NBC's Today Show highlighted Catalog Choice, a free service that allows people to manage the the catalogs they receive. Catalog Choice is a project of the Ecology Center, a Berkeley, California organization that "promotes environmentally and socially responsible practices through programs that educate, demonstrate, and provide direct services."
The Today Show segment on Catalog Choice.
In an comment a few weeks ago on the upcoming "fight" against state do not mail registry initiatives, Michael Josefowicz left a comment that made a lot of sense:"If the industry, through it’s trade association, gives people a real chance to remove their names it removes the biggest reason for legislation. It would give citizens the choice they want and might give mailers some of the information they need to get to 80% response rates that everyone would love."
Josefowicz makes a good point, if we give consumers easy to use and reliable tools to manage their wanted and unwanted direct mail, we will not only stop do not mail legislation in its place, but will improve the targeting and hopefully the response we get from direct mail campaigns.
Discussion
By Dr Joe Webb on Jan 27, 2008
We already do have a trade association that handles removals. It's the Direct Marketing Association. https://www.dmachoice.org/MPS/mps_consumer_description.php This is the most recent press release from Jan 8: http://www.the-dma.org/cgi/disppressrelease?article=1059 I devoted a column to the "do not mail" issue in March of last year: http://members.whattheythink.com/drjoewebb/drjoe179.cfm
By Carly on Jan 28, 2008
Great post on Catalog Choice.
I wanted to give you a heads-up on another great Web site that I thought your readers would find interesting and help them de-clutter their mailboxes and simplify their lives.
Its called ProQuo.com, a free, easy-to-use site that gives you the ability to remove yourself from the most commonly used marketing lists in a matter of minutes!
Who knew that Americans receive nearly four million tons of junk mail each year and the average consumer can be on thousands of marketing mailing lists at any time? We are flooded with unwanted advertisements, credit card offers and political propaganda, which can bury the mail we are looking for…not to mention create a drain on the environment.
Take care,
Carly VanDyke
PainePR
By Todd Kelley on Jan 29, 2008
Yes, the DMA's offered an opt-out service for years and even updated it recently to give further opt-out choice. Catalog Choice is redundant.
By Felicity on Feb 09, 2008
Catalog Choice isn't redundant. In the first place, it's free -- DMA charges a dollar or a credit card number. Why they think I would want to give them my credit card number, I can't figure. Imagine someone doing something really annoying and then having the nerve to ask for payment to stop doing it. Besides, DMA is a merchants association, not a consumer's association like Catalog Choice. Catalog Choice has oodles of really great features that the DMA website doesn't, including a Bravo Merchants section that lists merchants who do honor opt-out requests through catalogchoice.org. Makes it easy to see what merchants have great customer service. Merchants who refuse opt-out requests, by the same token, make it very clear that they are not interested in good customer relationships.
Discussion
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