Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Help us ring the bell

Sunday, November 9th, 2008

Everyday our team of merchant account managers talk to senior staff at catalog companies to encourage them to activate their secure account so that we can guarantee that your mail preference request is honored.  Without a merchant account, we deliver your request via email and password-protected CD.  While our email system is effective, it does not come with the privacy protections and explicit agreement to honor your request that are included in our license agreement. By the way, our email system does not use your email address.  It uses an address that we create for each member and catalog title.  Just one more way we are working on your behalf to protect your privacy.

Even though our team is spread across the country, we ring the “virtual merchant bell” every time a merchant activates their account.  In one fell swoop, an activated account means that we know that tens or even hundreds of thousands of opt-out requests will be honored now and into the future.

You can help us ring the merchant bell by encouraging non-participating merchants to activate their account when you follow-up with them.

And if they tell you that they are not signing up because Catalog Choice charges them or sells names – you should let them know that is not the case.

The collective efforts of the Catalog Choice community are making a difference.  In the first year of operations, we have successfully connected over a million households with hundreds of companies that are eliminating over 100 million unwanted catalog mailings annually, saving money and preserving over 250,000 trees or enough energy to power 6,000 homes per year.

More work needs to be done as unwanted catalogs continue to arrive from merchants who are not yet participating in Catalog Choice.  You can show your support for those merchants who are working with Catalogchoice.org this holiday season by going to the Cool Catalogs section of Catalogchoice.org to start your holiday shopping.   Support the companies that respect your choice and share your sustainability beliefs.

In the end, it is about consumer choice and giving you a convenient, trusted and free way to easily express their mail preferences. It is clear that many companies are sensitive to consumer needs and wants and they share an environmental ethic.  It is also clear that more work needs to be done to make the direct marketing system work for the target audience – me and you – “Joe the consumer”.

Posted in Featured | 13 Comments »

What can I do about climate change?

Monday, November 3rd, 2008

The Climate Group has developed a website – Together.com – that provides practical solutions from brands and NGOs that anyone can use to do something to improve climate change.  We believe in practical solutions, so Catalog Choice has become a Together.com partner.  You can see a reference to our solution here and more information about our involvement here.

There is no silver bullet to fighting climate change.  Together.com provides an array of simple solutions that you can adopt.  Here is a sample of some that you will find on their site:

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured | 1 Comment »

Advice from a Merchant

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

The following quote was authored by Colleen Connell, President of Gaelsong, a multi-channel (catalog and web) merchant.  She tells the story of Catalog Choice from the merchant’s perspective so I thought it would be great to let all of our readers see it.  I found this comment when visiting the TerraPass blog.  TerraPass, a carbon offset company, authored two blog posts on the topic of junk mail.  The comment string on this orginial blog post was so active, that Adam Stein published a second post with both Colleen’s and my comments.  I followed up with Colleen to get her permission to republish her comment here.  There is only one clarification that is necessary.  She indicates that only participating merchants in Catalog Choice get your opt-out request.  In fact we deliver the requests to many merchants who are not participating via email, password protected CD and they can download their file from a secure server.  We are developing new tools to improve the success of fulfilling requests from non-participating merchants.  More on this later.

In Colleen’s words:

I own a mail-order catalog company and have direct experience with both the DMA and Catalog Choice (as well as experience talking to people who want to be removed from our mailing list). If you just get a few catalogs that you don’t want, the most effective method is to contact those catalogs directly. But if you are being bombarded with loads of different unwanted catalogs, the best approach is to use both catalogchoice.org and dmachoice.org.

I recommend catalogchoice.org over the DMA’s service, but if you want to be sure to have your opt-out request honored, you should use both sites.

Also, whenever you place an order with a mail-order catalog company or subscribe to a magazine, you should request that they not rent or share your name with any other company.

Catalogchoice.org allows you to choose which catalogs you don’t want to receive at all; it also allows you to choose the frequency of catalogs that you do like but that you may be receiving too frequently.

Originally the DMA and many members of the catalog industry opposed Catalog Choice, but I am among a growing number of merchants who think that they are performing an extremely important role for consumers, the environment, and even for the catalog industry itself. Due to the DMA’s opposition, Catalog Choice got off to a slow and controversial start, but more and more merchants are cooperating with them every day.

The DMA is finally starting (very reluctantly) to see the light and they have modified their opt-out site to be more like Catalog Choice. The problem is that only the merchants who are members of the DMA can access the list of people who have opted out of receiving their catalogs. So if you opt out on the DMA site but the cataloger is not a DMA member, they will not know that you requested to be off their list. Likewise, if you opt out on Catalog Choice’s site, only merchants who are cooperating with Catalog Choice get that data.  (See above for clarification on this point). As more and more people use catalogchoice.org, more merchants will use their service and it will become more effective.

Also, please be aware that it really does take up to three months to get someone off a mailing list, so you need to be patient. The list for any given mailing is prepared weeks if not months in advance. If you are still getting unwanted catalogs after three months, I would recommend contacting the catalog directly and requesting again and tell them to use the Catalog Choice and DMA Choice services!

