Lenser, a premier, full service multichannel marketing agency, focusing on database marketing and creative services that drive results through multiple channels of distribution- catalog, internet and stores, published their position about Catalog Choice in their May 2008 Newsletter.

Their clients have been asking them what they should do when contacted by Catalog Choice. John Lenser, the President, states in the Newsletter:

While the DMA has taken the position that Catalog Choice is unneeded given their own “Do Not Mail” preference services, I no longer believe this position is in the industry’s best interest. Catalog Choice now has over 736,000 registered accounts of those who have requested that one or more catalogs not be mailed to them and registrations are growing by thousands each week.

Therefore, I am recommending that catalog mailers move forward and accept Catalog Choice’s merchant agreement and accept their file downloads. The negative repercussions for not doing so, at this point, outweigh any advantages of not joining. It is naive to pretend they do not exist.

We are pleased to get the endorsement of Lenser, one of the industry’s leading service providers. The four major issues referenced by John in the Newsletter were 1) the staying power of Catalog Choice, 2) what can merchants do when valuable customers opt-out, 3) fear of Do Not Mail legislation and 4) on-going collaboration between Catalog Choice and the industry.

Time has proven that we are here to stay. As the largest mail preference service, outside the DMA, it is clear that our service is popular among consumers and adoption is growing among merchants. As John says “At this point, we believe they are here to stay and deserve our backing.”

What should merchants do about valuable customers that are now opting-out of the catalog? After many discussions with merchants, Catalog Choice has agreed that merchants can contact customers with a secondary confirmation. The confirmation should not require an action by the consumer, as you have already stated your preference in Catalog Choice, but it can provide other information about how to interact with the merchant such as requesting fewer catalogs or opting-into an email relationship. Merchants such as L.L. Bean and Crate and Barrel are conducting these types of secondary confirmations with customers in their database.

At no time does Catalog Choice release the consumers email address to the merchant. We will be adding a service for merchants whereby Catalog Choice will send an email to a merchant’s customer who has opted-out on behalf of the merchant. This email will not go to all Catalog Choice members, just those who are recent customers of the given merchant. The secondary confirmation process is all part of facilitating the dialog between consumers and merchants around the issue of mail preference.

The third reason that Lenser references in his letter of support is that he recognizes Catalog Choice as a viable market-based approach to mail preference. He states:

We expect that bills will be introduced in Congress and hearings held. If the industry wants to avoid such governmental intrusion, we need to demonstrate that viable alternatives already exist. While the DMA’s mail preference service is the industry’s own internal answer, Catalog Choice represents a solid answer to those that are distrustful of an industry-managed program. The last thing we need is Catalog Choice giving testimony that the industry torpedoed their efforts.

The fourth reason Lenser supports Catalog Choice is that we continue to meet with the Lenser Team and other industry leaders to listen to their input so that together we can use our service to meet “goals of eliminating waste and pollution, but actually makes our mailing programs more cost-effective and profitable.”

We are in total agreement with John’s closing sentence in his piece “A word about Catalog Choice”. John states “By working together, we can make a positive difference.”

Last week, Crate and Barrel rolled out a new feature on their website supporting your preference to receive fewer catalogs or none at all. For those of you that made an opt-out choice on Catalog Choice and have purchased from Crate and Barrel in the past (and you still use the same email that you provided to them), they may send you the following confirmation email shown below. If you would prefer to receive fewer catalogs from Crate & Barrel instead of none, click this link to set your mail preference.

This is an example of the processes that merchants are putting in place to confirm your opt-out requests and provide you with other mailing options that meet your needs. At Catalog Choice, we are putting more services in place to help merchants provide similar services.

Crate & Barrel has been honoring Catalog Choice opt-out requests since March. The email confirmation and mail frequency site are new features that they are rolling out.  This is an example of the hard work that merchants are undertaking to respond to your request.  While it all seems simple in the end, it takes months of design, development and testing to get it right before enhancements like this can be rolled out.  We have been patient with Crate and other merchants who are working on responding to the opt-out requests that you have entered at Catalog Choice and we hope that you are too.

