More Direct
Mail Can Lead to More Direct Mail...
I saw some statistics recently indicating international direct mail volume in 2004 is marginally
up so far on 2003 which in turn was significantly higher than 2002 (the dreadful year following 9/11).
I do feel pronouncements like this are similar to the question, "how long is a piece of string?"
(i.e. how can the exact volume of all international direct mail possibly be quantified?) Whichever
way, I think it's fair to say everyone engaged in international and cross-border direct marketing, or
providing services to this sector, would love to see a solid resurgence in direct mail activity. Not from
scammers and spammers but from blue-chip, responsible companies with valuable, interesting,
transparent offers.
Why? More direct mail generates more direct mail responders, which leads to more, fresh
direct mail responder lists, which leads to a larger direct mail named responder universe, which leads
to higher international direct mail response, which leads to more business all round for everyone.
So what's going to bring this about?
* * * * *
Can the DMAB
or IMAG Really Make a Difference?
It's interesting to note how the UPU and its Direct Mail Advisory Board (DMAB) try to do
their bit persuading postal administrations in Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia and elsewhere to foster
local direct mail industries and encourage the formation of direct marketing associations.
I suppose this effort is better than nothing at all as long as it doesn't lead to another case of
the blind leading the blind …
I say this because the DMAB actually consists of 32 postal administrations, one direct
marketing association (USA) and a mixture of envelope manufacturers, address specialists and
franking machine manufacturers. Only one member is a mailer (the Reader's Digest Association).
How can such a group representing service providers not users possibly come up with right
ideas on how best to stimulate local or cross-border direct marketing?
The International Mailer's Action Group (IMAG) in the USA is no better qualified in this
respect. Out of 12 Committee Members, four are employed by the United States Postal Service
(USPS) and just one is a mailer (National Geographic Society).
There may be some light on the horizon. A "Consultative Committee (CC)" will be introduced
at the forthcoming UPU Congress in Bucharest to allow, for the first time, private sector interests
to officially participate in UPU debates and discussions. Some professional organizations are expected
to attend this, representing mailer's interests, including the International Federation of the Periodical
Press (FIPP) and the European Mail Order Trader's Association (EMOTA). I'm told certain NGO's
may also be invited in addition to FEDMA and the US DMA. Let's see if anything comes out of this
meeting of minds -- which may actually provide some positive support to growing the international
direct mail industry again.
* * * * *
One Other
Idea to Stimulate International Direct Mail
Another idea to stimulate the use of direct marketing around the world came up during the
World Mail Awards at the recent Triangle World Mail & Express Conference in Berlin last month. I
was one of a group of judges who gave the "Customer Service Award" to a "Simple Steps" campaign
from the USPS aimed at the 20 million smaller businesses in the USA who could (and should) be
using direct mail as a marketing channel. The USPS material provided specific, practical ideas on
how to develop and implement direct mail campaigns and use database marketing.
It occurred to all of us in discussion afterwards that similar material in an international, crossborder
context could be made available through the UPU to some industrialized and selected
developing countries around the world (I'm thinking of China and India in particular!) to help these
countries encourage the use of direct mail and direct marketing nationally and across borders. One
request to the UPU if they do this: please could such material be written by an experienced direct
mail specialist (or specialists) using the "carrot" of live, successful practice rather than by a vendor
using a "stick" supported by utterly worthless hearsay and dry statistics (which is what usually
happens in officially sponsored materials).
After all, with the inexorable decline in privately posted mail, UPU members are going to need
all the commercial direct mail business they can possibly get in the future.
* * * * *
Is a Rise in
Postal Costs Inevitable?
Much of the recent Triangle Conference in Berlin was devoted to issues on the table for
discussion at the forthcoming UPU Congress in Bucharest, September 15 October 5. Over 500
topics are actually up for discussion which will keep everyone pretty busy for 3 weeks.
Mail users will be watching the debate between industrialized countries (IC's) who believe the
proposal to increase terminal dues from 60% to 68% of first-class domestic mail rates over the next 5
years will not be enough to cover their delivery costs, and developing countries (DCs) who believe
terminal dues costs are already too high. Meanwhile the commercial operating divisions of leading
public postal operators such as Spring, Deutsche Post and Direct Link will be looking forward to their
discussions on the future of ETOES. There’s pressure to force ETOE mail to be delivered
not as “post” accompanied by postal documentation but as letter items with commercial documentation for
direct injection into destination country postal systems under a completely different set of rules.
