DMA Rallies Troops to Fend off Do-Not-Mail Legislative Threats

The Direct Marketing Association called a special conference on Dec. 17 at its New York City headquarters to engage its cataloger members in helping take preemptive strikes against a growing number of states seeking to enact do-not-mail legislation.

The first half of the more than an hour-long meeting, co-hosted by the DMA’s President/CEO John Greco and Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and Corporate Responsibility Steven Berry, served primarily to remind catalogers of the merits of catalog shopping on society and what catalogers and the DMA do to be environmentally responsible with catalogs. Then Greco and Berry described ways the DMA intends to lead catalog members — some fully drawn out, others still in the planning stages — to get environmentalists off their backs.

In summary, among the key points the DMA executives addressed were the following:

* The DMA intends to “strengthen” its Mail Preference Service (MPS), a requirement among members to enable customers a means of opting out of their mailing lists.

“You’ve asked us what to say to groups that ask for suppression over and above MPS,” Greco said. “DMA needs your insights.”

Specifically, he said the DMA would move MPS away from being a binary choice — or an “all or nothing” opt-out. And effective Dec. 17, DMA began accepting MPS requests online.

Further, Greco said the DMA would eliminate the $1 verification charge DMA uses as a security measure.

* Greco called on members to consider broadening their individual consumer mail preference practices beyond MPS. “Each organization needs to look at all of its options,” he said. “You’re already invested in a process (MPS) that works, and now it’ll work better. But whether to accept names [that opt out] from other means has to be based on your individual business model and needs.”
Four Questions

Greco then reeled off four questions catalog members should be asking about consumer opt-outs.

1. What assurances are in place so names actually are collected directly from each person?

2. Is each name and address authentic? Is there a verification system in place to ensure authenticity of data?

3. Do you enforce a sign-up so the data isn’t sold?

4. Do you ensure that any collector of consumer opt-outs doesn’t have plans to contact people who sign up for any purpose?

As for the improvements DMA is making in MPS, Berry said consumers will have additional choices, such as automated opt-out by company or brand and automated opt-in. DMA catalog member Web sites will give consumers the choice of opting out of individual catalog titles (brands) or full company opt-outs.

Berry also defended the DMA’s practice of collecting consumer credit card numbers for authentication purposes in MPS. “Those numbers aren’t kept by DMA; they’re only used for verification,” he said. “Consumers are given passwords to return to the DMA site for three years so they can make additional adjustments or choices after signing up, without having to reverify.”

* Beyond MPS, the DMA requests that catalogers provide consumers with more granularity and more choice, Greco said. “Provide all your brands on Web sites.” He noted that DMA will send an information letter on how to have such information on member sites.

* DMA’s Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC) initiative: Unveiled during DMA07 in Chicago, the process will kick off in October. (For more on CCC, see “Make a Renewed Commitment to Consumer Choice” in the Privacy Matters column on pg. 62 of the December issue of Catalog Success, or go to http://www.catalogsuccess.com/story/story.bsp?sid=83101&var=story.)

Until then, Greco recommends members run MPS monthly “or you might even wish to run it daily,” he said. At any rate, honor consumer requests within 30 days of receipt, he added.

Challenged By Catalog Choice Member

When Greco and Berry opened the floor for questions from both the in-person and teleconference audience, they got more than they bargained for. Laura Hickey, a longtime DMA member with the National Wildlife Federation, took DMA to task about the Catalog Choice initiative she’s been closely involved with since its launch earlier this year.

Catalog Choice, which has no backing or cooperation from DMA, got more than 300,000 consumers to sign up to opt out of catalog mailing lists in its first two months, Hickey said. The reason for her call was to ask why DMA “never once” showed any interest in partnering with the nonprofit group. The group bills itself as one that allows consumers to “eliminate unwanted catalogs you receive, simplify your life and save natural resources.”

While Berry said that Catalog Choice is good for consumers to give them more nonlegislative opt-outs, he said, “I believe we have a better possibility of confirming and authenticating individuals than outside groups do.” Greco added that DMA “can suppress. I’d suggest to any third party to defer that consumer to our MPS service. That’s the way to accomplish the objective, to give consumers choice and control.”

USPS Involvement

Among other member comments and questions was one from James West of Williams-Sonoma, who challenged DMA to get the U.S. Postal Service to better promote MPS and other DMA catalog member opt-out self-regulations. “We’ve had a number of discussions with them,” Greco said about USPS involvement. “If you go to the USPS Web site today and look up mailing lists and preference services, you’ll find MPS. This will evolve as we look at the messaging we want to do. There will be opportunities to collaborate and leverage our resources.”

As for other means of promoting consumer choices, Greco said, “We have a number of touchpoints with consumers that many other industries don’t have. We’re fortunate in that we can spread information more virally through various networks, through people engaged in various media. But we don’t have all the answers yet,” he said, regarding a full-fledge consumer communications plan.

As for how DMA’s MPS expansion plan has evolved and with whose involvement, in response to a question from Jim Feinson, president/CEO of Gardener’s Supply Co., Berry noted the DMA brass has spoken with “a lot of members, catalogers, service bureaus and other vendors. The real challenge is in telling the environmental story,” he said. “The challenge is in the education itself.”