A paperless mailbox?
The holidays of 2000 brought the usual flood of paper-based material-catalogs, bills, cards, bills, department store flyers, more catalogs, bills, tax forms, advertising leaflets, bills.... This is an endless source of fascination for my six-year-old daughter, because when she asks what she got, we usually give her the catalogs.
But one trend I did notice this year was a slight lightening of the load. During the 1999 holidays, I seem to recall catalogs coming at a much more furious pace. Some even included the dire warning-beginning on about November 30th-that this was my LAST CHANCE to purchase something if I wanted it to arrive before Christmas. By the way, this was an absolute falsehood. I ordered an item online on December 21 and received it by Christmas Eve morning.
This year, I expected an even greater barrage of holiday hype, especially after reading a Wall Street Journal article that told how the "dot coms" were shifting their marketing to "low-tech" catalogs to reach target demographics. All those Canadian newsprint mills shifting to coated groundwood grades had to be salivating over that one. But was this really true?
THE "JUNK" SHIFT. According to the December 2000 issue of Direct, the magazine of direct marketing management, direct marketers are beginning to embrace online efforts more aggressively in getting their messages across-to the detriment of paper products. In a survey of business and consumer products companies that utilize direct marketing, the magazine compared the choices of marketing channels for 2000 versus 1999.
For example, catalog use declined by 8%, with only 39% of the surveyed companies sending catalogs in 2000 versus 47% in 1999. Here are a few of the other findings:
- Direct mail (other than catalogs): down 9%
- Card packs: down 9%
- Fax marketing: down 11%
- Freestanding inserts: down 10%
- Self-mailers: down 5%
- Trackable coupons: down 8%
- Email to prospects: up 3%
- Email to customers: up 14%.
Even telemarketing dropped off 5% in 2000, which maybe means that consumers can begin to reclaim dinnertime. The survey continues with questions about future use, as well. Most companies project that electronic methods will keep growing at the expense of the more traditional methods, although paper-based techniques won't be going away quickly.
Why go electronic? As Direct put it, "For one thing, email is cheaper than snail mail." And when corporate advertising budgets are constrained, cheaper is better. The effectiveness of email, however, is an unknown that will be closely watched.
YOU'VE GOT MAIL. My general impression is that the mailbox I walk to in the evenings isn't quite as full as it used to be. On the other hand, my electronic mailboxes-one for home and one for work-are constantly filled and refilled. Like the one by the street, my e-mailboxes hold important communications and just as much junk. In both cases I can destroy that junk mail in bulk, but in only one case-setting my email software or electronically asking to be removed from a list-can I stop the junk.
This could very well be another in the ongoing skirmishes that have included paper vs. plastic grocery sacks and newspapers vs. online news. The trend certainly shouldn't be dismissed or ignored. Customers have long complained about junk mail, and business and consumer products companies are always looking for better and less expensive ways of targeting their customers with direct appeals.
In becoming more customer focused, paper companies have to at least be aware of such trends and be prepared to act when necessary. While I did receive fewer catalogs during the holidays, the ones I did receive were mostly higher quality, with extremely crisp graphics. Somewhere out there, a paper company has reacted to its market. That's a very positive step.
KELLY FERGUSON is Editor, Pulp & Paper
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