Who Do You Trust?

Do you trust the government when it comes to safeguarding your personal information? In its annual survey, the Ponemon Institute found that most Americans did not put a lot of faith in government's ability to protect their privacy. The average score among the 75 federal government agencies covered by the survey was 38%.

Not surprising, the agencies given the lowest scores were Customs and Border Protection, and  Citizenship and Immigration Services, at 16% and 17% respectively. The Federal Trade Commission fared much better at 79% and even the IRS showed a level of trust at 71%.  But the highest score, at 87%, went to the U.S. Postal Service. Actually, the annual survey has consistently shown the USPS at the top. People have trusted and still trust the mail more than any other agency of the federal government.

For a link to a complete copy of the survey, go to Federal Computer Week, the June 2010 issue.

Email Marketing

Here is something to keep in mind if you are marketing your products via email. Some email programs, like G-mail and Yahoo, provide sponsored links along side the emails they deliver to their email recipients. If you are sending an email promoting your particular product, the target of your email will receive a list of sponsored links along with your message. Those sponsored links come from companies who are buying advertising space from the e-mail provider based on the content of your email.

Google is very good at this. If you send an email blast promoting your shoe store, for example, don't be surprised to find that it arrives in your potential customer's email box with a whole list of ads from competing shoe retailers. Your ad may arouse your potential customer's interest in a new pair of shoes only to have them click on one of your competition's ads that appears to be a better offer. Even if there is no sale, you will have succeeded in introducing your customer to a whole range of competitors offering the same or similar products.

Of course, this doesn't mean that you should never use email marketing. Like any marketing tactic, it needs to be applied within an overall marketing strategy to develop your business. An integrated marketing plan will use email along with direct mail and other media to achieve the most effective combination and timing of your messages.

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.