'Direct Mail Best Practices, Benchmarks, and Strategies' DMA Releases First of Its Kind Report

90 Percent of Respondents Use the Non-Catalog Direct Mail Channel

New York, NY, August 11, 2008 — The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) today released “Direct Mail Best Practices, Benchmarks, and Strategies,” an inaugural report designed to provide knowledge of current best practices in the direct mail arena.

The new 206-page report has three related objectives: to provide current benchmarks on the use of non-catalog direct mail as a vehicle for sending marketing promotions; to convey best practices for use of the non-catalog direct mail channel; and to break down the findings to determine how organizations in different segments are approaching challenges associated with the non-catalog direct mail channel.

“Ninety percent of respondents are using non-catalog direct mail, and nearly half of those respondents report using it as their primary channel,” said Anne B. Frankel, senior research manager. “Companies still consider non-catalog direct mail a crucial element in their media campaigns. Despite enormous growth in the online channels, direct mail remains a key and integral component of direct marketing.”

DMA’s new report also breaks respondents down into three additional segmentations: type of market, company revenue, and direct mail volume.

Additionally, the report revealed:

· Consumer firms and mid- to large-volume mailers are more likely to show both their names and addresses on the front of a mailing piece, while small and medium revenue companies are somewhat more likely to show both their names and addresses on the back.

· B-to-B firms are more likely to provide a URL (84.4 percent among B-to-B firms vs. 78.8 percent among B-to-C firms) or an email address (62.6 percent vs. 48.2 percent), while B-to-C firms more often provide a toll-free phone number (75.9 percent vs. 64.4 percent) and a mailing address (57.6 percent vs. 47.6 percent) so they can be contacted for service or information.

· Use of non-catalog direct mail as a main channel is more common among consumer marketers and companies in the middle and largest revenue tiers, while a primary reliance on commerce email is more common among B-to-B marketers and firms in the smallest and middle revenue groups.

· Most of the companies that promote their products or services using non-catalog direct mail receive responses via the Internet (93.7 percent), phone (79.5 percent), or through contact from an internal sales force (70.8 percent).

· Use of this channel is likely to grow, as 44.1 percent of those respondents whose firms use this channel say that usage will increase in 2008 compared with 2007.

· Companies that send promotions using non-catalog direct mail spend an average of 46.9 percent of their company’s total annual advertising expenditures on the non-catalog direct mail channel.

· B-to-C firms are much more likely to use customer retention direct mail to send special and one-time offers.

· B-to-B firms are much more likely to use customer acquisition direct mail to send newsletters and announcements, and are somewhat more likely to steer customers to an online site.

DMA conducted this survey in May, 2008 through an email invitation sent to a list of approximately 50,000 marketers, agencies, and other suppliers of direct marketing services. The responses from the first 450 respondents who completed the survey were included for tabulation.

The report is available for download on DMA’s online bookstore. The cost is $295 for DMA members and $545 for nonmembers. To purchase, please click here.

About Direct Marketing Association (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA advocates standards for responsible marketing, promotes relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process. Founded in 1917, DMA today represents nearly 3,600 companies from dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit organizations.

In 2007, marketers — commercial and nonprofit — spent $173.2 billion on direct marketing in the United States. Measured against total US sales, these advertising expenditures generated approximately $2.025 trillion in incremental sales. In 2007, direct marketing accounted for 10.2 percent of total US gross domestic product. Also in 2007, there were 1.6 million direct marketing employees in the US. Their collective sales efforts directly supported nearly 9.0 million other jobs, accounting for a total of 10.6 million US jobs.

The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.

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