We applaud these new services and hope that other merchants will follow. Catalog Choice members can show their appreciation by going to the Bravo Merchants page and support Crate & Barrel or other merchants working to honor opt-out requests.

This morning we sent the following message to all Catalog Choice members.

In just six months, Catalog Choice has become a significant consumer
voice in the direct mail industry. We could not have done it without
you and the other 730,000 people who use our service. On our blog, the
voices of several Catalog Choice members, Tracy, Yvonne, and Mary to
name a few, is also loud and clear:

“Give us the power to decide what gets in our mailbox.”

We work hard every day to achieve this goal. But we know that when you
receive an unwanted catalog in the mail, you may wonder: Is Catalog
Choice working? We confidently report that yes, Catalog Choice is
working. Our approach is showing results, for you, merchants and the
environment.

Here are some important updates and thoughts we want to share with
you:

* Nearly 200 catalog mailers are participating in Catalog Choice, and
this number grows every day. Check out our new “Bravo Merchants”
page, which gives you a convenient way to shop online by catalog
brand. In the months ahead you’ll see more mailers post their
electronic catalogs.

* We are engaged with the catalog industry at the executive level,
working with key decision-makers, the US Postal Service, and
industry associations to ensure that merchants honor your mail
preferences.

* Please use Catalog Choice for those unwanted catalogs you receive in
the mail. We established our service to be title-specific. To
decrease the chances of your name being rented, sold, or exchanged
by catalog companies, consider the Direct Marketing Association’s
Mail Preference Service at www.DMAChoice.org. This service will
remove you from DMA member prospect lists. In response to Catalog
Choice, DMA recently dropped the credit card verification and fee
requirements. Please avoid using Catalog Choice for catalogs you’ve
never received.

These are challenging financial times for merchants. There is no legal
imperative for merchants to honor your opt-out requests; we depend on
the merchant’s good faith to respect consumers’ mail preferences. Some
mailers are reluctant to remove valuable customer names from their
mailing lists without a confirmation directly from the customer. If
you are a catalog customer, some mailers may reach out to you with a
phone call, an email, or a post card. Others may send you a catalog to
see how you respond. If you buy from that catalog, it is unlikely that
the mailer will remove you from their mailing list.

We stand by our mission to reduce the mailing of unwanted catalogs.
Our approach is to continue working collaboratively with the catalog
industry to embrace voluntary measures to reduce unwanted mail by
honoring your mail preferences. This requires a relationship of trust
between Catalog Choice and mailers - and this takes time. We ask for
your continued patience and support. So stick with us and tell a
friend. The larger our voice, the more progress we can make together.

Sincerely,
The Catalog Choice Team

There is nothing better than having merchants inform their customers to come to Catalog Choice to set their mail preference. Today, we learned that Tools for Wellness will be printing a notice for customers in their next printed catalog. They announced their relationship with us on their blog in this post. Here is an excerpt:

The past few years has seen a greatly increased awareness of how precious our natural resources are. Greenhouse emissions, pollution from fossil fuels, and the depletion of the ozone layer are just a few examples of how were are slowly destroying the earth.

While we’ve made the switch to using recycled materials in our shipments whenever possible, we’re proud to have teamed with Catalog Choice, a free service that is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center.

We welcome any other merchants who are pointing customers to our site to let us know so that we can give you the shout out that you deserve.

It is the purpose of this post to report on how we’re doing, to address a fundamental misconception pertaining the service, and to give a sneak peak at the exciting things ahead.

Looking back: Prior relationships

In the comments of a recent Catalog Choice blog post, some people have critically argued that Catalog Choice did not have relationships with merchants prior to launching our service, and therefore misled our consumer members. We’d like to set the record straight.

It is most certainly a fact that Catalog Choice did not have a relationship with the majority of merchants when we launched. The misconception, however, is that the existence of such relationships at the time of launch was intended or even necessary. It was neither. Catalog Choice was designed to work *regardless* of the existence of a relationship with any particular merchant.

