Catalog Choice wants to help merchants use best practices in permission marketing and resource conservation. This post describes how one merchant honored their customers’ requests to opt-out of paper catalogs.

The following is a case study that demonstrates the benefit of developing a paperless relationship with consumers. The full report is available at Marketingsherpa.com. The following is published by permission of Brian Mehler of Chiasso.

Marketers with a catalog initiative have contended with the paper-to-digital revolution for some time. But when your demographic shows a preference for green marketing and email conversions are down, you need a new action plan.

See how one marketer redesigned their email program to transition it into a substitute for their print catalogs. The test worked: they reduced their print run and lifted email conversions 19%.

CHALLENGE
When Brian Mehler, Ecommerce Manager, Chiasso, came onboard seven months ago, he was charged with the hefty task of improving the open, clickthrough and conversion rates for their email program.

That was only the beginning. Through their own sales data and from customer surveys, Mehler’s bosses knew their upscale, educated, mostly-female demographic was increasingly migrating away from paper catalogs in favor of greener channels.

While they didn’t think customers would abandon catalogs immediately, it was Mehler’s job to get the brand ahead of the curve. Significant email design changes needed to be made to increase conversions and to incorporate the most-current catalog into the look and feel of the emails — from product images to the subject line.

Mehler and his team wondered if they could get their increasingly green audience to envision email and the Web site as a replacement for the catalog.

THE PLAN
“Because of paper waste, our customers were going to be asking for catalogs less and less,” Mehler says. “If people in the future opt to only receive emails, then that would be our only way to introduce them to the new season. We had to see if email could provide the same type of rich experience that our catalog has for years.”

At least, Mehler didn’t have to build the email list. They already had an email address for practically every customer and prospect who got a catalog in the mail. Here are the four steps they took to test the greener initiative:

-> Step #1. Offer green options

Mehler wanted their green enthusiasts to be able to take action after clicking through the emails. Therefore, they added a “catalog” link above the fold on the homepage. From there, viewers were taken to a page where they could either shop from their virtual catalog application or manage their paper subscription by choosing either:

o “Get the Chiasso catalog”
o “Stop getting the Chiasso catalog”

Those who clicked on the second link could fill out a form to be taken off the list. They were also able to specify if they simply wanted to withhold permission for Chiasso to rent their names.

The copy for the permission page read:

“…we know, your mailbox is always full, your mail person’s back is ready to give out, and you’re really concerned about deforestation and the situation we are facing with landfills. And believe it or not, we would like to help. The last thing we want to do is send people unwanted mail.”

-> Step #2. Redesign email program

Because Mehler knew customers would be opting out of catalogs, they had to increase email conversions fast. More than anything, he wanted the email design to better reflect the catalog’s glossy, high-end aesthetic feel.

To achieve this, they:
- Shifted to a more photo-laden and colorful three-dimensional layout.
- Featured the same products in the emails as what was on the catalog cover — a zoom sofa-sleeper and an in-motion table. The items were also showcased on the homepage.
- Showed the products multiple times in the message to give a different perspective on how they might look in customers’ homes.
- Used less copy around photos.

“We didn’t want to bore them with a long phrase. We wanted to excite them with things they could do with their homes by showcasing designs and abstract shapes.”

-> Step #3. Announcement message

Next, it was time to launch the new email design. They sent the first email three days before the fall catalog was scheduled to arrive in home.

The subject line:
“Inspiration is in the mail … fall’s first look.”

-> Step #4. Remail to non-opens

48 hours later, they segmented the non-opens from the customer list for a remail. This new email used the same design and product offers, but they also included a limited-time discount to create urgency and offer an incentive to open.

They sent this email three days after the catalog in-home date to ensure that their West Coast addresses had, indeed, received the paper book in the mail.

The subject line read:
“Inspiration is in the mail … save 10% on your next order.”

RESULTS
“In the unsolicited commentary we’ve received, people have been thrilled that we incorporated the green option,” Mehler says. “It’s all part of the process as we move forward with our audience.”

Of course, if their catalog readers want to migrate away from paper, Mehler and his team would prefer to see a gradual transition. Thankfully, that was the reaction: catalog unsubscribes that were tracked back to the email campaign were less than 1%, but he expects that number to increase as their savvier email design gains traction
with customers.

There’s no question that the new email design worked: conversion rates for the test increased 19%. Mehler credits the remail tactic as an important part of that success. The limited-time discount really motivated shoppers.

“We even saw a bigger-than-normal spike in our call center after the remail went out. And there have been other great results overall. For instance, we saw gross dollars for the email increase by 20% and a net gain of plus-30% compared to usual.”

I used to think that the crown jewel for an emerging consumer website was to be featured on the front page of Yahoo.  In October, we were honored to be on the Yahoo front page all morning on a Saturday.  On that day, over 22,000 people registered at catalogchoice.org.

