A breakthrough is under way in the religious list sector THE RELIGIOUS LIST market is looking for a few good renters.
But that could be a tall order to fill as many list owners, citing privacy and mailbox saturation, prefer exchanges to rentals. That’s one reason this list universe consists of only about 10 million to 15 million names.
Meanwhile, a breakthrough may be under way in the religious list sector as companies seeking to boost rental revenue are adding enhancements and selects – traditionally few and far between in this sector – to broaden their appeal. And their counterparts in the general market have taken to overlaying their files with ethic and religious data in an effort to attract non-secular mailers.
Barbara Spaulding, president of Bush Co. Inc. in Irvine, CA, finds it surprising that less than 10% of the general market taps religious lists for mailings. “They want proven multibuyers,” she says. “But whether you’re Catholic, Jewish or Protestant, you’re a consumer.”
BMG Direct, for example, recently began offering a Catholic select on its file. And Catholic Digest’s list of 310,000 subscribers, which had no enhancements, was overlaid last year with demographic and lifestyle data. Selections now include age, income, presence of children, computer owners, gardeners and travel enthusiasts, says Lenny Medico, vice president of list management at American List Counsel Inc., Princeton, NJ.
Revenue from the enhancements has been incremental. But a combination of the new selects and an aggressive marketing campaign touting the offerings has drawn the interest of literary publishers, consumer catalogs and general fundraisers, Medico notes, adding that “they’re not just religious readers, they’re readers.”
But even with all the extra bells and whistles, the jury’s still out as to whether or not the enhancements will attract a wealth of new interest.
Spaulding says that in her experience religious list firms have had only moderate success when they test general market files enhanced with devotional lifestyle data.
Privacy issues have also added to the lack of phone numbers and e-mail addresses available in this market.
For example, Fort Worth, TX-based Tri-Media Marketing Services pulled its 12,500-name fax and 10,000-name e-mail files off the market in July, citing privacy concerns, says president Neil Siegel. The card deck publisher maintains a compiled file of 400,000 direct response buyers.
The fax file had been available for two years and the e-mail list for one. The company plans to revise its opt-in fax and e-mail files and reissue the files, perhaps within the next year. “We read the law, we talked to our attorneys and we pulled the files off the market,” Siegel says.
Spaulding claims that of the 80 or so mostly Protestant buyer and subscriber files that Bush manages, not even 1% permit telemarketing, none offer phone numbers, and while e-mail addresses are being collected, none are yet available. She holds little hope that e-mail files will be a burgeoning business in the religious list rental market. “If telemarketing is not permitted on most religious files, I doubt that e-mail will be,” Spaulding says.
However, she adds, list owners are actively gathering the postal addresses of Internet buyers and e-mailing respondents, which will be offered as a select as volume builds.
Compilers, on the other hand, are gathering respectable amounts of e-mail addresses.
American Church Lists, Arlington, TX, has acquired 17,000 opt-in e-mail addresses of pastors or churches that rent for $25 per 1,000 entries, with a minimum $150 order.
The company compiles its data by tapping yellow pages listings and denominational directories. It gathers supplemental information – including lifestyle and demographic data – from telephone surveys. A question added to its survey last year asked for an e-mail address.
Chris Slauter, general manager of American Church Lists, which was purchased in February by Omaha, NE-based InfoUSA, says that 70% of those polled are willing to share their e-mail addresses. On the other hand, the company also fields some 75 to 100 requests per month to be removed from the list. “There are so few e-mail addresses available on church files that the churches that do offer their e-mail addresses are getting deluged,” she says.
Requests to be removed from the list are handled immediately. However, it’s likely the requester may well be identified on the file again in a year if he or she appears in public records like the yellow pages. “That’s just the nature of the beast,” Slauter says. “It’s a catch-22.”
American Church List’s file of 350,000 records includes 233 denominations and hundreds of selects.
Tri-Media’s Siegel says list hygiene can also be a challenge for collectors of church contact names since they change so frequently.
To keep its files updated, Tri-Media uses a variety of tactics including an annual survey (2 million are mailed each year in its card packs) and information exchanges with vendors that sell directly to churches. It also offers the use of its file to telemarketing clients in exchange for current information.
Siegel says another emerging trend in the religious market finds mailers moving away from blanket mailings to smaller, targeted and more frequent campaigns. “The key is segmentation,” he says. “Mailers are mailing smaller quantities and increasing effectiveness.”
Tri-Media segments its file in numerous ways – by church size, denomination and type of ministry (further divided by ministries of, say, singles or seniors), to name a few.
Siegel says mailers are also working to drive more traffic to Web sites, as indicated by the rise in the percentage of such ads in the company’s card packs. That figure jumped from 20% last year to 50% this year, and he expects it to hit 70% over the next 12 months. The company mails 1.4 million pieces to churches each year.
As for negotiations?
Starr Irwin, a managing broker at Response Unlimited in Waynesboro, VA, says that more mailers are asking for net-name arrangements to help cut mailing acquisition costs.
And while mailers may want those agreements, Dina Fanelli, vice president at Trinity Direct in Butler, NJ, says brokers are working toward a shift from the time-consuming, paper-laden net-name deals that have to be verified by computer to volume discounts or flat rates based on history over a one-year period.
By some accounts, religious list prices have skyrocketed, with good donor files costing as much as $130 per 1,000 names, compared with $75 or $80 not long ago. “List owners feel there’s greater demand than supply, so we’re seeing prices [rise] dramatically,” Fanelli says.
Those sky-high prices are scaring off some mailers.
Benedictine Mission House in Schuyler, NE, which supports foreign missions, will not rent some files. “Some of the lists are ridiculously expensive, almost prohibitively expensive,” says Leon Schutte, data processing manager. “It’s really not fair that they rent high, even though they may generate more dollars. We just haven’t bit the bullet to say, `Hey, we’re going to spend the bucks and pop for that list.'”
The mission sends out 1.5 million acquisition pieces each year in six mailings to its donor base. And after changing its control piece last year, from the “old style” return address labels to the self-adhesive type, and reworked the message, it saw an 80% increase in response.
“When you mail the same package for years, pretty soon they don’t even open it,” Schutte says. “We beat that [old] package to death. It was time for a change.”
And with this being an election year, there are mixed reviews over whether political organizations will give the religious list market a lift as they scramble for donations and voters.
Spaulding sees a typical 5% increase in the number of political mailers tapping Bush’s lists but those that do must prepay for all orders. “We found that if they lose the election, they don’t pay the bills,” Spaulding says. “That’s based on years of experience.”
Others, like Trinity Direct’s Fanelli, tell clients to expect a drop in response during a political year. “Consumers are focused on the news rather than what’s in the mailbox.”
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