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.

Generic drugs and pharmaceutical marketing...

Today I received two of the exact same pieces from Wegman's http://www.wegmans.com/(which is my favorite supermarket, but more on that another time). I like the tone of the message on the piece. "Since you are one of our best customers..." "We are concerned about the escalating cost of healthcare..." The wording tells me that Wegman's cares about its customers and employees. (Employees are mentioned often in the piece.) Wegman's is atuned to the economy and how it affects their business. The piece lists several hundred prescription drugs and Wegman's pricing of these drugs for 30 day and 90 day prescriptions. This piece is straight-forward and simple (minimal colors). Why did I get two of these pieces? Both are addressed to the same name and address, no differences. The pieces look the same and even have the same coding. Wegman's should review their merge/purge directions to their mailing vendor. If Wegman's mailed this piece to even a small portion of its mailing list twice, they would be wasting their marketing dollars. I also wonder how they will analyze how this mailing performed. The direct marketer in me, for analysis purposes, wants Wegman's to have the customer mention something about the piece and get something special at the Wegman's pharmacy...

Postcards are in....

This week we got so many direct mail postcards, some oversized, some not. A few of my favorites:

1.) Philadelphia Zoohttp://www.philadelphiazoo.org: This mailer uses a lot of catchy phrases (maybe too many) to get my attention. "Be an early bird!" "Flock on over to the McNeil Avian Center." This piece is an invitation to take a member-only tour of the McNeil Avian Center. Members have to call to make a reservation. The piece could have been used to get members to renew. By stating that if you renew your membership, you will get a special preview of the avian center. This seems like a missed opportunity, especially since our renewal is coming due this month.

2.) Old Navy http://www.oldnavy.com: This week's promotion was "Stuff & Save, Save 20% on everything when you use your Old Navy card." The media mix was well-employed with this promotion, since I got an e-mail, heard radio spots and saw a tv commercial with the same promotion. For me, this offer will work. I plan to go to the store and take advantage of the 20% off. On a side note, I noticed that Old Navy often indicates that the direct mail piece was printed on recycled paper with a further clarification, "including 10% post-consumer waste using soy-based ink." I suppose that Old Navy has done some market research that indicates that the Old Navy audience is concerned about the environment and that this type of disclaimer causes a potential customer to become a return customer. If not, this two line disclaimer feels like an apology for sending a direct mail piece and distracts from the message.

3.) The Little Gym http://www.TLGWestWindsorNJ.com: This local gym for children sent a summer camp promotion on an oversized postcard. The postcard had a coupon, "receive 1 FREE camp day for each 4 days reserved by 4/29. As little as $28 per half camp day!" I am confused. When describing offers in a promotion, organizations should keep in mind that the recipient is looking at the piece for a second or less and will not be able to figure out complicated or convulated offer expressions.

Cash in on jewelry

The economy has changed the contents of my mailbox. I just got this oversized postcard from a jeweler and gemologist offering to convert my unwanted jewelry to cash. This mailing gets right to the point and allows white space. The call to action could be more prominent, though. If the in-home consultation is free, the jeweler should say so, boldly.

My address is clean, meaning it is spelled correctly, uses a zip plus four and the mailer knows my gender. I wonder if recipients notice that the return address is a post office box in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania and the indicia (the postage "stamp" for bulk mail) originates in Cleveland, Ohio. Does that make recipients think about the offer differently?

The stock photo on the postcard is a bit too staged, although the tag line is direct and tells the reader exactly what the offer is.

Dentists as marketers

Today's direct mail piece is from a local dentist. Since the advent of teeth whitening, bleaching and cosmetic dentistry, most of which are not covered by traditional insurance plans, dentists have become marketers. These cosmetic procedures are big money-makers for dentists, so it pays to have a solid marketing program. The piece I received is so chock full of information that my first instinct was to throw it out. An effective direct mail piece should be brief, uncluttered and have a specific, appealing call to action. A typical recipient might give a piece 20 seconds or less before getting rid of it. This piece, unfortunately, does not accomplish the clear, enticing call to action.


My suggestion to this dentist is to not fear "white space." White space is that clean, straight-forward look that a direct mail piece will have when words and images do not completely cover it. There is just too much going on. http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/white-space-akin-fresh-air-direct-mail-letters-31762_1.htmlPerhaps, a postcard would be a more economical format. As the recipient, I do not know what to look at first in the current format.


Another suggestion is to target the list. There is mention of a special rate for a children's exam. Perhaps, send a postcard to those who have young children with this offer.

Further, I would recommend a postcard format with a specific enticing and easily actionable call to action. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/how-to-operate-an-effective-direct-mail-campaign.htmlIn this case, the dentist wants to offer free teeth whitening to new patients, as a way to get the patient in the door (so to speak). I envision a postcard with brief descriptions of the dentist's stellar credentials, the services she offers and a coupon, including a phone number, website address and street address, with the free teeth whitening offer. Once the potential patient is in her office, the dentist can (soft) sell her other services. A demonstration of her services in the office would be a more effective marketing technique than trying to sell all of her services all at once on a direct mail piece.

The dentist's office should also have a way to track the effectiveness of this campaign. Perhaps, the office staff answering the phone should ask how the potential patient heard about the offer. Later, the dentist should track how many referrals came from this promotion and how much business can be attributed to this direct mail piece. (Perhaps, the dentist is already doing this.)



With a little marketing expertise, I think that dentists could build their businesses.
(I won't even go into the fact that the piece was addressed to: Mr. Dana A. Krug. Yes, MR., when I am clearly not a Mr. This leads me to believe that the list the dentist recommended was not a high quality one.)

Movie tonight? Dare to wear wild shoes...

I often receive the Netflix offer: rent movies for only $4.99. It is so appealing. In fact, this piece has been on my desk for a few days and my kids keep asking me if I am going to take advantage of it. They must have seen TV commercials for the service. Which leads me to the old media mix adage...to get your message across, you need to place ads, promotions, product placements, etc. in many different media in order to get people interested, especially now with so many media choices. http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingbasics/article171986.html I like the use of traditional direct marketing tools, such as the unique website and code for this offer. Netflix should know which piece I redeemed and should be able to track te results of each campaign based on this tracking mechanism. I also like the "involvement device" http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/involvement-device/4962678-1.html The front of the piece has a card-like sticker. The recipient opens this and details of how to redeem the trial appear. Unfortunately, I am going to pass on this offer since I just do not have the time to watch movies on a regular basis.

I just received a high quality oversized postcard from Piperlime, announcing a 20% off discount for any items ordered between now and April 19. I like that the piece is straight-forward, announcing the discount. This retailer's positioning, though, seems a bit too frivilous for me. When thinking about shoes, the first descriptive words that come to mind are not: tempting, daring, wildly and wonderful. Practical, comfortable, maybe, but not daring, I might fall! Also, in this economy, I don't think potential customers are thinking about buying daring shoes!

Move fast..and stop bothering me...

I need to move fast. On March 17, I got a $10 off (the purchase of $30 or more) postcard from Oriental Trading, but it expires on March 19. It's a good deal, but I have no need for any Oriental Trading items right now and certainly not in such short notice. I think that the piece should highlight the time sensitivity of the offer, with a phrase like, hurry, offer expires soon.

Now on to my harassing direct mail...I have requested numerous times to be taken off the Southern Poverty Law Center's mailing list. I am not interested in supporting their causes. (I contributed to SPLC about four years ago when I made a memorial gift, at the request of the family of the deceased.) SPLC calls me, e-mails me and sends me direct mail pieces often, at least once a month. With each e-mail, I unsubscribe, only to get another e-mail the following month. I think that this violates http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm CAN-SPAM. This latest piece is a 2009 renewal notice. Mind you, that I never "subscribed" to begin with, so I am not renewing. The membership acceptance form thanks me for my support since 2005. I repeat: I made one contribution in 2005 and it was not a membership payment. Perhaps, their tactic is if you keep hounding people eventually these people will just acquiesce. I don't think so...and that old, outdated ploy of sending return address labels with the recipient's name and SPLC's logo won't help any either. Just STOP bothering me....

