Catalog Choice - Paperless Blog » Fulfillment

Still Receiving Unwanted Catalogs?

Chuck — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:34:23 +0000

You’ve made requests to stop receiving unwanted catalogs through Catalog Choice. Many have stopped, but some are still showing up in your mail box. Why is this happening? What can you do about it? Read on to gain more control of your mailbox.

Reason #1: Inactive Account – You haven’t activated your Catalog Choice account. We verify your account by roundtrip email before we process your mail preferences. If you never received our confirmation email with the activation link after creating an account, the request might be caught in your SPAM filter.

Action: Check your SPAM and junk folders. Make sure to white list register@catalogchoice.org to receive our activation email. You can also send a request to this address and we will manually activate your account. You must send the message from the email address you used to set up your account.

Reason #2: It takes a little longer – After declining a catalog through Catalog Choice, you haven’t waited long enough. It typically takes ten weeks to remove your name from a mailing list, but it may take longer. Action: Look at the date you made the request and make sure you allow enough time for the request to be confirmed.

Reason #3: You made a recent purchase from a Participating Catalog Choice Merchant - Most of our participating retailers will remove a name from their mailing list unconditionally. However, some merchants will mail you a catalog if you have made a purchase in the past year. In “My Choices” the “Member Since” tag identifies participating merchants. You can also view them alphabetically in “Cool Catalogs.”

Action: Please write to our customer service (team@catalogchoice.org) and we’ll contact the mailer on your behalf.

Reason #4: You’ve made a recent purchase with a catalog mailer. As noted above, sometimes a retailer will honor a catalog opt-out request and then put you back on the mailing list if you make a purchase via catalog, store or internet.

Action: Make a “Still Receiving” request or contact the merchant directly. Also make your mail preferences known at the point of purchase.

Reason #5: The mailer is not formally participating in Catalog Choice. Some mailers simply refuse to accept our requests. To address this issue, we’ve added two new delivery methods: contact form pop-up and direct email. While not as convenient, these methods ensure successful delivery of your requests.

Action: Select “still receiving” by the title in “My Choices” and we will deliver your request through the best means available. Copy your unique Catalog Choice email at the top of the contact form pop-up and substitute for your personal email. This protects your personal email address and allows delivery of responses from the mailer to your account dashboard.

Reason #6: Names are commonly traded, rented, shared or sold. If you receive a catalog in a new name/address variation, it is likely that this has occurred.

Action: Make a new mail preference with the different variations of your name/address and we will deliver the request. To reduce the amount of prospect mail you receive (companies you’ve never purchased from), register with www.dmachoice.org. Be sure to add the name/address variations to the DmaChoice.org account as well.

Thanks for using the service. Please keep us posted on your results!

To: ProQuo customers

Chuck — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:56:10 +0000

I noticed last week that ProQuo has gone out of business. According to this summary from a google search I conducted on July 5, Proquo closed their doors on July 2, 2009.

If you had a ProQuo account, feel free to create a free account at Catalog Choice and set your mail preferences through our service. We will be adding many of the direct mail mailing lists that Proquo used to support.

down to an occasional straggler

Chuck — Fri, 22 May 2009 01:06:57 +0000

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.

Other World Computing thanks CC Members for helping conserve resources

Chuck — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:32:26 +0000

On the heals heels of the launch of our Messaging System, Other World Computing has prepared their “thank you” note to Catalog Choice Members. Below is the message OWC will be sending to the CC Members who have chosen to no longer get their catalog in the mail. The message provides direct links to their website, an invitation to find special deals, a link to their informative blog and a description of their paper selection process for the catalogs that they produce.

Thank you for taking the time to let us know that you do not wish to receive the Other World Computing Catalog by mail. We appreciate your joining with us in our efforts to conserve resources.

Many of our customers prefer to simply use the OWC home page for all their shipping needs:
http://www.macsales.com/

When we do mail catalogs to customers, we only use FSC ( Forest Stewardship Council ) certified, 30% Post Consumer Waste paper, that actually has a high cost premium over “virgin” paper. OWC also uses only the highest % soy based inks available that deliver the best drying/appearance results. As such, we have been authorized by various governing organizations to display eco-friendly logos in our catalog.

For you online convenience, the latest in OWC special deals, visit:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/specials/

The OWC Hot Spot, for OWC and Apple News, can be found at:
http://eshop.macsales.com/Customized_Pages/Framework.cfm?page=hotspot/hotspot.html

And finally, to read OWC staff thoughts on products, projects, the state of the industry, tips and tricks, and more, see: http://blog.macsales.com/

This is a great example of how one merchant makes it easy for consumers to select their shopping channel of choice and how together, the consumers and marketers can collaborate to preserve money and natural resources.