Well, now I know for sure that the crown jewel is to be featured on the Today Show.  Today, the feature story about Catalog Choice on The Today show generated three tidal waves of new members at Catalog Choice.  The first wave came at 8:20 AM eastern standard time right after Ann Curry’s segment ran.  Wave Two came an hour later when it ran in central time.  The third wave hit when the west coast tuned in to the Today Show.  Steadily through the day, as people talked about our simple free service at work, new members flowed in.  In the end, almost 57,000 new members signed up at catalogchoice.org today.  Over 30,000 invitations were sent using our Invite a Friend feature.

What we experienced today was the power of television to reach a mass audience and the power of the Internet to provide a free and easy service to give consumers the choices that they want.

The fantastic piece on the Today Show has made “catalog choice” the hottest search term on Google.

Remember - Catalog Choice is a free service. We are not a .com. Don’t go to catalogchoice “dot” com.

Google Trends

It has been said many times to never doubt that a small group of people can change the world.  As Margaret Mead said, “Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”  So, just as soon as the Catalog Choice team rolled out the new feature to alert you to the status of your opt-out requests, many of you saw the red “refused” notation for some of your declined catalogs and decided that you would not take “no” for an answer.  Your calls and emails directly to catalog mailers, urging them to honor Catalog Choice requests, got their attention immediately. Many of you stated boldly to catalogers that you would stop buying from companies that don’t honor Catalog Choice opt-out requests, favoring instead to purchase from catalog mailers that do.  The new “Bravo Merchant”  feature not only gives well deserved kudos to merchants who participate in Catalog Choice but also let’s you click through directly to merchant Web sites to take advantage of ecommerce opportunities. Thanks to you–our dedicated members–catalog mailers are taking notice.  Several companies that previously stated they would not participate in our service have changed their minds.  Literally overnight.  We thank all of you who have taken the time to express your heart-felt views to catalog companies.  They are listening. Your actions are making a very significant difference in our ability, together, to change how the direct marketing industry does business.  Thank you!

At Catalog Choice, we have a team of Merchant Account managers that work all day, every day to deliver the opt-out requests to Merchants.  The team is lead by April Smith of the National Wildlife Federation.  April penned this blog post.

A great segment on the Today Show about Catalog Choice is airing today. If you come to the site and it is slow, it is only due to the fact that thousands of others are also signing up. Please bookmark the site and return later today or tomorrow. Also, please use the “Invite a Friend” feature to tell all your buddies about the site.

When signing up, if you get the message that “your email is already in use”, that means that the sign up was successful and you can now log in. If you have support questions, please use the Contact Us form. We will do our best to get back to you shortly.

Thanks for supporting Catalog Choice!

The Catalog Choice Team

The following message was sent via email to all Catalog Choice members. It is reprinted here for your convenience.

Dear Catalog Choice Members,

Thank you for making Catalog Choice extremely popular! Within three months we’ve become a community of nearly 400,000 strong, opting out of more than five million unwanted catalogs – that’s about 60 million catalogs in a year.

You’ve done your job and we’re doing ours. Catalog Choice is working every day on your behalf to ensure that catalog mailers respect and honor your opt-out requests. But there is more work to do. Here’s where we stand:

We are delivering your mail preferences to every company in our system on a regular basis. We have invited all catalog mailers to participate in Catalog Choice’s free service for merchants.

More than 100 merchants are participating in Catalog Choice’ Merchant program, including some of the largest mailers in the industry. The number of participating merchants is growing every day. You can view a list of merchant account holders here.

Today we introduced a color-coded system in “My Choices” to let you view the status of your requests. Here’s how it works:

- PENDING (Yellow). Until you have activated your Catalog Choice account, by clicking on the link in the activation email you received when signing up, all of your opt-outs will be marked “Pending”. (If you need a new activation email, request one on your My Profile page.)

- PROCESSING (Gray). Opt-outs labeled “Processing” are in the process of being delivered to the merchants.

- CONFIRMED (Green). Opt-outs labeled “Confirmed” have been transmitted to the merchant, who has confirmed its receipt.

- UNCONFIRMED (Yellow). Opt-outs labeled “Unconfirmed” have been delivered to the merchant; however, we are still awaiting confirmation of receipt. Our team will continue to contact these mailers to ensure they activate their Catalog Choice accounts and honor your opt-out requests.

- REFUSED (Red). Opt-outs labeled “Refused” relate to merchants that have refused to honor Catalog Choice opt-out requests. But we are not giving up! We continue to deliver your request to these companies, and we will continue to urge them to honor your mail preferences.  If you wish, you can call these companies directly to request that they both remove your name from their mailing lists and participate in Catalog Choice. For your convenience, we’ve included the customer service number of each non-participating merchant in the status page - just click the red “Refused” label to access this page.

Please let us know if you are still receiving catalogs labeled “Unconfirmed” or “Confirmed” by selecting the “Still Receiving” link in My Choices.Our collective voice is loud and clear, and a growing community of support from individuals like you and leading organizations is our greatest strength. The mailing systems in place throughout the direct marketing industry have been developed over many years. We ask for your patience and appreciate your continued support as we work with merchants to implement new practices to honor your requests.

Sincerely,

The Catalog Choice Team

In our December 24th post, we reported that the Potpourri Group had informed us in writing that they would not accept the opt-out requests from Catalog Choice.

