Archive for May, 2009

Paperless Marketing

Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Check out the cool coverage we got in CRM Magazine. Jessica Tsai covered our recent release of digital marketing tools in this article titled Paperless Marketing for the Digital Customer.

We figure that providing merchants with new digital marketing tools gives them one more reason to collaborate with us and honor our member’s mail preference requests.  We’ve learned that you can not push merchants away from paper marketing tools, you need to provide compelling alternatives.

Look for more exciting announcements and new features leveraging our new catalog widgets in the coming weeks.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Merchants | No Comments »

down to an occasional straggler

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Our User Feedback inbox is diligently managed by Jen, our Customer Service Hero. She personally responds to each email and works with the rest of the team to make sure that the service is meeting the needs of our members. On occasion, we get angry emails from members who complain that the catalogs have not stopped. We look into each complaint and work with mailers who are not getting the names suppressed in a timely manner.

Jen also gets alot of fan mail, on behalf of the team. Here are several that have come in over the last couple weeks.

Just wanted to say THANK YOU so much for providing this great service! Not only am I not receiving unwanted catalogs but I’m also helping to save the environment! Your website also provides me with an easy way of finding any merchant and their website, also saving the environment. Thank you to all those merchants that have honored my request!
Barbara

Thanks so much for this service! I have been inundated with catalogs, so this site has been a tremendous help to me. I will be mailing a donation.

Kind regards, Jade

I am down to an occasional straggler as far as catalogs go! Many thanks for your help. I really appreciate your service and have been telling as many people as possible about it. In the latter part of 2007, I began using Catalog Choice. Initially, I visited the site frequently in my quest to end the onslaught of unsolicited catalogs in my mail box. That mission has been accomplished with your help.  Since then, I continue to visit Catalog Choice periodically to check on the status of my choices. Each time, I have been impressed with the ongoing improvements to the site. It’s easier than ever to use the site and access/review the information about my choices.  Interestingly, it’s very easy to request a catalog online but next to impossible to “unsubscribe” to one online. All the more reason to thank you for creating Catalog Choice, an ideal solution to that lack.

An appreciative fan,  Lynn

You are nothing short of phenomenal! I was listed on over 200 catalog mailing lists. We literally had to buy a larger box to accommodate them all. Yes, it took a while for me to “opt out” of so many of them, but going to my mailbox these days is a pleasure… I now average about 6 a week…almost all of them are welcome.  Thank you for your remarkable service…it truly works.

I want to share with you how Catalog Choice is making a difference. In
2001, at the urging of my spouse, who was amazed and disgusted with how
many catalogs were arriving in our mailbox, I collected, counted, and
catalogued all the catalogs for the entire year. By the end of the
year, we had a 3-foot high stack of catalogs — a total of 396. I kept
track of how many we received each month, and how many from each
company. (I’m an evaluator by profession). I signed up with Catalog
Choice in late 2007, and after a full year of using Catalog Choice, I
decided to track the catalogs coming in the door again this year (2009).
For the first three months of this year, we have seen a 69% decline in
the number of catalogs compared to the first three months of 2001.
That’s a huge difference!!! I’m going to collect them all year, and
maybe as some of the reluctant-to-stop companies finally get on board, I’ll see even fewer in
my mailbox.
Thank you,
Carole

I have definitely noticed a difference–42 catalogues confirmed! I am so pleased! Congratulations on pulling this off!  Thanks so much, Josie

If you have a story that you would like to share with us about how you have taken control of your mailbox, send us an email at Team(at)catalogchoice.org – we would love to hear what you have to say.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Customers, Featured, Fulfillment | 1 Comment »

More Merchants Support Choice

Saturday, May 16th, 2009

We are pleased to welcome a great array of new catalog merchants to the Catalog Choice service.  From lobsters to jewelry to gifts, there are more great brands joining Catalog Choice and honoring your requests.

Charles P. Rogers Co.
Fetch Enterprises, LLC
Stauer
The Popcorn Factory
Container Store
Brooks Brothers
Museum ofJewelry
DHC USA, Inc.
Lobster Gram
Old Harbor Outfitters
1-800-Homeopathy
Miles Kimball Company
Walter Drake
Exposures
As We Change
Home Marketplace
Easy Comforts
EuroSport/Soccer.com
National Geographic
Chasing Fireflies
Uno Alla Volta
Cooking Enthusiast
Ben Silver Collection
Southwest Indian Foundation
West Coast Computer
Smithsonian Journeys
The Heritage Store
DreamSacks, Inc.
The Barn Door, Inc
Thomson Family Adventures
Cyberguys!
X-treme Geek
Abercrombie & Fitch
American Science & Surplus
Coach
Colonial Williamsburg
World Rugby Shop
Tafford Uniforms
Sam Ash Music Corp
Yogabela
Ben Bridge Jewelers
Jockey Intl., Inc.
Malley’s Chocolates
Save the Children Federation
Banyan Botanicals
Dakin Farm

Posted in Catalog Choice, Merchants | No Comments »

How we line up with the Abacus questions on mail preference

Monday, May 11th, 2009

Over the past year we have had the opportunity to work with the executives at Abacus as our mail preference service rapidly gained popularity.  Abacus is an important player in the direct mail business.  They run the largest cooperative database for the merchant community.

