Religion in the mail

One of this week's direct mail pieces was a piece about Camp Discovery. Camp Discovery is a children's Bible study program offered by a local Presbyterian church.

Yikes...this church should be using better data. The piece was addressed to my husband. How does the church know that my husband is even interested in Presbyterianism?? The church should be using overlays to identify potential Presbyterians. They are wasting a lot of money sending this to non-Presbyterians.

The language on the piece is a bit puzzling too. The description of the activities for the kids during this camp week are listed as: "New friends, Amazing crafts, Wild games, Lip-smacking snacks, Incredible music and Mind-blowing Bible adventures" Wild, lip-smacking and mind-blowing do not portray a wholesome religious experience for children.

WHYY, my favorite radio station

WHYY (an NPR station out of Philadelphia) http://whyy.org/ is my favorite radio station, much to my family's dismay. For the most part, I listen to my favorite shows, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, Car Talk, You Bet Your Garden and Chef's Table, any time I am in the car, running errands, etc. I usually make a (modest) annual donation to the station. Last week, the station had a "membership drive" to convince listeners to make donations. If you are an avid listener, the regular programming is cut short to make way for fundraising pleas.

This week's mailing, a fundraising appeal for the station, came right after I thought the on-air drive was completed (and their fundraising goals were met). The mailing makes no mention of last week's "pledge drive." I think that it should. The case for a donation would be stronger if it mentioned last week's campaign and built on it. The sense of urgency, call to action in this piece is to have the donor make a contribution before the end of WHYY's fiscal year, June 30.

The direct mail package format is not one that is seen very often anymore. It is a number 10 envelope with two-color ink (blue and black) on the envelope and the front page of the enclosed letter. The letter runs on the front and back. The back is only black ink. It is folded four times and has a perforated return form at the bottom and a return envelope. The letter ends with a P.S., sometimes a direct marketer's most effective tool, requesting a gift before June 30. The return form uses many direct marketing involvement devices, including requesting for the donor's opinion on WHYY's programming and for the donor to volunteer, to make a bequest or an employer matching gift. I am wondering if I will get an e-mail making the same appeal.

I suppose the tracking device is in the coding above my name and address. There are no incentives listed in the piece. On air, last week, there were a few items given away at various contribution levels. Perhaps, WHYY has tried these in mailing and has found that they are ineffective. They should be testing messaging and creative formats. This direct mail package is a no-frills one. I hope that they tested a simple, but colorful postcard with a web donation page.

NJBEST College Savings Plan

Over the weekend, I received a mailing from NJBEST 529 College Savings Plan http://njbest.com/. The piece was trying to get me to enroll in the NJBEST plan for my children. The offer was for a free investor kit and informed me of the benefits of opening an account for my child. I already have accounts at NJBEST for my children. Oops on NJBEST's account...they should know their data better. The promotion to me should be to add more money to my children's accounts, not to set up a new one. Further, the piece was addressed to a Dana Kny at my correct address. Yikes, another data problem....NJBEST should clean up their mailing lists, rent from quality lists and do a more thorough merge/purge.

BJ's and Tuesdays

Sometimes I take things that I know about direct mail for granted. Here's one: Tuesdays are almost always the lightest day for mail delivery (except when there is a Monday holiday). This is because limited pieces of mail go into the mailstream on Saturdays and most pieces take two days to be delivered. In fact, Tuesday is the day that the post office is considering halting mail delivery because of light mail flow on that day. http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2009/01/postmaster_general_asks_congre.html

This week, on Tuesday, I received the usual light quantity of mail and also, this "ultimate offer" from BJ's http://www.bjs.com/ It was addressed to "Our Friends at." Never a good sign. Mail pieces that do not address me personally and accurately usually hit the recycling bin quickly. I am not alone in this practice. Other than this lack of personalization, I do think that the "burst" on the outer envelope announcing "limited time only" and the double window envelope with the word "free" showing from the inside are enticing.