We’re closing the loop on millions of conversations

Chuck — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 04:19:32 +0000

This week we introduced a major enhancement to the Catalog Choice service that we refer to as Mail Preference Activity messages. When you log into your account, you may see a list of messages on your dashboard. Each message corresponds to activity related to your mail preference request and the status labels that we assign to each request. Many of the messages are direct correspondence from the Merchant regarding your request. Others are messages from Catalog Choice about your request. We have designed the system so that we never have to release your real email address. As described below, you can have the Preference Activity messages delivered to your inbox if you choose.

When a Participating Merchant downloads the file that contains your request, we post a message indicating that the Merchant has ‘confirmed’ your request. Once they have processed your request, they will have an opportunity to send a ‘Thank you’ message that we will post in your activity feed. Look for these acknowledgment messages in your feed in the weeks and months ahead. Click the View link to read the message from the merchant.

We designed the Preference Activity system to work with all of the merchants represented in Catalog Choice. As we have noted in the past, we contact Merchants who are not formally participating in Catalog Choice via email on your behalf. Typically, the merchant will reply via email with one or several of the following responses:

received the request and will get back to us shortly
confirmed the request and removed your name from their mailing list
confirmed that they received the request, but can not find your name on their mailing list
need more information to find your name

The core of the Preference Activity system are a series of processes that scan the responses from the Merchant, figures out what it says and updates the status of each request. We don’t read all these emails. Rather our system is designed to process several hundred thousand email messages a day. It links each message back to the correct Member and Merchant. We have been testing the system for weeks to make sure that it works properly. The system is flawless at linking the email response to the correct Member and Merchant. The harder part is properly interpreting the content and labeling the status of the request. Our tests show that the system is quite accurate at the labeling the process. However, it is not perfect, so we will be adding a ‘flag’ for Members to alert us to mislabeled messages.

You can see the details of all the messages from a given merchant that relate to a specific mail preference request by selecting the Details link. This will take you to the following page, which is part of My Choices.

Note, that the specific Member’s name has been hidden in this example. In your account, you will see the exact name and address combination associated with the request and the Merchant’s reply. In the example above, there are two messages from the merchant about this request. The first message indicates that they received the request. The second message indicates that they have confirmed that the given name has been removed from the mailing list.

All of the Preference Activity messages will persist in your Catalog Choice account. If you would like to have the messages forwarded to your email inbox, go to My Profile and select the check box shown below.

Over the next couple weeks, we will be running more and more messages through our Preference Activity processor. So if you don’t see any messages in your account right now, they will be there soon. The Preference Activity system closes the loop with the Merchant. With over 16 million requests in our system, that is quite a few conversations to close. We’re quite excited about this enhancement. Let us know what you think.

What’s coming this month

Chuck — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:26:54 +0000

For the past several months, we have been working on a system that will close the loop between our members and the merchants with whom we are making mail preference requests. We are very close to rolling out the first version of our Direct Message platform. The Direct Message platform will provide a way for our members to track the requests that are being sent to merchants, the merchant’s response and acknowledgment of the mail preference request. The Direct Message platform is designed to work for merchants whom we contact via email and those who download a bulk file of our members’ requests. We hope that this will be a big step forward in improving the transparency of this process. By providing more transparency in the process, members will be able to tell which merchants are truly honoring their requests. More on this and other features coming soon.

More Merchants honoring your requests

Chuck — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:05:19 +0000

The last several weeks have been productive in terms of adding new merchants to the Catalog Choice service. We would like to welcome the following catalogs.

The Cornerstone Family of Brands, including but not limited to:

Ballard Designs and TravelSmith

Psalm 23 Jewelry Collection

Diamond Essence

Charleston Gardens

We are pleased to have all of these great companies join the service and honor consumer mail requests. There are a variety of large merchants whom we are continuing to talk to and hope to have signed up soon. As I have said before, it is a long term process, but together we will make the system work.

Shout out to our new merchant members

Chuck — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:02:36 +0000

An array of large and small merchants activated their secure account at Catalog Choice in November. You will recognize some names and others may be new companies that you may want to support as they are now honoring mail preference requests from our members.

Here is our monthly shout out list:

Allen Edmonds

Alpenland International

Western Psychological Services

See all the participating merchants listed on the Cool Catalogs page.