Well, I am pleased to report that last week I received a letter from Jack Rosenfeld, Chairman of the Potpourri Group Inc (PGI). In his letter to me, Jack states:

PGI hereby retracts its earlier position concerning the handling of opt out requests from Catalog Choice.

Jack wants consumers to know:

PGI strongly supports the principle of consumer choice. We believe it is important to our company and our industry to give consumers a choice as to what they receive in their mailboxes, including the right to opt out. We believe that accepting opt out requests is both customer responsive and helps achieve our goal of being environmentally responsible. In addition, since mailings are expensive, accepting opt out requests makes economic sense to every mailer.

We will be looking for PGI to start processing the Catalog Choice opt-out requests. As with all mailing list processes, it will take before the opt-out requests take effect.

On Saturday January 19th, we added the 400,000th member to the constantly growing group of Americans who decide what gets into their mailbox. With the help of technology, Catalog Choice has made it easy for consumers to inform merchants of their mail preferences. With the help of technology, Catalog Choice has made it easy for merchants to access this information and honor these requests.

Thank you to every registered member of Catalog Choice for doing your job to reduce unwanted mail. Thank you to every merchant that is honoring these requests. We know there are more people who will benefit from this service. Tell your friends to sign-up. Tell the merchants you shop with to sign-up.

Hi! I’m Paul, one of Catalog Choice’s six Merchant Account Managers. My job is to convince catalog companies to accept your opt out requests – not a task for the faint-of-heart!

Catalog companies are a bit like high school students— and Catalog Choice is the new kid at school. So, the companies are gossiping, and trying to find out how to treat the new kid who’s trying to make a lot of new friends.

Each day at the office feels a bit like starting a new school; you don’t know if a company will like you or if they will try to beat you up and take your lunch money. You never know until you actually get someone on the phone—which often requires some creative tactics and lots of patience.

Today, after doing some research, I found the name of the VP of Marketing of a smaller catalog retailer. Using the company’s convenient “Dial By Name” directory, I was able to quickly get “Steve” on the phone. Steve hadn’t heard of our service but was very interested – and even complimented our “simple, well designed, easy to use” webpage. He understood how our service will save his company money and resources. Steve will be creating an account to process your opt out requests.

This is the best-case scenario. Now, a look at the worst:

Yesterday, after having a tough time getting a hold of anyone, I finally got on the phone with James, Director of Public Relations for a major catalog company (which prides itself on supporting “conservation”). The first call lasted 30 seconds. I told him who I was, where I was calling from, and he *literally* said “I’ve heard of your service, and I’m not interested,” and simply hung up.

Since I don’t like taking no for an answer, I called back: “Hey James, this is Paul - did we get cut off?” and he responded “No, I’m just not interested.”

“So, what do I tell the 25,000 people who have expressed their mailing preferences using our site, James?”

“Tell them they can call us directly.”

“Are you saying you want 25,000 phone calls into your call center?”

“I’m saying I’m not interested” (hangs up phone).

These two examples represent both ends of a wide spectrum: some merchants are willing to work with us after a little convincing; others are more diplomatic in explaining why they don’t want to honor your opt out requests; and some simply don’t pick up the phone when I call them – day after day, week after week.

So, what does this mean for the 400,000 individuals who are using our site to opt out of more than five million catalogs? Is the new kid going to get beat up by the big boys and have to hide in the library every day at lunch?

Not at all. There’s a new kid in school – and we’re making friends fast, whether the popular kids like it or not. We are a powerful team of six merchant account managers working hard to fulfill the opt out requests of a community of people that has grown to nearly 400,000 strong – and we are not taking no for an answer.

Do you know how much mail is “Undeliverable As Addressed” (UAA). The United States Postal Service estimates that as much as 34 percent of mail pieces in the mail stream — one out of every three — falls into this enormously costly category. According to a recent USPS study, 1.6 billion pieces of mail were returned, 1.985 billion pieces of mail were forwarded, and over 6 billion pieces of mail were discarded. That’s almost 10 billion pieces of mail that may never reach its intended recipient.

This costs the Postal Service $1.8 billion annually to process this mail, and it costs the senders $5-7 billion to produce and mail those catalogs and letters that are never produced.

Why is some mail undeliverable as addressed? There are a number of reasons. One has to do with the number of people who move each year. Over 40 million Americans change their address annually, which creates formidable obstacles in maintaining a high-quality mailing list. And, the folks that move don’t always submit a Change of Address form to the post office. In fact, only 30% of Americans do that. Another reason has to do with incorrect or incomplete addresses, such as typos, missing apartment numbers, or incorrect zip codes. Although many mailers use address correction software, it only catches a portion of these UAA’s.

So, do the Postal Service, the mailers, and the environment a favor – if you move, fill out a Change of Address form and have your mail forwarded to your new address. If your local government changes your address for some reason (usually for updated zip codes), make sure that the people you receive mail from know that. And, if you happen to receive mail for someone who lived in your house or apartment before you, please recycle it appropriately, or mark it “Moved” and return it to the sender so that they know to remove that name/address from their mailing lists.