TRADITIONAL DIRECT MARKETERS’ mailing results improved slightly in the fourth quarter of 1998, according to a just-released survey by Edith Roman Associates Inc., Pearl River, NY. E-mail marketing results are also on an upswing, though only 50% of traditional mailers use the medium for prospecting and dealing with customers.
Edith Roman polls about 100 DMers each quarter for its mailing trend study. They are asked to indicate whether their mailing and e-mailing results for the quarter are up, down or the same as the previous quarter. Results take into account total cost of the mailing and response rate.
The percentage of mailers saying that results improved rose from 30% in the third quarter to 34% in the fourth. “Overall, results look better,” says Michelle Feit, vice president of Internet services for Edith Roman.
Among the industries feeding the upward trend in the fourth quarter were consumer catalogs (those indicating that results went up increased from 31% to 44%); computers (up from 9% to 43%); seminars (29% to 33%); and manufacturers that sell by direct mail, a segment reporting an increase from 33% to 60%.
For financial direct marketers, the fourth quarter was a recovery period, according to the survey. “Financial bounced back,” Feit says, pointing to results since the second quarter of 1998. When queried after that period, 40% of financial marketers said mailing results were up and 40% said they were down. After the third quarter, none indicated results were up and 75% noted a decline.
Fourth quarter results, however, are positive, “with 33% up and 22% down,” Feit says.
Publishing and subscription marketers and business-to-business catalogs, on the other hand, had a disappointing fourth quarter.
“For the first time in the last three quarters, more people are saying ‘my results are down,’ and fewer people are saying ‘my results are up’ in the publishing category,” Feit notes. Only 14% claimed results increased, while 50% indicated a decrease. In the third quarter, 46% of publishers reported results up, while 21% said the opposite. And, in the second quarter of 1998, 35.7% said results were up, while the same percentage said results were down.
For business-to-business catalogs, 33% said results climbed and 33% said they dropped. But these figures represent a downward trend since last summer, when 80% of B-to-B catalogs reported mailing results were up, while none noted that they were down. In the third quarter, 50% said results were up; 25% claimed they were down.
The use of e-mail marketing remains constant at 50% since Edith Roman began the survey. Among those that use the medium, 30% reported results up in the fourth quarter, continuing a steady upswing over the last three quarters. In the second quarter of 1998, 21% said results from e-mail marketing rose, and in the third quarter 23% also indicated improved results.
Feit, who specializes in the Internet, is not surprised by these numbers. “The 50% who are using e-mail know that people like to receive it, and they especially like to receive it if they are a customer and if the information is relevant,” she maintains.
It is interesting, also, to see how e-mail marketing results are better than those for traditional mail marketing in a category like B-to-B catalogs, says Feit. As traditional mail results declined in this category, those in B-to-B e-mail soared, “going from 13% saying their response was up in the third quarter to 67% for the fourth quarter.”
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