More Merchants coming on board

Chuck — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 00:39:49 +0000

We are pleased to have the following merchants signed up to the service and starting the process of honoring our members mail preference request:

Deva Lifewear, Inc.
Schnee’s
Kacey Fine Furniture
DharmaCrafts, Inc.
Hammer Nutrition
Bavarian Autosport
Back to Basics Toys
Santa Fe Greenhouse, Inc
Potpourri Group
Computer Gear
C.C. Filson Co.
Utrecht Art Supplies
Thompson Group
Medals of America
Seeds of Change
Wayside Technology Group
Overton’s
J. Marco
Fair Indigo

There are several others whom we have delivered large files of names to who are starting the process of honoring your mail preference but have elected to not be listed on the Bravo Merchants page at this time.

All in all, progress is being made. One step at a time.

I-Centrix partners with Catalog Choice

Chuck — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:11:31 +0000

We are pleased to announce our first Service Bureau partner, I-Centrix. I-Centrix is one of the most responsive, forward-thinking partners with whom I have had the pleasure of doing business. We were introduced by our industry consultant and within weeks were beta testing the integration of our list into their merge-purge process for one of their clients. Now that the process is tested and refined, we are pleased to announce that any I-Centrix client can provide the Catalog Choice opt-out list to be processed at no additional cost.

Below is the full press release. You can read an article about the release published by DMNews here.

I-Centrix Partners with Catalog Choice
Streamlines Opt-Out Service for Business and Consumer Advantage

EAST GREENBUSH, NY – June 16, 2008 – I-Centrix, a leading provider of database and data management services, today announced its partnership with Catalog Choice (www.catalogchoice.org), a free service which helps consumers control the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings they receive. I-Centrix will use its data technology to maximize Catalog Choice benefits to its catalog clients and to their customers.

Catalog Choice is a not-for-profit organization that has attracted many leading merchants and close to one million registered users. These users register online and can opt-out of individual catalog distributions. Catalog Choice then contacts the catalog providers to communicate the consumers’ preferences.

“I-Centrix adds great value to our process of helping catalogers remove unresponsive names from their mailing lists, creating a cost-effective approach that conserves both business and natural resources, while strengthening customer relationships,” said Chuck Teller, executive director of Catalog Choice.

The business benefits are clear: customer goodwill, eliminating spending waste on unwanted catalogs and rising postage costs, environmental responsibility, and creating a do-not-mail list without legislative imposition. By adding Catalog Choice to its services, I-Centrix will use its data technology to extend these benefits even further.

I-Centrix clients have the ability to use the Catalog Choice mail preference service at no additional cost; the service will be part of the I-Centrix standard merge/purge offering.

Together, I-Centrix and Catalog Choice handle the process. Catalog Choice collects the data and feeds it directly to I-Centrix (for mutual clients that are using this service). I-Centrix brings this information into the merge and produces the appropriate reports, offering consultation and recommendations. I-Centrix has enhanced its reporting to shed light on the interaction of catalog Choice names within the merge/purge.

“Our clients gain significant advantages from our partnership with Catalog Choice, while taking a leadership role in the growing demand for environmental sensitivity,” said Bob Gaito, chief executive officer of I-Centrix. “It makes good business sense and creates stronger customer relationships to respect customers’ wishes and save money by knowing which customers have chosen not to receive which catalog.”

About Catalog Choice
Catalog Choice is a sponsored project of the Ecology Center. It is endorsed by the National Wildlife Federation and the National Resources Defense Council and funded by the Overbrook Foundation, the Merck Family Fund, and the Kendeda Fund. Catalog Choice’s mission is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices by freely providing Catalog Choice services to both consumers and businesses. http://www.catalogchoice.org

About I-Centrix
I-Centrix services catalog, retail, and other direct marketers with data processing technology designed specifically to support today’s multichannel environment, with capabilities that have attracted the attention of some of the nation’s largest multichannel marketers, including Coldwater Creek, Cornerstone Brands, and Orvis. I-Centrix also provides database marketing expertise and associated services. Visit I-Centrix, a business unit of Haggin Marketing, at http://www.i-centrix.com

About Haggin Marketing
Haggin Marketing provides strategic marketing planning, creative production, media and distribution, and analytics services in a multichannel environment for clients including Adidas, American Express, AT&T, Dell, eBay, FTD, Sunglass Hut International, and more. Haggin Marketing offers sophisticated data management and processing services through its business unit, I-Centrix, and advanced, trigger-based direct marketing solutions through Getmembers.com. The company has over 320 employees in offices nationwide. Visit: http://www.hagginmarketing.com

CONTACT:
Jim McNulty
StandPoint Public Relations
508-481-2024
jmcnulty@standpoint-pr.com