Posted in Blogs, Catalog Choice, Featured | 6 Comments »

Frustrated?

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

I expect that you get frustrated when you pick up the daily mail and find unwanted catalogs you have requested to no longer receive at Catalog Choice.  We live your frustration. Our team works tirelessly everyday to get more merchants on-board with our free secure mail preference service.

We know the system is far from perfect. But it is significantly better than what existed a year ago. If you want background on exactly how difficult it is to get off a mailing list, head on over Jonny Hal’s Off the List blog. Make sure you watch this video, it documents the state of the art as of 2007.

So, what should you do with your frustration?  You can focus it on the companies that keep on sending you unwanted catalogs or you can direct it to us, the non-profit working to give consumers the ability to choose what enters their mailbox.

If you believe that respecting the customer’s choice is paramount, then we need you to join us to let the non-participating companies know that you want them to honor your request entered in your Catalog Choice account. We have added phone numbers for every non-participating merchant.  If you have a free moment, give them a call. Your efforts will help our team who are on the phone with merchants every day, your fellow Catalog Choice members and those who will join the service in the future.

The Catalog Choice community is effectively changing the way mail preference requests are handled throughout the United States. Over 300 merchants are using our service, the DMA has launched a brand new mail preference service, DMAchoice.org, and more merchants are adding mail preference forms to their websites. A major catalog trade association has endorsed us, leading companies are speaking out in support of our service, and the DMA has stopped their campaign against us.

But our job is far from done and we need your support to carryout the mission. Follow the example of fellow Catalog Choice members like Julie who only shops with Participating Merchants, or Yvonne and Tracy who have both been long-time supporters of our service and work continuously to stop unwanted mail, or Sue who uses My Choices to manage her 240 catalogs opt-out requests, of which she says over 180 no longer arrive.

Together, we are improving the direct mail world so consumers can have a choice. This is not a simple, short-term initiative. It requires time, patience and your continued support.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured | 54 Comments »

What’s New at Catalog Choice

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Many catalog mailers and consumers have told us that they would love to have the option to receive fewer mailings of a specific catalog rather than opt-out entirely. 

That makes perfect sense – we all love our dimmer switch rather than the old fashioned on-off switch.  So, we talked to as many merchants as possible in an effort to figure out a process for offering “frequency” choices to consumers.  We concluded that, unlike that handy dimmer switch that works everywhere,  there was not a one-size fits all program for mail frequency.  As a result, we developed a system that allows the participating company to define the frequency choices that makes sense for their catalog.  So don’t be surprised when you go to set you mail preference and you get the following choices:

Now when you go to My Choices, we created a way to separate the catalogs you do not want in the mail from those that you do want.  You can toggle back and forth between your selections with ease.  If you want to change your selection, simply select View Details for a Confirmed catalog and update your mail preference.  While over 300 catalogs are confirmed participants right now, many have not set their mail frequency options yet.

We think it is really cool when catalog merchants participate in our service and support American’s desire for a centralized site to manage catalog mailings.  So, we have also made it easier to filter through the list of 300+ catalogs that are honoring mail preferences so that you can show your support by visiting their online store.  We call this area of our site “Cool Catalogs“.  So head on over to that page this holiday season and start your shopping with a company that puts the consumer’s choice first.

We hope that our members like the new features and that many more companies will activate their free account to honor requests being entered at Catalog Choice now that your company can offer mail frequency choices to consumers.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured, Merchants | 30 Comments »

Making our website greener

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

Last month Catalog Choice signed up for an innovative service that will offset the carbon impacts associated with our website.  The service, CO2Stats, calculates the greenhouse gas footprint of visits to your site, based on locations of your visitors and servers, computer types, window and monitor sizes, local fuel mixes, download sizes and times.  At the end of every month, CO2Stats will purchase Green-E certified Renewable Energy Certificates to offset our site’s CO2 footprint. Users can inspect our certificates and other environmental statistics by clicking on our CO2Stats badge.

We’ll be adding badge to our main site shortly.  If you want one for your site, head on over to CO2Stats and sign up.  For those of you interested in the details, here is how the service works:

Posted in Catalog Choice, Environment, Featured | 2 Comments »

One Million People and Industry Agree: Consumers Deserve a Choice

Thursday, September 25th, 2008

This morning we issued an important press release announcing our new merchant partnership agreement.  The agreement was crafted to benefit both consumers and businesses.  Our team worked with executives from Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, L.L. Bean, Orchard Brands and the American Catalog Mailers Association to develop the new agreement.  Hundreds of hours were invested in developing the partnership which provides the foundation for a productive vendor relationship between Catalog Choice and merchants.

What does this agreement mean for consumers and members of Catalog Choice?

It means that more and more merchants will be activating their accounts in the coming weeks and honoring your mail preference requests entered at Catalog Choice for years to come.  While some of you may still be receiving unwanted catalogs, the service will be much improved in 2009 because of this agreement.

