With a new preference service giving consumers the chance to opt out of door-to-door mail, Mark Ludmon looks at the prospects for this medium for promotions
Despite concerns about “junk mail”, door-drop activity is rising year on year. According to this month’s Coupon Report from promotional solutions group Valassis, it accounted for 16.4 per cent of coupon distribution in 2007 compared to just 2.4 per cent the year before.
“Door drop has become a lot more targeted, which makes it an attractive alternative to the more expensive methods of distribution,” explains Charles D’Oyly, managing director of Valassis.
The latest development for door-to-door distribution of direct mail – much of which contains promotions such as sampling and couponing – is the Direct Marketing Association’s Your Choice preference service, which enables people to opt out of receiving unaddressed mail. Like Royal Mail’s existing Mail Preference Service (MPS), it could be perceived as a threat, concedes Chris Roxburgh, managing director of door-to-door specialist LinkDirect. “There is, after all, the view held in some quarter that many consumers will unhesitatingly decide to tick the ‘opt out’ box. My feeling is that once they realise that ‘unaddressed mail’ refers to a plethora of material, some of it extremely useful and economically beneficial, there will be a proportion who will decide not to opt out after all.
“Promotional items such as samples and coupons certainly fit into the former category for many householders, particularly in the current climate, and so I believe that, by offering an informed choice, the DMA’s service will prove beneficial for the consumer as well as the advertiser – advertisers have no wish for promotions to be delivered to households with absolutely no interest at all.”
Gurdev Singh, managing director of direct mail printer Howitt, supports these kinds of initiatives but warns that, unless companies are signed up to the DMA, it will make little difference as they are unlikely to abide by it. “The precedent is not ideal as Royal Mail has a preference service for door to door but it has made little impact on what consumers see as real ‘junk mail’, such as pizza leaflets and estate agent information, because there is no way of controlling the activities of streetwalkers who put things through your door.
“It is unfortunate the consumers are essentially stopping mail that is of potential interest to them but will continue to receive the true ‘junk mail’. It is this that could be most damaging in the long run as people will sign up to preference services but still receive mail from brands outside of the DMA or not using Royal Mail.”
Ben Allan, managing director of door drop agency TILT, believes that Your Choice is having “very little impact” on door to door. “While it is welcomed as necessary in the face of government and environmental pressure, the process is not particularly dynamic,” he explains. “It would be if consumers were able to sign up online, as you can with the MPS for direct mail and the Telephone Preference Service for telemarketing. Instead, with Your Choice, the consumer has to phone, write or email the DMA to get details of how to opt out – a lengthy process which very few people are willing to go through.”
Royal Mail, which has been offering an opt-out to homes through MPS for some time, has welcomed the Your Choice initiative. Ross Drake, general manager of Royal Mail Door to Door, comments: “The future of door to door is strong but it is also essential that Royal Mail and other organisations act in a responsible way to ensure consumers have choice about how they are communicated to.”
Drake believes door to door still holds a strong position in the marketing mix. “Even with the emergence of online advertising, research has proven that six in 10 consumers would prefer to be initially approached by a company via their letterbox.”
However, Allan at TILT warns that he is expecting to see a drop of more than 15 per cent in volumes in 2008, although he puts this down to “overkill” in recent years. “This is not necessarily a bad thing – it’s about time that brands used this channel in a more measured manner rather than the scatter-gun approach of old.
“Door to door is being used increasingly to drive calls volumes, footfall and web traffic so, as client econometrics become more accurate, we will see a more sophisticated use of the medium rather than the mass volumes of recent years. The future is not bleak by any stretch and it certainly has nothing to do with the Your Choice campaign.
“Instead, the medium has matured and is settling down after years of aggressive growth – a rebalance that was absolutely necessary if the channel is to survive.”