Maybe I need to take a hint? My husband got a direct mail package from Matchmakers at Work. It seems that this company could have done a better job of cleansing their mailing list. We do not live in a neighborhood where there are many singles. The people managing this direct mail campaign should have been more careful in their list selection. Last I checked, my husband was still married to me. I sure hope he does not require the services of Matchmakers at Work!

Matchmakers at Work's tag line is "We put the PERSONAL back in personalized Match Making!" It would appear from their selection of a married person in this mailing that perhaps, their selection process is not that sophisticated. We will not be recommending this service to any of our single friends!

Since I last blogged, I solicited a number of marketers, friends and relatives for feedback on my blog. I got some great advice, including balanced coverage (show some effective pieces), how to post comments and how to get e-mail alerts when there has been an update. I will be incorporating these ideas and features into the blog soon.

Back to the evaluation of direct mail pieces...

I recently received a piece from another real estate agent. The address was printed in blue ink in a fancy typeface, but the professionalism of this piece was quickly lost. The addressed-to name spelled my husband's name wrong and listed my name as if Krug was my first name and Dana, my last name. A quick review of the mailing list would have allowed the mailer to fix this and eliminate the embarassment of this mistake.

Babies R Us sent me a promotion for baby items, most everything listed was for babies two years and under. Babies R Us should have a way to "age" their list. When I signed up for the Babies R Us mailings, I had written my baby's due date. Based on this, they should know that my child is no longer in their target audience. This could save them a lot of money. They do list a phone number for the recipient to make a name change, addition or removal. This seems like a task that Babies R Us should have done and not let this up to the recipient.

Okay, I have not been balanced yet...I received a mailing from the http://www.mjhnyc.org/index.htm Museum of Jewish Heritage in Manhattan. (It was properly addressed!) It peeked my interest since I am a genealogy buff and have recently discovered distant relatives who survived the Holocaust. I did not realize that there was a (new) museum in downtown Manhattan dedicated to Jewish heritage. The piece was clean and provided a straight-forward listing of the museum's events in March and April. The tagline, "Tradition. Expression. Reflection" seems like a positive, yet, enticing "expression" of the museum's exhibits and purpose.

A few days ago, we got two interesting pieces in the mail.

The first, from a new local high-end children’s wear business, announced the store’s grand opening. I have to give the owners of this business a lot of credit for opening a special occasion kids’ clothing store in this economy. The oversized postcard has (what appears to be) a stock photo of a girl wearing a nice, but not “exquisite” (as used in the store’s tag line) skirt and top. The girl is barefoot so I am assuming that the store does not sell shoes. The postcard announces the grand opening date, but makes no mention of any special events on the day or the weekend of the grand opening. As mentioned, in this economy, this store is going to need to stand out from all of the other places people can shop for dressy kids’ clothes. The owners need to get people into the store. The first few weeks are essential. The postcard does have a coupon for $25 off the purchase of $100 or more, but excludes christening and communion clothing. Below the coupon, there is an announcement: “We have a broad selection of communion dresses.” To me, this is contradictory. You entice me to come to the store for a $25 discount, but it can’t be used on the store’s broad selection of communion clothing, in communion shopping season. Oops….

The second piece is one we receive often, from a local real estate office. I normally do not open these since we are not interested in selling our house right now. But, for this blog, I opened it. I quickly perused it and found a typo, one that would make me question how carefully this real estate agent reviews contracts, let’s say. Well, maybe I am being harsh, but the agent’s “small token of appreciation” is a 2008 magnetic calendar. (The agent actually sent a 2009 calendar, but the damage was done, he did not carefully check his update to his letter.) I will not be calling or recommending him any time soon.