Cross-border direct mail users will care to the extent that postal rate increases passed on to
them as a consequence of terminal dues increases will simply add to their losses when acquiring new
subscribers, customers, donors or members. Long gone are the days when it was possible to acquire
new customers at a profit. About one thing there is no doubt at all. It will become increasingly
expensive to produce direct mail within, and post regionally and globally from, industrialized
countries. What will this do? Force large direct mail users to print and lettershop in developing
countries and mail directly from there or by dropping through hubs and ETOES. Frankly, we don't
care, as long as the postal rates we're offered remain viable and our mail gets fully delivered. (This is
not always the case incidentally. One of my partnership companies mailed an A/B split two months
ago testing 100,000 pieces through one commercial postal operator versus 100,000 through a
marginally less expensive operator. There was a 20% drop in the response rate received from the less
expensive service which made it a very expensive test overall!). We still haven't worked out why.
* * * * *
News From New
York About Acquiring New International Subscribers
Last week I talked to my old friend Al Goodloe who's still doing the rounds of DM conferences and
workshops in the USA and speaking unremittingly to publishers looking for the best
way to acquire international subscribers.
Al's feedback from the international publishing community is optimistic: "response rates are
improving slightly".
At the same time top management are taking a more active interest in cutting direct mail
production costs and negotiating lower cost international postal options. (Note from JT: in the past
this role has often been left to less senior staff who really didn't have sufficient authority to bring
about the necessary, cost-saving changes).
"Direct mail is still considered by publishers the best way to acquire new subscribers", Al
Goodloe reports. "No other channel on its own, works as well". However Al does say there's
growing interest in integrating direct mail with other channels. Telemarketing has been used very
successfully for some time to retain existing subscribers but is now being used increasingly to close
"package" subscriptions of up to US$10,000.
"New Scientist" are generating 2 million unique visitors every month from their website, and
many publishers (such as "Nature") are increasingly successful generating new subscribers online.
International publishers, however, have tended to find email difficult to manage. HTML, for
instance, is not only prone to viruses but often used by scammers and spammers and therefore subject
to an unacceptable level of blocking and filtering.
* * * * *
How Can
International Consumers Report Fraudulent Spam?
Last month the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US used their new powers under the
US "Can-Spam Act" to file lawsuits against two Detroit and Australia based spammers.
Between them, these two spammers had generated nearly one million consumer complaints.
Both were selling bogus diet patches into the US and had tried to obscure their identities by
using third-party email addresses in their "Reply To" or "From" fields.
It's good news that consumers in their disgust are now becoming more proactive raising their
voices and complaining. However, it's a lot easier to complain in the USA. To whom do
Singaporeans, Papua New Guineans, Greeks, Malaysians and Cypriots complain?
Local law enforcement officials around the world wouldn't know what to do. Is there an
international law enforcement agency to whom international, non-US consumers can complain, which
is empowered to take action against fraudulent spammers and scammers to put them out of business
and into jail?
* * * * *
Orders
Intercepted in South Africa and Cheques Stolen
John Lavers, a colleague based in South Africa, has been publishing an international mailorder
catalogue for many years. Recently he discovered he'd been losing many hundreds of orders
and accompanying cheques posted to him from overseas customers. After investigation, it was found
the payee name on cheques had been altered and the cheques then banked into accounts in Japan and
elsewhere in Africa. The thieves didn't stop there. They used the name and details on the stolen
cheques to compose letters to the banks on which the cheques had been issued to request fund
transfers in amounts averaging US$5,000.
Interpol become interested because this had been happening in a systematic way to other mail
order companies in South Africa and a lot of both domestic and international consumers had been
damaged. (My colleague had complained earlier to the South African police,
but nothing happened). Like many other mail order companies operating from a developing country,
he now uses a professional mailing address outside Africa from where his response is couriered to
him 2 3 times a week as necessary. This has stopped the problem.
Local direct mailers are less sanguine. Response rates within South Africa have plummetted because
consumers are quite simply not willing to send cheques through the mail anymore.
* * * * *
The Latest
Advance Fee "419" Scam Wins the Prize
While on the subject of Africa, you may have read the "spoof" carried in the last issue of DM Diary on
what's known as the advance fee "419" scam ("The 3rd Annual Nigeria Email Conference and How to Write
Emails and Make More Moneys"). The most recent "419" scam I've heard about (awarded a prize last month
by the New York State Consumer Protection Board) didn't come from a deposed third world dictator, corrupt
government official or oil company executive but from the "cousin of an African astronaut abandoned for the
last 14 years on a secret soviet military space station". His colleagues returned to earth on the Soyuz T-162,
but his place, unfortunately, had to be taken up by return cargo. Recipients are asked to send US$3,000 to
help persuade the Russian Government to bring Major Tunde back to Earth. Upon his return you're promised
a share of the US$15 million in "flight pay and interest" that has accumulated since he was stranded on
military space station Salyut T-174.
What I admired most about this email (and other of the successful "419" scams) was its impressive
detail. It was quite specifically stated as space station Salyut T-174 (and not, of course Salyut M-72Y). Is
there any limit to consumer credulity? Probably not.
* * * * *
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