Many merchants asked their Abacus colleagues about participation in Catalog Choice.  As a result, Abacus published a paper – Abacus Viewpoint – “Opt-outs” and Name Suppression.  The paper poses the following questions for merchants to consider when deciding whether to work with a mail preference service.  Below are the Abacus questions and our answers.

1. What is the organization’s intent in capturing the names of your cusotmers?

Catalog Choice provides secure consumer accounts so that the names can be provided to mailers to honor the customer’s mail preference choice.  We do not release the names for any other purpose.  We do not rent or sell the names of our members.  We are acting on behalf of our members to contact mailers because the process to do so is time consuming for consumers.

2. What is their verification process?

Catalog Choice uses a double opt-in verification system.  A consumer must establish an account and then respond to an email we send to them to fully activate their account.  This is the same verification model used by DMAChoice and Donotcall.org.

3. What is the organization’s underlying philosophy about direct mail?

Catalog Choice wants to make direct mail more resource efficient by connecting consumers and companies to reduce unwanted mail and go paperless.  Our website and blog are clear that we are working on behalf of both companies and consumers.  Our funders are leading organizations working to encourage sustainable business practices.

4. Does the opt-out service require payment from the consumer?

Catalog Choice is free to consumers.

5. Does the opt-out service offer consumers the opportunity for seasonal, channel, or specific opt-outs?

Catalog Choice is the only service in the nation that supports “opt-down” – the ability to offer fewer mailings rather than none at all.  Our “opt-down” system can be customized to the unique mailing requirements of the company and can be implemented without changing the mailers customer database.

6. Will the opt-out service allow an email contact to the consumer to confirm an opt-out request and allow a request for the consumer to opt-down?

Catalog Choice provides a unique email address for each request that the mailer can use to confirm the request and offer opt-down options.  The email is presented to the consumer within their Catalog Choice account associated with the specific mailer.  Consumers can choose to have confirmation emails forwarded to their personal email address in their profile settings.

These are great questions and we are pleased to be able to provide clear and concise answers to each question.  If you, the mailer, wish to discuss the service in more detail, please review the information on our Merchant site, contact us to ask any question and hopefully activate your account.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Merchants | 2 Comments »

Go Paperless with Catalog Choice

Friday, May 8th, 2009

Did you know that you can receive a catalog in a digital format? Catalog Choice has teamed with V-Mags Media to provide our merchants the opportunity to publish their paper catalogs in an easy to read digital format.

Our first customer for this new service is Thomson Family Adventures. Take a look at their gorgeous digital catalog and pick your next family adventure.

Thomson Family Adventures

When you go to request at catalog at Thomson’s site, their first option is to send you the digital version as shown in the snippet of their form below.

Family Vacation Brochure

If you are interested in going paperless with our digital catalog service, drop me a note at chuck (at) catalogchoice.org.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Merchants | No Comments »

Catalog Choice 2.0 – Fresh look and better service

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Today, we launched Catalog Choice 2.0.  We have freshened up the user interface and enhanced the service with a variety of key features.

The site navigation has moved from the left-hand side of the site to tabs and a login strip.  The tabs are the key elements of the site – Dashboard, Find Catalogs, My Choices, Cool Catalogs, Invite Friends and Donation.

cc1 homepages.graffle

Other key elements of the navigation have been moved to the Login strip, located at the top of the page.  In the lefthand portion of the Login strip, you will find About Us, Blog, Privacy, FAQ and Contact us.  On the right side of the Login strip, there is a log out link and a link to My Profile.  The screen shot below shows you where each element of the original UI has been moved.

cc1 homepages.graffle

This change will make it straight forward for us to add in other forms of mail (beyond catalogs) to the site.  Look for this upgrade in the near future.

Still Receiving is back.  For a week, we removed the Still Receiving link from My Choices.  We heard from alot of members that they wanted it back.  We have put it back in My Choices. It works slightly different than before.  When you select Still Receiving, you will be taken to the catalog’s mail preference page where you will need to fill out the request form again.  This will allow us to use the most up to date contact method for the catalog and capture the relevant name and address information.