Today is President’s Day, so no mail delivery….Stay tuned….

Today I received a mailing with seven, yes, seven different components. I guess that this mailer had a huge budget!

WSJwine sent me this massive package containing a four-color process letter, a priority order form (both were personalized), a four-panel, (at least) six-color process brochure, 5 1/2" x 7 1/2" business reply envelope, a color insert, a two-color voucher, another letter addressed to Wall Street Journal subscribers and another (at least) six-color process, three-panel brochure. The outer envelope, too, is at least six-color!

To me, this piece looks like a committee of many created a convoluted message. Or maybe it is a repackaged piece. I am thinking that WSJwine had an inventory of these pieces left and then decided to send them to WSJ subscribers, with the idea, if we have them why not use them? The letter to Wall Street Journal subscribers (one of the seven components) enclosed in this package indicates that most Wall Street Journal subscribers received this piece. WSJwine had to select subscribers in the states in which this promotion is allowed and it appears that this may have been all of the database selects they did. After all, WSJwine certainly wasted this promotion on me. I do not drink wine and have no interest in (except to critique) this offer! WSJwine might have had a more targeted mailing had they focused on WSJ subscribers who do buy wine. (There are probably overlays for this.)

WSJwine is a continuity club for wine. This type of package is not one seen today in the age of e-mail, texting, etc. It feels very outdated. (I also wonder how this mailer knows if the person placing the order is truly over 21. I would think that this would be hard to verify. The price of this continuity club is probably out of the range of most under 21, though.) With so many components to this piece, it takes a long time to figure out what I am being asked to buy. The message is not succinct and is repeated multiple times.

WSJwine: Thanks for providing fodder for my blog!

The picks of the mailbag for today's installment are from a major entertainment park and a major personal computing company.

What is it about my last name: Krug? I often get solicitations from companies with my last name spelled in a variety of ways, from Kruz to Crug to Krap to King to Krud, and the list goes on. When a major marketer mangles my name, I wonder how sophisticated their databases are. How are they verifying addresses? Who is managing their merge/purge? This major entertainment park (ok, Disney) addressed this recent promotion to the Kruz family. They did get one demographic right. This promotion was for parents of kids aged 3 to 9, so that fits.

The second direct mail promotion selected for this installment was from computer maker, HP. I was dizzy just looking at the piece. On the front cover alone, there were more than four typefaces used! There were more than 15 products promoted on the piece, too. This may be an effective way to get previous customers (since I purchased something from HP before) to re-think their current computing needs, yet, there was so much detail. The legal description of the promotion took up half a panel of the four-panel piece!

I just heard the mail truck, so I am off to check out what came today!

In this past week's mailbag, I found two less than stellar pieces.

The first from a leading apparel retailer hit on one of my pet peeves: grammar. "Our sporty styles are where it's at." This cutesy, trendy line makes no sense and it's grammatically incorrect. Perhaps, I am not in their main demographic and this language is readily used by those that are in this retailer's target audience. Yet, this poor use of the English language only proliferates when a major store readily uses it.

The second example hit another nerve, but for a different reason. I have asked this particular vendor, a major home security monitoring service, numerous times to remove my name and address from their solicitation files. This company chooses to ignore my repeated requests and continues to waste its marketing dollars by sending me solicitations to reactivate service with them.

Stay tuned for finer direct marketing examples next time....

Diary of a Direct Marketer

I love getting mail, all kinds of mail. Some people dread going to the mailbox and can't wait to dump all of the "junk mail." I love to see what companies and organizations are trying to get me to do. I like to evaluate the effectiveness of the mail that I get. I also love e-mail and look for the catchiest promotions and the most intriguing subject lines. My plan for this blog is to open my mailboxes (e-mail and postal) and share with my readers what I find. In a tough economy, the companies who are spending their direct marketing dollars in the most effective way, will be the most successful. Those who curtail their marketing dollars now will be forgotten in the longer term. So, keep the mail coming and I'll be checking the mail often.