… it’s about freeing up your attention for the ones that you actually want to engage with.  It pushes marketers and their partners to create content that’s truly welcome - a strategic challenge that calls for up-to-date insights about how people shop, buy, and interact with brands.  Not to mention the kind of creative ideas and execution that are more fun to read than to set aflame.

From the KeliherSametsVolk blog.  Read the whole post here.

We have been invited to participate on a panel of industry and policy leaders regarding the topic of Do Not Mail.  We look forward to articulating the value of our market-based solution to the audience of leaders in the direct mail industry.  I will summarize the outcome of the event over the weekend.

This weekend one of our team members received their Room & Board catalog.  We noticed the message printed on the back of the catalog informing receiptents that they can go to Catalog Choice to opt-out of the catalog mailing.  This is another way how our free service benefits merchants.  They don’t need to build a service to accept opt-out requests - they can just point their customers to our free service.  No more phone calls to customer service just to opt-out.  It is free and easy across the board.  Sorry for the fuzzy image.  If you click the image it will open in a new browser window and you can read the text they used.

We are working on some standard language and a logo that will fit neatly on the back of the catalog.  Until then, feel free to use our mailbox logo or just text as Room & Board has done.

… when you search “catalog” on Google?

I am not an SEO (search engine optimization) expert and we have not done anything special at Catalog Choice to score high on Google’s natural search but when thousands of bloggers point back to our site this is what you get.

So, search “catalog” and google thinks you want to do one of the following:

1. view catalogs online at their service - no question as to why this link is first.

2. opt-out of the unwanted catalogs (that’s us, Catalog Choice)

3. figure out what class you want to take at UC Berkeley - that is useful for my team as we are based in Berkeley.

4. find a book at the library of Congress - that seems like a logical result

5. Order new catalogs from catalogs.com - that makes sense too.

Search catalog and the choice is yours - get more, get less, or get educated.

Thanks to all you bloggers who have linked to our service.  We don’t get to the top of this list without your support.

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

Many months ago, when we launched our service there was an active debate in the industry about accepting requests from our service. Read more about what spurred the debate here. But when almost one million people enter over 12 million requests to be removed from mailings and mailers are provided with a free and secure way to integrate these requests into their mailing process the results of the debate become clear - it is time to respect the consumers’ choice.

Thanks to sound reporting by the direct mail industry press we are moving beyond the debate. DMNews published recently published an article following our press briefing last week and it provides an excellent perspective from mailers that are using our service. You can read the whole article here. A couple quotes worth highlighting include:

“We think that [Catalog Choice is] a great benefit both to our customers and to us – to the bottom line and to the environment,” said Carolyn Beem, manager of public affairs for L.L. Bean.

Andrew Chane, VP of Tools for Wellness as quoted as saying:

“It helps with our postage costs, which as you know, have done nothing but go up and become more of a challenge over the last year or so to really manage,” said Chane. “We certainly don’t want to keep mailing to people that aren’t interested in what we’re about.”

Larry O’Connor, CEO of Other World Computing notes:

“Catalog Choice was a good option for our eco-conscious customers out there was well as people who just don’t want any sort of printed material regardless,” said O’Connor. He added that Other World Computing collects data from Catalog Choice a couple of weeks before it sends out a catalog. “We’ve had no issues with the data that they’ve provided us either.”

The DMNews article notes that “both Other World Computing and Tools for Wellness said they feature the Catalog Choice logo on their Web site and in their catalogs. It’s a way to show consumers that Tools for Wellness is concerned about the environment and about wasting catalogs and other resources, Chane said.”

The article provided the perspective from the DMA as well. It notes that the association also provides a mail preference service, DMAChoice.org, which prevented over 930 million mailings last year. This is great news.

The article raises two troubling rumors that the DMA continues to promote despite numerous discussions we have had with them.

Rumor 1: Using Member names for another purpose

“The DMA is concerned that Catalog Choice might use the names to raise funds for environmental groups that are pushing do not mail legislation, Rappaport said. “The concern is they’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing or they’re a Trojan horse and a catalog that works with them is contributing to their potential demise, he said.”

Rumor 2: Setting up Consumer accounts is bad

Donn is also quoted questioning the consumer’s need to set up an account with our service: he asked, why does Catalog Choice insist on retaining the names of people who have signed up for the service? Rappaport said that the DMA had met with Catalog Choice to talk about ways that the two organizations could work together, but discussions broke down over this issue.