1. It works with a relationship. For merchants who want to establish a relationship with Catalog Choice, by signing up for a free account, we offer the ability to download their customer opt-out data in a computer-friendly CSV format. In addition, such merchants can look forward to a roadmap of additional services planned to add value and enhance the consumer/merchant relationship.

2. And it works without a relationship. Some merchants, for any number of reasons, will chose not to have a relationship with Catalog Choice. That is fine. For these merchants, we forward our member’s opt-out requests to them by email or by delivering a password protected file on a CD. In that way, Catalog Choice simply acts as a delivery agent.

We would never criticize a merchant for choosing not to work with Catalog Choice in the sense of signing up for a merchant account. That’s completely up to them.

On the other hand, we do expect all merchants to honor opt-out requests made by our members. Merchants may not refuse opt-out requests delivered by the United States Postal Service (a delivery agent), or called/faxed in via the phone company (a delivery agent), and therefore they should not refuse opt-out requests delivered by Catalog Choice on behalf of consumers.

(As a side note, the DMA argue that, by not requiring a credit card number like them, we’re not sufficiently validating the identity of our members. Well, we use industry standard security measures and email validation; the same used by the US Do Not Call service.)

Where we stand today: It’s working (despite the best efforts of the
DMA)!

We can assuredly report to you that CATALOG CHOICE IS WORKING. Over 160 merchants have signed up, and that number is growing daily. Presently, over 675,000 consumers have confirmed the need for a service like Catalog Choice, as well as their frustration with existing services. We have received thousands of emails from members reporting that after years of ineffective attempts to use the DMA and other services, their mailboxes are finally becoming uncluttered.

At the same time, there are strong forces at work against Catalog Choice, namely the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). Shortly after launch, the DMA sent a vicious letter, full of false accusations, to all member merchants urging them to, “Just Say No!” to Catalog Choice. Our organization, along with an entire nation of consumers, was
shocked and left wondering why the DMA, who proclaim to be “committed to the advancement of consumer choice”, would take such a stance.

On reflection, however, it’s not really a surprise. The DMA sits squarely in the center of an industrial operational model that has ineffectively serviced both merchants and consumers for the past 35 years; a model which Catalog Choice is now positioned to change.

(It must be said, however, that Catalog Choice has even had a positive effect on the DMA. They’ve recently launched a service with a name coincidentally fashioned after our own, and have found a way to live without that dollar they’ve been charging you all these years. But they do still want your credit card number.)

Looking forward: A better world for consumers, merchants and the
environment.

We have a vision of eliminating waste by fundamentally improving the way an industry works, by:

* Putting choice and control in the hands of the consumer.
* Facilitating a merchant/consumer relationship that was never before possible.

We’ve accomplished the first step: Over 675,000 consumers are enjoying the ease-of-use and convenience of centralized mail preference management, having registered over eight million requests.

And now we begin the second step. Consumers have said they want more choice, and a finer level of control. They have made it clear that catalogs and commerce are not the problem; waste is. Merchants have just as much desire to eliminate waste as consumers. But they don’t want to be excluded from the relationship and conversation with the
consumer, as that relationship has often been earned over the years through good faith and delivered value.

In support of these compatible interests, here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store:

1. Just last week, we launched the first of a series of relationship- enhancing features, by allowing merchants to upload a photo of their catalogs, and customize some text that is shown on the opt-out screen, thereby allowing them to participate in the “conversation” during the opt-out process. This is just the tip of the iceberg.

2. Very soon, consumers will be able to manage what they *do* receive, in addition to what they *don’t* receive, as we introduce the ability to opt-in to catalogs, and ultimately manage the frequency with which you receive catalogs. Since launch, this has been the number one requested feature from both consumers and merchants, and we’re excited to let you know it’s going to happen!

3. In the famous last words of Steve Jobs, there’s “Just one more thing!”. That service, however, is just a little too important to risk unveiling at this time.

And all of these future enhancements will be delivered in a way that supports the fundamental objectives of our service; improving our lives, while eliminating waste.