You can now add a new mailbox on the mail preference form.  We have made it easier to add new addresses while you are filling out the mail preference request.  The new mailbox link is right on the form so you can add a new address without leaving the page.

We have added a new mail preference delivery method that we refer to as “Form pop-up”.  While over 525 catalog titles use our secure merchant account to obtain your requests, many catalog mailers continue to ignore your request provided through our free merchant service.  We have been emailing your requests to hundreds of merchants using our anonymous email system – we never release your email address for a mail preference request.

The new method is designed for companies that use “contact us” forms on their site instead of email addresses.  When you go to set a mail preference request for one of these companies, we will open their contact us form within our site so that you can fill out the form.  If you want to keep your email private and have the company’s email response stored in your Catalog Choice account, use the anonymous email address shown on the top of the page.  When you are done filling out the form, select the “Save and Go Back” button and we will record the request in your account.  We recognize that the user experience of the form pop-up is a little jarring since a new website will suddenly show up on the page.  However, this feature is necessary to make the service work for a number of merchants.

Catalog Choice - Control the catalogs you receive in the mail

We hope you like the site upgrades and continue to pass the word about Catalog Choice.  Together, we are making a difference in the world of direct marketing for the good of the consumer, the enviroment and the mailer.  As always, we welcome your comments below.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured | 8 Comments »

New Services Help Companies go Paperless

Monday, May 4th, 2009

Below is a press release about our new Premium Merchant services.   In an effort to further diversify the funding support for our free mail preference service (that’s free for consumers and merchants), we are developing a series of services for merchants that support our mission (reducing unwanted mail) and help them move from paper catalogs to digital merchandising tools.   You can read more about our Premium Services on our Merchant site.

The Press Release:

CATALOG CHOICE UNVEILS NEW SERVICES TO HELP COMPANIES MASTER THE WEB
New Tools from CatalogChoice.org Allow Merchants to Thrive in Spite of Economy

New Orleans, LA – On May 4 at the Annual Conference for Catalog and Multichannel Merchants, Catalog Choice will unveil a set of new premium services that will enable merchants to better connect with consumers using customized digital tools and online distribution methods. These new premium tools allow merchants to create digital catalogs and portable widgets, which can be used to distribute product information across the Web and on cell phones. Within Catalog Choice, companies can now offer email opt-in to send messages directly to consumers who want to hear from them.

“Our premium services are designed to help companies migrate to new digital marketing programs,” said Chuck Teller, executive director of Catalog Choice. “There are more than one-million Catalog Choice members who are actively seeking paperless options to follow their favorite brands.”

The premium services give merchants more ways to connect with their customer base and Catalog Choice members, enhancing the customer experience with little IT expense. Merchants can offer email news to Catalog Choice members who choose to subscribe.  They can also integrate a contact preference service into their own Web sites that lets consumers change their preferences without leaving the merchant’s site. With a new, product feed-powered Catalog Widget, merchants can tap into social marketing and reach new customers through smart phones and across the Web, from blogs to Web sites to Facebook and on CatalogChoice.org. Companies can also offer an eCatalog, an online version of a merchant’s catalog that is automatically announced to Catalog Choice members. These paperless tools are designed to be simple for merchants to adopt, saving IT budgets and making it easy for them to build up their presence online.

“We’re excited to use these new tools to maximize our online marketing opportunities and target the consumers who are most likely to buy,” said John Seebeck, of Crate & Barrel. “As a merchant of products for the home, we’re always searching for convenient, cost-effective ways to reach our growing base of online customers.”

The premium services are an easy way to add additional value onto a basic Catalog Choice account. Catalog Choice has also enhanced its free basic service for merchants by adding the ability to accept opt-in and opt-down requests from consumers who wish to receive catalogs less frequently. Basic accounts let merchants post their catalogs in Catalog Choice’s Cool Catalogs area and send one-time confirmation messages to consumers with special offers, links to the merchant’s blog or other information.

“As a growing company, these new, low-cost tools really give us a leg up on our online marketing,” said Brian Hashemi, head of marketing at UncommonGoods. “We are already hearing from our customers that they appreciate the convenience of being able to select how we connect with them. They say that having this choice makes shopping with us an even better experience.”

Would you like a chance to speak with Chuck Teller of Catalog Choice, John Seebeck of Crate & Barrel or Brian Hashemi of UncommonGoods? Please contact April at april.smith@catalogchoice.org.

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Catalog Choice is a nonprofit service that helps consumers and catalog marketers work together to reduce unwanted catalogs and go paperless in order to save money and natural resources. Learn more online at www.CatalogChoice.org.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Media Coverage | No Comments »