Driving Direct Mail research

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Mail Users ForumOct 8, 2003Quality of
Service Opportunitiesfor improvement across
Europe Bryan Cassady32 485 027
355bryan_at_postal-solutions.com

MMs is registered trademark of Mars,
Incorporated
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The Research

• Methods
• Interviews with 362 leading direct mailers in
  the UK and France
• Combined with Postal Service surveys and data
  from the UPU, and the WARC
• Top-line results
• Some growth, unfortunately, a lot due to falling
  results at leading mailers
• Mail losing share of total media spending
• A lot of room for improvement

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The postal services spend more time analyzing
and studying their markets than almost any other
type of companyBut are they measuring and
studying the right things more than one
advertiser mentioned This is the first time I
have been asked what could be done to get me to
mail more
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Mail Growth vs.Media Growth 1997 to 2002

• Mail vs. market growth
• The good news Mail has grown in almost all the
  European markets (well at least until
  recently)Mail growth16
• It has not kept pace with overall media
  growthMedia growth 36

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What drives direct mail volumes

• Economic growth / Advertising spending
• Alternative media choices
• Initiatives in the direct mail industryWhat
  counts is the value of direct mail vs.
  alternative mediaQuality of service is much
  more than
• 
  J 2 or 3 or 4

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Customer Ratings (Good, Excellent)
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Seeing the forest

• Showing the results to a national postal service
  thats interesting the UK is doing better than
  France
• Showing the results to a service consultantDo
  they realize that on all key aspects of service
  except reliability, over 50 rated them fair or
  poor

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Doing more / doing less

• What should the Postal Services be doing more of
• Getting the fundamentals right
• Marketing of direct mail/ investing in direct
  mail
• Working together with industry.
• Learn to be flexible
• What should the Postal Services be doing less of
• Punishing mailers with systems too rigid, we are
  working together not against you
• Too much time measuring and planning, too little
  time doing
• I cant imagine a way they could do less

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What advertisers want

• Value for money
• That is value for money, not the lowest price
• Real business services
• They pay, they get what they paid for -
  guaranteed
• Investments in the future of direct mail
• Investments in fundamental services driving value
• Not investments in all of direct mail, but in the
  areas the Post can provide the best services

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Which service areas should the postal services be
involved in ?
16 20
100 100
80 78
12 47
12 29
UK France
Note Intermediation vs. Disintermediation
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According to Peter Drukker(often cited as the
most influential business thinker of our time and
the father of modern management)A business does
2 things1/. marketing 2/. innovation
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The dangers of rationalization(ignoring
marketing and innovation)
Cut-backs
Lower volume
Business Pressure
Lower margin
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No business can cut its way to the
future William J. HendersonPostmaster
General, Chief Executive Officer
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Putting things in perspective

• La Poste
• 1 billion invested in modernization, new sorting
  machines, business optimization
• At the same time no major investments in customer
  services
• Productivity is volume driven, not process driven
•  

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Youve probably heard of the 4 Ps and the 5
CsNow we have the 5 Ms for the Postal
Industry

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The starting pointMessage

• 90 of the contacts between advertisers and the
  postal services- complaints about service or
  pricing
• Change the messageWe want to work together to
  make direct mail more competitive vs. other
  mediaThe beauty of this position either side
  can start

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Getting the fundamentals right is as important as
price
What would the impact of the following be on the
volume of mail you send ?
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The 2nd M Momentum

• At the postal services there is no shortage of
  good ideas, but
• There is a huge shortage of good ideas that
  happenHow
• giving up the pursuit of WOW for the pursuit of
  NOW
• proactivity, industry groups, forums, talks with
  the unions, dont let good ideas sleep

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The Magic Multiplier

• Helping you mail more is in everyones interest.
• A study by the US Postal Service showed
• 1 direct mail response ? 2 parcels ? 13
  first class mail pieces and ? 25
  standard advertising mail pieces
• 40 additional pieces of mail

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2 more MMs the Mail Moment

• Building value in the mail moment
• Is it junk or is it interesting offers ?
• Perception is everything !
• SidelineIn a 1982 Gallop study getting the
  mail was the average consumers favorite daily
  task

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The future

• There are lots of colors in a bag of MMs we
• need to be working together

Agencies
Advertisers
DMAs Associations
The Post
Regulators
All working to make direct mail the media of
choice
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A final point what is not done it as important
as what is done.If it is not good for
consumers or advertisers we dont do itAlan
LeightonRoyal Mail