In an effort to forestall do-not-mail legislation now moving through 15 states, the Direct Marketing Association has unveiled a revamped version of the service that lets consumers opt out of receiving e-mail from DMA members.
The new Mail Preference Service is available to the public at the trade association’s DMAChoice Web site (http://www.DMAChoice.org), a consumer-oriented site that also offers online shopping advice and Internet-related tips for parents.
The enhanced preference service now lets consumers select the brands they wish to receive mail from, including catalogs and direct-mail pieces.
In its previous incarnation, the Web-based version of the service only gave consumers the choice of opting out of all mail from DMA members. However, the association did offer a mail-in service that let consumers select the brands they wanted to block.
The revamped MPS has also eliminated its previous $1 online verification fee, which the DMA said was necessary to authenticate the opt-out request as coming from a real consumer. The new system is free to consumers. The system requests a credit card number from each consumer to validate identity and mailing address, but no charge is applied to the card, and the DMA says it will not retain personally identifiable information from the cards or market to their holders in any way.
“As a result of this latest upgrade, consumers have greater control over their mail,” Steven Berry, DMA vice president for government affairs and corporate responsibility, said in a statement. “The elimination of the $1 verification fee online is a positive next step by DMA to support its commitment to consumer choice and ensure privacy on behalf of consumers.”
The early incarnation of the DMA’s Internet mail opt-out had come under fire from consumer groups who said even that small verification fee served to discourage consumer registrations with the service. They pointed to other mail-blocking services such as Catalog Choice that do not impose any user fees.
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