Here is the answer to both of these issues:

1. We offer a free service to consumers and merchants and our agreement with the Members is to only use their Personally Identifiable Information (industry lingo for your name and address) to facilitate the mail preference choice that the Member makes on our site. We do not rent or sell names.

2. Users register at our site so that we can authenticate and validate their account, so that they can enter their mail preference requests as unwanted catalogs arrive at their home, so that they can return to the site and modify their request, and so that they can monitor the responses of the merchants. Registration is a basic feature of any Internet-based service in which the consumer is using to communicate their mail preferences. Providing consumers with a secure account is good.

We are moving beyond the debate and providing a useful service for consumers and merchants.

… reads the headline in an article published by Ken Magill for the retail media press Multichannel Merchant. Coming on the heels of an industry press briefing hosted by Catalog Choice, Ken published this article clarifying for the industry the benefits of working with Catalog Choice.

The article’s lead sentence kills one myth that has been floating around about Catalog Choice:

The last thing Catalog Choice’s executives want to do is kill the mail-order industry, they said in a press briefing Wednesday.

Ken notes that Catalog Choice …

wants to help catalogers clean unresponsive names from their files and broker better relationships with customers who want to buy from them, but want to conduct the relationship electronically or simply want fewer catalogs.

and he references the changes that are occurring in the market place by quoting a statement I made during the press briefing.

“We understand the analytics historically, but it’s a new world now and this is an opportunity for a one-to-one marketing program where you can reach out directly to these customers and at the same time eliminate customers that have no interest in your catalog.”

Our press briefing, merchant meetings, conference attendance and other out reach activities are all part of the effort to make Catalog Choice work for merchants and consumers alike.  We are showing that honoring customer choices is good for business and the environment.

Day by day more and more merchants are signing up for our free service, pulling down their file and saving money by not mailing unwanted catalogs.

The merchants added in May include home furnishings giant IKEA, wristwatch specialist Tourneau, greeting cards leader Hallmark, book publisher Abbey Press as well as Sportsman’s Market, Blue Gold Traditions, Dynamic Living, American Country Home, Celebrate Express, Leisure Living, PetEdge, Klockit, Edmunds Scientific, Aqua Superstore, Kripalu, Eurway, CDW Kids, Action Bag, Mary of Puddin Hill, Keepsake Quilting, Other World Computing and SimplySoles. You can link directly to these and other participating merchants from the Bravo Merchants page.

Even if the merchant has not signed up for our service, we are using other means to deliver your opt-out requests. Some merchants have called to sign up after hearing from consumers who encourage them to honor their request through our service. Thanks for the help.

We have high hopes for June as we continue executive level discussions with the biggest merchants in the country.

Sam Meers wrote a clear and concise post about Catalog Choice over at his blog “Smoke & Meers”.

Sam states in his post titled A Win/Win/Win:

There are lots of benefits to this idea. First, it just makes sense. If people don’t want a catalog, then they shouldn’t receive it. It will either go in the trash or, if we’re lucky, get recycled, which uses energy that would have never have been needed if the catalog had never been produced and mailed in the first place.

But the thing I love about this idea is that it puts the decision in the hands of the consumer, not the company. And because it is done so well, both the consumer and the company benefit. Consumers get only the catalogs they desire and companies don’t waste money and natural resources sending a catalog to people who will only throw it away.

I raise my glass and toast the founders. Well done!

Sam - our glasses are raised to you, thanks!

Catalog Choice Team

We are at the Annual Conference for Catalog Mailers in Orlando this week.  We regret not having a booth on the exhibit floor, but we are busy meeting with merchants and service providers.  The tenor at this event is much less heated than we experienced at the NEMOA event this spring.  In fact, one active industry blogger reports that: “Attendees overwhelmingly shared with me that they were willing to speak with or work with Catalog Choice — only a few individuals expressed frustration with constant calls from Catalog Choice to accept opt-outs.” Another industry blogger reports: From my vantage point, this socially-green movement is inevitable, has gained critical mass and should be worked with.

From out vantage point, we are seeing the tide shift to more and more companies honoring consumer’s requests to no longer receive a catalog in the mail.  While you may still be getting catalogs that you have opted-out of on this site, rest assured that we are contacting the merchants everyday to get them to honor your requests.  Progress is being made.