Once opened, the piece has a glued in "trial membership card." The trial membership does not require the trial member to pay any additional service fees, which is a big plus. I assume that BJ's has done some market research indicating the top four reasons people join BJ's. These reasons are bulleted on the piece: savings of more than 30% off supermarket prices, everyday low prices on brand name products, allow the use of manufacturer's coupons and more regular (i.e. smaller) sizes. To me, the first two reasons are the same and combining them could allow for more "white space" on the piece.

The (stock) photo of the family of four with the cart full of groceries is a bit too generic and perfect. I have been to the store with my family and I tell you we do not dress like that and we are not that happy or pleased.

The "call to action" (bring the card above to the Member Services Desk today) and "involvement device" (the glued in card with FREE written across the front) are strong. July 6 does, though, feel distant (on May 5). Maybe it is too much time to redeem the offer, taking away some of the urgency.

There are no specific codes or detectable tracking devices on the trial membership card. Did BJ's just use one creative piece and offer and will track the results by the people that bring in these cards? It seems a wasted effort, if BJ's did not test at least two different creative treatments to see which is the most effective. This could help with future campaigns.

Momma needs a new pair of shoes

I just got this oversized postcard from Famous Footwear http://famousfootwear.com with this catchy headline, right before Mother's Day. The photos of the shoes look inviting and the offer looks enticing. Shop this week and spend $50 and get $20 in a savings card to be used toward a future purchase of $50 or more. I like the perforated, tear-off coupon, personalized with my name and frequent user number. Famous Footwear should be able to track this piece since customers will bring in the coupon for redemption. One concern I have is that Famous Footwear wanted this piece delivered between 4/30/09 and 5/2/09. I received it on 5/5/09. Since it is a very timely promotion, in advance of Mother's Day this weekend, Famous Footwear should be checking with their mailhouse and the post office to see why this piece was late. This could definitely affect the effectiveness of this campaign.

The hounding of Verizon FIOS

Every day (or close to it), we seem to get a mailing from Verizon http://verizon.com/ trying to convince us to switch to FIOS. Each mailing looks the same; each offer looks more desperate. Several posts back I wrote about the media mix. A successful use of marketing is to have a consistent message run in multiple media simultaneously. But there is a limit as to when the audience feels it is being hounded and the company and its message begin to sound desperate. This is what has happened with the Verizon message. I see it on TV. I hear it on radio. I see the ads on different websites. And I get mailings several times a week. This week I got three very similar mailings from Verizon. I feel like there is something Verizon is not telling me. Perhaps, that after two years the rates will skyrocket (there is a two year price guarantee)?

But, back to the direct mail pieces, the pieces are generic-looking, not a lot of color. They are in a letter format, sometimes signed by Verizon staff, sometimes not. The pieces do have unique phone numbers and website addresses. This will allow Verizon to track how each mailing is performing. As a direct marketer, I am curious how many inquiries they get from this seemingly endless direct mail campaign (and how many turn into customers). Verizon uses the PS often, addressing what they think will be a potential customer's greatest objection: ease of installation.

Our perception (and probably that of other potential customers) is that it is a big ordeal to change over your e-mail account. And once you do it, you will never want to do it again. So, at the end of the two year price protection period, the price could increase dramatically and you will be unlikely to change your service because of the e-mail hassle.

Golf and Investments

There must be some extenisive market research to indicate that people who invest love to play golf. Yes, it is true that golfers tend to have money to invest since it costs a lot to golf on a regular basis. Yet, I do not understand why investment companies often send promotions to potential investors offering them golf equipment for more investment money. To me, perhaps, your non-traditional investor, find the golf promotions presumptious. I do not enjoy golf and a "TaylorMade" club would not make me "move my money" to TD Ameritrade. And the stakes are high. I would have to move $75,000 to get a special putter, $150,000 to get a driver and $2 million to get a "once-in-a-lifetime golf experience." None of these offers are making me move my money. Perhaps, TD Ameritrade http://tdameritrade.com/ should consider using an overlay on its investor mailing list. This database tool would help to locate investors on their list who have an interest in golf. Then send this promotion to only these investors. TD Ameritrade is wasting their marketing dollars sending me a promotion with golf incentives. They probably mailed this to many investors with little interest in golf too.