Almost 60% of direct marketers surveyed have signed up for the federal or a state’s do-not-call list, according to new research from Direct magazine. In contrast, fewer than half of all U.S. households have enrolled their telephone numbers.
Among Direct’s readers, 63% of those employed by “mixed-focus” companies, which offer goods and services to both businesses and consumers, said they had signed on, compared to 55% of consumer-focused and business to business firms.
In fact, respondents whose firms were more bullish on direct marketing were more likely to belong to the DNC list. Among those employed at companies that dedicate more than half of their marketing budgets to direct marketing, 60% said they’d signed up, compared with 56% of those surveyed who’s firms spend 49% or less of their budgets on DM.
Among readers whose firms also belong to the Direct Marketing Association, nearly 60% said they asked to be put on the list, slightly more than the 58% of non-members who did so.
Respondents from smaller firms were also more likely to have joined. Nearly 61% of those with annual revenue below $10 million said they had, compared with 56% of those from larger firms. This may reflect a higher number of home-office respondents, who use the household telephone line for business purposes and have a professional need to keep the lines clear.
Marketers were more likely to have signed onto the do-not-call list than to belong to the DMA. Among those surveyed, only 32% indicated their company belonged to the industry organization. One-third of all respondents reported using outbound telemarketing.
Among those using this channel, 20% indicated that, as a result of the new regulations, they would be moving more financial resources into direct mail activities. Sixteen percent said they would concentrate more on e-mail marketing, and 14% will focus more on Internet-based efforts. Four percent will spend more on direct response television. Six percent were going to convert seats within their call centers from outbound to inbound telemarketing. Slightly more than half did not anticipate changing their resource allocation.
The study was conducted via e-mail among a select group of Direct magazine readers during September.
A full report on the survey’s results will appear in the December issue of Direct magazine.
Network
