The Internet has changed direct marketing — although not as originally heralded.
The Internet has not leapfrogged established ways of marketing nor replaced traditional direct channels. Catalogs and the U.S. Postal Service have not lost their place and purpose. The Internet did not topple the so-called old economy. In fact, over the last couple of years, e-marketing has stumbled while traditional forms of direct marketing have continued to forge ahead. The Internet has not become the new face of direct marketing. But it has given a handsome new face-lift to DM’s profile.
In the late ’90s we all had grand expectations about the Internet. It was hard not to. Clicking is effortless. E-mailing is quicker. The feedback loop is real time. The whole experience is more convenient. Put together, these factors did seem to add up to a wholly new configuration of direct marketing, one that would make the old forms obsolete. At least, that’s what we thought. But we forgot to check with consumers. And as it turns out, most consumers have a different view.
Consumers didn’t drop traditional DM and go online. Instead, they fit the Web in with everything else, which is exactly what they’ve always done with new marketing vehicles. The Net didn’t trigger a discontinuity in direct marketing, but instead enhanced it across the board. Consumers use the Internet in ways that have made traditional DM methods far better and more efficient.
A recent study conducted by DIRECT and Yankelovich Inc. (“Consumer Outlook,” DIRECT, August) found that consumers who use the Internet are no less likely than those who don’t to use the full variety of established DM channels. In fact, behaviorally or attitudinally, online consumers are more involved in all aspects of direct marketing.
Notably, online consumers are somewhat more likely to employ multiple direct channels for a given transaction. Among these buyers, Web sites are overwhelmingly preferred for researching products while 800 numbers and catalogs are the choice for purchasing. Multichannel Web consumers use the Net in place of catalogs for researching, but they are more than twice as likely to use catalogs as Web sites when they buy. The Internet has not replaced catalogs. Instead, it has refined how people use them. This is the sort of impact the Internet has had on every form of direct marketing.
The Internet has given consumers more control: Control over how they research a product or browse what’s for sale; control over when they shop; and control over what marketers can say to them and when. Convenience has turned out to be the least of the transformations ushered in by the Net.
With more control, consumer expectations have grown dramatically. No surprise, then, that Internet consumers both complain more about direct marketing and buy more through direct means. Online consumers use traditional direct channels about as much as consumers who don’t use the Internet, and they are much more likely to have responded to a direct marketing offer either by seeking additional information or by purchasing a product or service. Sixty-two percent of Internet users have responded to DM in the past six months, compared with just 42 percent of non-Internet users.
As we look ahead, we need a more contextual view of how the Internet works in direct marketing. Online use is the common characteristic of the most vocal, active and valuable DM consumers. But the Internet is just one of many ways in which these consumers exercise control to respond to direct marketing. To get the full advantage of the Internet, we must employ it in the context of all of the other forms of direct marketing.
This view is better not only for how we look at the Internet but for how we approach every form of direct marketing. Consumers encounter direct marketing holistically. While mail, phone, catalogs and the Internet are all separate interactions, to consumers they add up to a single experience with direct marketing. When parts of that experience are bad, the whole experience suffers and every part is tainted.
That’s when consumers use their newfound control to resist DM. But when all parts work together to enhance the overall experience, the benefits are shared across the board and consumers are more receptive to direct offers. This is what the Internet has brought to direct marketing and this is the opportunity ahead.
J. WALKER SMITH is president of Yankelovich Inc., Atlanta.
CRAIG WOOD is president of Yankelovich’s Monitor MindBase division in Chapel Hill, NC.
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