The Direct Marketing Association’s voting members see limited value from their membership, according to an unscientific survey sent by dissident board member Gerry Pike.
Ranked on a one (low) to five (high) scale, members saw the greatest value in networking opportunities and educational programs – and these garnered only a 2.5 rating each.
Pike is engaged in a proxy vote campaign with the DMA. Pike is seeking proxies so he can introduce a series of voting reforms to the DMA’s board of directors nominations process. The DMA is mounting its own campaign in support of its proposed slate of directors.
The proxy fight will culminate in the DMA’s annual business meeting, which will be held during its annual conference in San Diego on Oct. 18.
Pike’s survey was embedded in one of a series of e-mails he has sent to voting members. The survey e-mail, which was sent out on Tuesday, Oct. 13, asked members to rate the DMA’s value on nine issues (http://directmag.com/news/dma-chair-endorse-pike-ask-1014/). The survey was set up so that only voting members would be able to vote – and only once, according to Pike. (Several versions forwarded to Direct Newsline did not allow additional voting.)
In addition to the top two benefits, voters rated the value of “DMA events” at 2.4; “effectively representing your issues” and “relevance of the DMA to your business today” at 2.2 each; “exposure to new technologies” at 2.1; “business development opportunities” at 2; and “responsiveness to your needs” at 1.9. “Business advice” trailed the responses at 1.6.
Sliced another way, only 17% said the value of networking opportunities “good” (the second-highest ranking: none said it was superb), while 52% said it had no or some value. Seven percent indicated business development opportunities were good, while 63% said these had no or some value.
Eighteen percent called the value of the DMA’s education programs good, while 49% indicated they had no or some value. Six percent ranked exposure to new technologies as either superb or good, while 68% said they had no or some value. Seven percent called the DMA’s value at representing their issues as superb or good, and 64% rated this as having either no value or some value.
Three percent called the DMA’s business advice “good”, while 82% said this offered either no or some value. Seven percent rated the organization’s responsiveness to their needs as good, while 73% gave this category the two lowest ranks.
The DMA scored a 13% superb or good rankings for the value of its events, while 60% said it had either no or some value. And 10% said the DMA’s value to their business was good, compared with 70% who said it either had no or some value.
The survey is not without concerns, of course. Pike’s list went out to individuals who have been receiving his updates. After nine such mailings, a respondent opening one may self-select as being more receptive to Pike’s message that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.
Additionally, Pike did not specify how many individuals had participated, saying only “It was a strong response. We reached a statistically significant number at midnight last night, and that is when we started to tabulate.”
He did characterize the click-through rate as being more than 20% of those opening his e-mail. He did not indicate how many recipients opened the e-mail, nor how large his total e-mail list is.
According to the DMA’s 2008 annual report, as of a year ago the organization had 3,409 corporate members. A company is permitted only one voting member.
Pike said he was pleased with the survey as an involvement device for members. “People clicked through, took the time to read, take and record the survey,” he said. “That’s a significant involvement and one purpose of the campaign is to get members involved.”
At deadline, The DMA had not responded to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.
NOTE: A story that ran in Oct. 14’s Direct Newsline, “Board Never Saw Greco’s Salary, Says Pike” (http://directmag.com/news/board-never-saw-greco-salary-1014/index.html) misstated the DMA bylaw that spells out the makeup of the compensation committee. The correct bylaw is Article VIII (8), section 7.
