), companies are asked to remove you from their prospect list. But if you are a customer, that company needs to keep you on their list for invoicing—and in case you ever return an item. So, you will keep receiving mail from them and you will need to contact them directly to be removed. On DMAchoice, companies that receive your preferences will no longer prospect to you—making the process of managing your mail easier and more effective.
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- Where did they get your name?
If you just bought a new home, you're probably in the market for furniture. But if you live in an apartment building, chances are you won't be shopping for a lawn mower. Companies want to reach people who are most likely to be interested in what they have to offer. That's why they rent or buy relevant mailing lists to help them find prospective customers—instead of just sending mail at random.
These prospect lists are created from information about your past purchases and interests. And this information can come from public records, phone directories, club memberships, and other sources. - What's the benefit of being on these lists?
Direct mail keeps you in-the-know. It helps you find out about new products, services and money-saving deals. It connects you to local merchants. It informs you of important local and national charities. It even helps you compare prices and shop anytime you like—day or night.
Americans shop through direct mail. Typically, more than 80% of U.S. households read some or all of their advertising mail. And non-profit organizations raise billions of dollars from generous donors through direct mail.
But direct mail is only successful if you're interested in the types of mail you're receiving. That's why we created DMAchoice—to help you get more of the mail you want, and less of what you don't. - About Direct Mail
Some people come to the DMAchoice mail preference service planning on completely stopping all the direct mail they receive, because they think that doing so will help save paper and the environment. But before you do this, here is some background about the value of direct mail you may find interesting.
- Direct mail is a green way to shop. If Americans replaced two trips to the mall each year with shopping by catalog, we'd reduce our number of miles driven by 3.3 billion—a 3 billion pound reduction in carbon dioxide and a savings of $650 million on gas alone.
- Mail represents a very small percentage of America's municipal waste stream.
- Mail is made from a renewable resource. The vast majority of paper produced in America today comes from trees grown for that specific purpose. The forest industry ensures that the number of trees each year is increasing, so trees are not a depleting resource. In fact, forest land in the United States has increased by at least 5.3 million acres in the past three decades.
- Direct mail is critical to the economic well-being of communities, businesses and charities throughout the United States and it employs thousands of individuals. Marketing mail is one primary product that sustains the United States Postal Service and its network and mail services.
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