Direct Mail Doesn't Have to Clog Landfills

by Dick Goldsmith

How many of you are currently in the direct marketing business? The numbers are rising, and that's not surprising, since the targeted nature of the direct mail medium allows clients to reach specific audiences more precisely and more effectively than other advertising.
However, direct mail is also a significant contributor to our nation's landfills. Although direct mail can be and is being recycled, the Environmental Protection Agency reports that 2.2 percent of all municipal solid waste in landfills comes from direct mail and catalogs.
As the graphic arts industry continually works towards source reduction, there are a number of ways for direct marketers to make their mail more environmentally friendly. I've broken these down into 13 major categories which, incidentally will also save you money and make your mailings more effective.

13 Ways to Get Results
1) Use hotline names. These are new names that mailing list companies are currently accumulating. Anything that comes in within the last six months is called a hotline name. Hotline names tend to respond the best, which is especially important in business-to-business mail because people change jobs and titles more often than home addresses.
2) Tighten your merge/purge parameters. Make sure you are going to send to only one person in a household (unless you specifically want to send to multiple people) or one person at a company. If you want to send to several people at a company, loosen your parameters.
3) Use MPS (Mail Preference Service) files. The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has what it calls the MPS system. Potential direct mail recipients can write to the DMA and say, "I don't want to get direct mail," and their names will be put in a suppression file. The DMA is also working on a selective MPS system so that people can stop only certain types of mail if they choose, such as mail about records or books, or about bank card solicitations.
4 ) Add ZIP+four and carrier route codes. Coding Accuracy Support System (CASS) is a benchmark program used by the U.S. Postal Service. If you take your names and addresses and add ZIP+four and carrier route codes to them, they will get delivered more promptly. The easier you make things for the post office, the better your mail will be delivered.
5) Drop names that can't be ZIP+ four'd. The computer automatically assigns ZIP+4 codes to the addresses. If it can't find a ZIP+4 code, that means the address is not valid. If your mail is first class, it may be delivered. But if it's third class, it probably won't be.

Catching Recent Movers
6) Use the National Change of Address system (NCOA) to catch recent movers. When people move, they notify the post office, which then puts their names into the system. If you don't compare your file to the NCOA file before doing a third class mailing, the mail will not be forwarded. With first class, this is not quite as important, because it will get forwarded even if it is delayed.
R.L. Polk in Manhattan currently offers a list of what it calls "new movers," which it claims is more complete than the list from the post office because many people who move don't change their addresses with the post office, but do reregister their cars.
7) Target with demographic modeling. Recently, I heard about a veterinarian who wanted to advertise his services in a neighborhood where he had offices. He blanketed the area with information, and by doing so, mailed to a lot of apartment buildings in which pets are not allowed. That mail just wound up in the garbage.
8) Delete respondents from extra mailings. Very often, you'll send out several mailings, but in between you're not deleting the names of people who have already responded. Why send the same package to one who has already said "yes" or "no"?
9) Reduce the number of prospect mailings that you send out. Instead of renting lists and hoping to get a return of 2 percent, 3 percent, or whatever the norm is for the type of product you're selling, try to get orders from the customers you already have or the customers that you previously had who are somewhat familiar with your product. You will be sending out fewer pieces of mail and will probably get a better response rate.
10) Use names with phone numbers. You will probably be using better names that will be more deliverable.

Test Big Ideas
11) Use better offers to reduce early-bird offers. Get your orders in fast to avoid having to send out second mailings to the same people who have already responded. You've given them an incentive to respond early.
12) Use MGM offers or "members get a member" offers. You don't have to mail to all the prospects if you let your prospects and your customers get new customers for you. Reward your customers, if you can, for getting new customers.
13) Piggyback your offers. If you know a company that has an allied product, see if you can do your mailings together. Instead of sending mailings out separately, consider a synergistic relationship with another company and send out a single mailing instead of multiple mailings.

This column was prepared from a transcript of a talk given by Mr. Goldsmith
to a Green Printing and Graphics seminar sponsored by Quebecor Printing (USA) Corp.

THE HORAH GROUP
49 West 37th Street
New York, NY 10018
212-921-4521
FAX 212-921-4831
Dick@horah.com
www.horah.com

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