No Postal Rate Increase For Now

On September 30, the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) denied the Postal Service's request for an "exigent" (emergency) rate increase averaging 5.6%. The vote by the PRC was a unanimous 5 - 0 in opposition to the increase. This is good news for mailers.  Periodicals would have been especially hard hit with the proposed 8% increase. First class postage would have gone from $0.44 to $0.46 or 4.5%.

The rate increases would have severely impacted businesses that rely on direct mail and catalog distribution as well as magazine publishers and printers. It is generally believed that a rate increase at this time would result in a further erosion of mail volume, driving the USPS even deeper into the red. There is already significant pressure on marketeers to shift communications to electronic media. Most in the industry are well aware of the superior performance of direct mail over e-mail advertising. But a big jump in cost for mail would likely push some into cutting volume or switching to the less effective, but cheaper, electronic media.  

On that same day, Congress chose not to allow a delay in a required payment of $5.4 billion to the USPS retiree medical account which it had allowed last year. This action, along with the rate denial, keeps pressure on the USPS to find more ways to cut costs or find new sources of revenue.

2010 Holiday Cards Now Available Online

CR Print's 2010 Collection of Holiday Cards is now available online. Click here to see the biggest selection on the internet. Free envelope printing is available for a limited time.

You haven't even thought about it yet? Well, there are some people who have actually ordered their holiday cards already. Of course, I am not one of them, and chances are, neither are you. In mid December when holiday card orders start to pour into CR Print with urgent messages (and voices) attached, it dawns on me that I am not alone in my perennial procrastination. I will probably wait until the last minute to order my cards, but you don’t have to.

CR Print's online holiday card collection makes choosing your holiday cards easier and faster than ever. Just go to CR Print and click on the Holiday Card icon. Or click here. This will take you to CR Print's all new 2010 selection of holiday cards. You can make your choices and place your order all on line. It is a great time saver.

And here is a great marketing idea to get a leg up on the competition. Send a Thanksgiving card. Your card will celebrate the holiday that most Americans find to be the most enjoyable time. It will not get lost in a stack of cards from your competitors.  And the first holiday card people receive usually gets the most attention.

Take the stress out of the holidays and order your cards online.

Most E-mail Deleted Within Two Seconds

After studying the behavior of some 14 million e-mail recipients, the marketing measurement firm, Salted Services, concluded that "On average, 51.1% of readers spend less than 2 seconds looking at your email."  That is, 51.1% of those who even bothered to open it. Two seconds to convey a message or make an impression is not a lot of time. That doesn't mean you should abandon your e-mail marketing efforts, but definetly learn to make the most of them.

One way to improve the receptivity of your e-mails is to couple them with a direct mail campaign. Direct mail may seem old fashioned, but it is still the undisputed leader in securing a positive response. See "Do You Know the Facts?" Using both direct mail and e-mail in a coordinated campaign will improve response rates in both media and that is better than a single, two second, shot at success.

Young Adults Prefer Direct Mail to Online Offers

North American consumers in the 18-34 year-old demographic prefer to learn about marketing offers via direct mail and newspapers rather than online sources such as social media like FaceBook, according to survey research from ICOM, a division of Epsilon Targeting. The ICOM research shows that attitudes toward the trustworthiness of mail versus online offers increased for all age groups from 2008 to 2010. The study, based on 4778 households in the U.S. and Canada, focused on consumer preferences for receiving marketing information, offers and promotions. Responses came from consumers ranging in age from 18 to 55 and above. With the exception of travel related promotions, which show a slight preference for online, direct mail offerings were preferred by a ratio of two or three to one. 

"A key takeaway from this research is that marketers targeting coveted 18-34 year olds, who are tempted to invest solely in social media could be missing a significant portion of their audience," said ICOM Vice President Warren Storey.

Product Offline Preferences  Online Preferences  Food Products 66% 23%  Cleaning Products 66% 20%  Personal Care 62% 22%  Over the Counter Medicine 53% 21%  Sensitive Health Products 46% 21%  Prescription Medicine 45% 22%  Financial Services 44% 19%  Insurance 43% 21%  Travel 35% 42%

Social Media Flops as Source of Business

Here is an interesting report on the impact of social media in buying decisions from Print in the Mix:

"According to ForeSee's 2010 American Customer Satisfaction Index E-Business Report, which looks at trends in customer satisfaction with e-business industries, social media is not found to be a significant source of product recommendations or purchases for most American Internet users.

Of the four social media sites covered in the survey (Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia and YouTube), there was little differentiation in regards to users seeking out product or service recommendations from these sources. More that eight out of 10 users say they do not seek out product recommendations from these sources."

That people aren't using social media to help them make buying decisions is probably not a surprise to most users. That is not really what they signed up for. Business people who hope to capitalize on social media, are using it to develope a closer relationship with potential clients. But is a closer relationship what really happens with FaceBook or MySpace? Maybe not. At least one marketing blogger, Rich Meyer, doesn't think so. He is predicting the decline of social media. He links social media use to the frustration people feel with big business or big government. Being connected, he asserts, "is more of a hassle than it's worth." Could it be that real relationships still require personal (as opposed to electronic) interaction?