So, there really is a win-win-win scenario — for the consumer, merchant and the environment — and Catalog Choice is dedicated and committed to delivering it. Thanks for your participation, and, as always, please keep the feedback coming.

Today I learned that the City of Napa is using Catalog Choice to promote “precycling” to city residents.  You can read the entire article by Jill Decker over at the Napa Valley Register.

The article was prompted by a suggestion from Napa resident Lisa Jaynes.  What caught my attention was that Lisa learned about Catalog Choice when she saw a flyer for our site in her garbage bill.

The flyer went out earlier this year to about 26,000 Napa city and south county garbage customers, according to the city’s Napa Materials Diversion Administrator Kevin Miller.

“The city and county of Napa are true believers in waste prevention, sometimes called ‘precycling.’ In the case of unwanted junk mail, recycling is good (and certainly better than sending it to be buried in a landfill),” Miller said, “but avoiding the junk mail in the first (place) is much better for the environment.” It’s the reduce part of “reduce, reuse, recycle.”

An important point that Jill makes in the article is “the site (catalogchoice.org) promises not to share your personal information beyond what is needed to take you off their list.”  That’s right - We only send your personal information to the merchant to request that they remove you from their mailing list.  As part of the transmission of your information, we require that they not rent, sell or use your name for any other purpose.  This remains a voluntary process and we continue to see more and more merchants updating their systems to accommodate consumers’ mail preference requests.

Join Sierra Trading Post, Guitar Center, Cuddledown, Rod’s Western Palace and others who are using new personalization features in Catalog Choice. This week, we launched features that allow merchants to configure the mail preference process.

Merchants will be able to:

1) Add a photo

2) Configure a message on the Mail Preference Page; and

3) Configure a message on the Confirmation Page

Look how good Rod’s Western Palace’s mail preference page looks! This is the page users see when they register their mail preference for a particular catalog.

In the next couple of weeks, we’ll be unveiling even more features for merchants. If you’re a merchant and would like to activate your free account, please contact us at merchantservice@catalogchoice.org.

The fruits of merchant account managers’ labor are ripening. Every week, more and more merchants are signing up to our free, secure service to honor consumer mail preferences. In the past week, PC Connection, Van Bourgondien, Wisconsin Cheeseman, and Duluth Trading Company have all opened accounts and started the process of honoring consumers requests.

These and the other Bravo Merchants, are saving money in many ways by setting up a merchant account. First, it is easier and faster to honor the request through our secure download rather than transcribing requests sent via our push email fulfillment service. Second, there is no sense in sending a catalog to someone who does not want it. If you want a free merchant account, contact us at merchantservice@catalogchoice.org.

The other day we came across a note from a Catalog Choice member.  They wrote to inform us that one of the catalog merchants, Fahrney’s Pens, has printed a notice within their recent catalog instructing readers that if they wish to no longer receive their catalog to head on over to Catalog Choice and set their mail preference.

Fahrney’s made the decision to make it easy for customers to set their mail preferences through Catalog Choice.  They certainly earned my respect and my business.  If you want to applaud Fahrney’s Pens, head on over to their website and buy yourself a pen.  Perhaps you could use the pen to write a note to those merchants who are not honoring your mail preference request through Catalog Choice.

Catalog Choice was formed with one primary purpose: conserve our planet’s precious natural resources by reducing the enormous amount of unwanted catalogs mailed every day.

In spite of our efforts not to demonize the industry, the Direct Marketing Association continues to send messages to catalog companies that paint Catalog Choice as the devil. The nasty things they say about Catalog Choice make us think that they are worried about the power of your wishes. Instead of working in the best interest of consumers, the actions of the DMA are driving a serious wedge between consumers and catalog companies. We think that’s bad business.

Our business is to help you quickly, easily and efficiently choose what catalogs enter your mailbox. Catalog Choice will do whatever it takes to help you exercise your right to choose and fulfill your wishes.

Our merchant service team is contacting catalog companies every day on your behalf. Our board and executive team are talking with executives throughout the direct marketing industry every day.

We have this one purpose and we plan to fulfill it - 100%.

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, you can leave a comment on our blog - we read every comment.