[September 01, 2008]

People�s tolerance of DM is eroding

For the first time in four years there has been an increase in the number of UK people saying they do not open and read their direct mail to 14%, up from 13% last year.
In 2005, 26% of British consumers didn�t open direct mail, but this figure had been decreasing steadily until now, according to the direct marketing industry�s only tracking study, the authoritative CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Research, launched in 2005, to measure the extent to which marketers' perceptions of consumer buying behaviour, attitudes and motivations are correct and abreast of the UK marketplace.

The study measures changes in the UK marketplace year on year and monitors marketers' ability to observe and respond to them.
�People�s tolerance of cold marketing messages is gradually eroding.,� says David Cole, MD of CCB fast.MAP. �Of the 86% who do open some mail packs, 37% will only open those from a company they have a relationship with.
�There has also been a steady increase in the number saying they would opt out of receiving all text messages if there were a Text Preference Service, from 65% in 2006 and 67% in 2007, to 70% now.
�And, although many marketers have yet to realise it, it�s now possible to contact more consumers by email than by telephone because of the increasingly high levels of Telephone Preference Service (TPS) registration.�
Time pressures have increased. In 2005,13% of consumers cited �lack of time� as one of the five main reasons for not opening direct mail. This rose to 17% in 2006, 19% last year and 20% now.
�Because people are being more selective about which mail they open, the �known brand� option has risen from 51% in 2005 to 55% now,� Cole adds.
�People continue to view personalisation as an indication of relevance and the percentage selecting �Personally addressed to me� (which has always been the second most important factor) has increased steadily from 43% in 2006 to 51% in July 2008.�
For the fourth year running, promotional packs �from a company or brand I know� have proved to be most tempting and �Interested in the product or service� has retained third place since 2006, steadily rising from 42% then to 50% now.
�Can clearly see it contains a free sample or voucher� remains a major motivation to open, although it�s slipped down from third to fourth position and by 4%, since 2005.

Methodology
� 34 questions were submitted into a fast.MAP online self completion survey
� Survey despatched Friday 27th June 2008, to 4,000 consumer panel members whose demographics echo those of the UK population
� The panellists were entered into a prize draw to win £250
� The same questions were put to a panel of 200 marketers who were asked to predict the consumers� responses
� Randomisation of images and answer options to avoid top box bias/ creative skew
� Acceptable completion time for the survey and removing any that are completed in a quicker time
� Intelligent Routing to ensure a quality survey experience as questions are relevant
� Constant re-qualification of the panel to ensure that background variables are updated. Differences from initial recruitment can result in being removed from the panel.

For more information please contact: David Cole, MD, CCB fast.MAP,
mobile 07775 684293; tel. 0207 242 0702, David.Cole@CCBfastmap.com.
or
Paul Seabrook, director CCB fast.MAP, Paul.Seabrook@ccbfastmap.com ,
Tel. 0207 242 0702, mobile 078107 14707.

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