What does this agreement mean for Merchants already participating in Catalog Choice?

The agreement solidifies our obligation to provide the Merchant with a service that provides secure access to the mail preference requests entered at our site.  It also means that more of your colleagues in the industry will be honoring our members’ requests.

What does this agreement mean for the merchants who have yet to activate their Catalog Choice account or have chosen to not participate in our service?

The agreement resolves all of the issues raised by the DMA about our intentions and business practices. It details our agreement to focus on providing high quality vendor services and to not engage in advocacy.  We hope that the agreement gives you all the information you need to make an informed decision about accepting the mail preference our members have recorded.  For those merchants who have decided not to participate, we hope that the agreement will give you reason to reconsider.

What does this agreement mean for Catalog Choice?

It means that we now have over 285 catalog titles (see them all on Bravo Merchants) who are actively working to honor our members’ mail preferences.  It means that we can focus our efforts on being the nation’s leading independent mail preference provider.  We can continue to enhance our service for our members – both consumers and merchants.  Best of all, it means that we have a great set of industry partners with whom we agree – Consumers Deserve a Choice.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured, Merchants | 10 Comments »

Respecting the Customer’s Choice Drives Sales

Friday, September 19th, 2008

Susan Bratton, co-founder of Personal Life Media, published an article praising merchants who honor mail preference requests from Catalog Choice.  Her article is titled – Big Gold Star for Crate & Barrel’s Direct Marketing Guru Today, CatalogChoice.org’s Opt Out Program WORKS.

From the sounds of it, Susan is going to head down to the nearest Crate & Barrel store to buy something just because Crate & Barrel followed up on her opt-out request entered at Catalog Choice with an email acknowledging that they will be honoring her request.

Susan’s post is a great case study for why we built the service and the enhanced customer loyalty that we hoped would result from companies honoring consumers choices to reduce the amount of mail they receive at home.

With the holiday shopping right around the corner, I wonder how many people will start your holiday shopping by looking at our Bravo Merchants page.

By the way, we will be making it easier to find the merchants you are looking for by adding the ability to search through Bravo Merchants by product category.  Look for this enhancement in a couple of weeks.

Posted in Customers, Featured, Merchants | 5 Comments »

One milestone down, many more to go

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Today we signed up the one millionth member at Catalog Choice.  When we developed our projections a year ago, we thought it would take 2 years to hit this milestone.  We’ve reached it in 11 months.  I guess the demand for a free and easy to use mail preference service is greater than we thought.

Thanks to everyone who has told their friend about our service.  More and more merchants are coming on board as our membership grows.  That means that more and more of your opt-out requests are getting honored.  As we approach our 1 year anniversary, we are working hard on some great new updates to the service.  Stay tuned …. and until then, thanks to everyone of our members!

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured | 27 Comments »

Is your friend the millionth member?

Friday, September 5th, 2008

We are getting very close to the magical million member milestone.  Yvonne, we don’t have any big celebrations planned at the moment. We are busy working on a new and improved version of Catalog Choice and we don’t have time to take our eye off the ball right now.  Stay tuned for Catalog Choice 2.0 in the coming weeks.

We do plan on celebrating the millionth member with a guest appearance on the blog, if that person so chooses.  We don’t have any fancy systems to identify the millionth member as they click the sign up button.  Once we see the real-time member counter always present on the home page ring up the 7th digit, we will figure out who the lucky member is.

What continues to inspire us is how fast we reached a million members.  But it is not a mystery – it is due to lots of hard work by everyone involved.

  1. It is our easy to use solution designed by our killer development team.
  2. It is a result of hard work by our partner organizations, NWF, NRDC and Ecology Center, who have help spread the word to the media.
  3. It is a thanks to so many of our members who used our Invite a Friend feature to invite over 435,000 friends.
  4. It is thanks to our dedicated readers of the blog who jump into the comment section to answer questions and clarify the facts about the confusing process of honoring mail preference requests.
  5. It is the power of social media and citizen bloggers that has helped spread the word to so many Americans and driven our natural search result to the #2 spot on Google’s list.
  6. It is because hundreds of merchants have been open to accepting our mail preference requests in a secure and automated fashion. I know the “Bravo Merchants” will appreciate your support this holiday season.
  7. Most of all, it is because no one wants to waste time, money or natural resources; and that is what Catalog Choice aims to accomplish for consumers, merchants and the environment.

We know we have hard work ahead of us to get more merchants to honor the requests entered through Catalog Choice.  Catalog Choice is far from perfect.

I know you wonder every time you receive a catalog in the mail that you have already opted-out of on our site – is it worth the effort?  The answer is yes – it is worth the effort – because it is the easier for everyone to use a service like ours than pick up the phone and call customer service.  So when you pick up that unwanted catalog, drop it in the recycling bin, rest assured that we will not stop working on behalf of every member, every merchant and every sponsor to make our mail preference service the best in the nation.

Posted in Catalog Choice, Featured | 9 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »