Bell Atlantic Casts Wide Net to Become ISP of Choice

BELL ATLANTIC is targeting Internet users with two direct mail campaigns. One promotes BellAtlantic.net as an Internet service provider (ISP); the other plugs the Infospeed DSL (digital subscriber line) high-speed Internet access.

According to Debra Siskind, marketing manager of Bell Atlantic consumer data services, computer users in the Northeast have been targeted since the merger with Nynex at the end of 1997. Prior to that time, BellAtlantic.net was little known in New York and New England.

The mailings have been monthly, but only during “good seasonal months.” Siskind points out that during the summer, Internet use “dries up a bit since people are outdoors more.”

Several million pieces are mailed over the course of a year. Siskind declined to release response or conversion rates, but BellAtlantic. net does currently have 200,000 subscribers.

The pieces go to names that Bell Atlantic feels are most likely to respond to its offer from the 21 million households in its database. Outside lists are also rented to help identify people who have a computer at home or are PC-enabled.

Bell Atlantic tries not to remail to the names on its lists. Siskind says that prospects will not be seeing discs offering the service in their mailboxes over and over again.

There are no accompanying print or television campaigns for Bell Atlantic’s Internet services.

“Direct mail is the most cost-effective for cost per sale for use,” she says.

However, interested customers can sign up via Bell Atlantic’s Web site, www.BellAtlantic.com. They can locate the site through banner ads or by surfing the Net, Siskind explains.

While the campaign is targeted in states that are serviced by Bell Atlantic, she expects to go national by the end of the year when the company merges with GTE, the largest “non-Bell phone company” in the country.

The DSL mailings are following the same strategy as the ISP mailings. DSL is a new product that promises high-speed Web access on existing telephone lines.

Current users of BellAtlantic.net are being targeted, but the market is anyone who wants to effectively upgrade to a higher modem speed.

Siskind suggests that Bell Atlantic can offer consumers a quality of service that can’t be matched by other ISPs because as a telephone company, she claims, Bell Atlantic can provide service that is reliable and predictable.

The package itself is a three-panel mailer with pockets on the inside of the outer two panels. One pocket holds the CD-ROM with the software for BellAtlantic.net; the other pocket holds the sales brochure and instruction booklet.

Using the tag line, “Now’s the time to get more out of your day,” and the recurring image of an old-fashioned alarm clock, the mailer pitches the Internet service at the traditional $19.95 a month, with the first 30 days offered as a free trial period. The small print reveals that there is a “monthly usage threshold of 150 hours” each month. Once that threshold is reached, there is a surcharge of 99 cents an hour.