Donnelley Marketing

Target Marketing Group catches up with Bridgeline Digital, Pitney Bowes and Infogroup.

Despite the economy, I still get a lot of mail these days.* So does my father. The problem is, my father passed away six months ago. His mail now comes to my house (and he gets many great offers). A few months ago, he even got a fundraising offer from the hospital where he died. That’s the definition of irony, right?

infoGROUP (NASDAQ: IUSA), the leading provider of data driven and interactive resources for targeted sales, marketing and research solutions, today announced the formation of Direct Media Millard (DMM). Launching July 1, 2009, DMM becomes the industry’s largest provider of targeted prospecting media for the consumer and B2B markets.

If you’re like most consumers, buying online is more of a possibility today than it was yesterday, and you’ll probably think about it more tomorrow. Can big wins be made by optimizing your online shopping experience? Best Buy did and boasted a 34 percent increase in online sales for the fourth quarter of 2008. infoUSA.com did, and it more than doubled its online revenue in just one year.

It pays to add consumer reviews to your e-commerce Web site. Such was the finding of a recent survey from the market research firm Opinion Research Corp., an infoGroup company, where 61 percent of respondents said they consult online reviews, blogs and other sources of online customer feedback before purchasing new products or services, with search engines being the preferred method of conducting the research. The survey polled 736 consumers. Here are some more of its findings: * 83 percent said online product evaluations and reviews had at least some level of influence on their purchasing decisions; * 70 percent said they seek information

While nearly 90 percent of the 1,092 respondents surveyed in the latest Ouch Point survey from Opinion Research Corp., an infoUSA company, said they shop online, the marketing channel is still far from perfect. Twenty-four percent of the respondents cited purchased items having no resemblance to their images on the Internet as their biggest online shopping frustration. Here are some more noteworthy findings of the survey. * The inability to speak with a customer service representative at an online store was the second most cited frustration with online shopping (23 percent), followed by learning that items are back-ordered or out of stock after they’re

The 34th annual Direct Media Client Conference and Co-op held last week in White Plains, N.Y., offered attendees some timely perspective on how catalogers are approaching, and trying to survive, an uncertain economy. Ed Mallin, president of infoUSA’s Services Group, seemed to sum up the theme of the conference best when he said the shift to the digital world is “the most dramatic shift … and it’s not going away.” Mailers need to acknowledge and understand how the Web is changing their businesses, and adapt to the new realities of the Web world. Below are the most noteworthy takeaway pointers from the

As fears of a recession continue to spread throughout the nation, a recent survey from the Opinion Research Corporation, an infoUSA company, shows that 52 percent of the 1,006 adults polled are cutting back on, or postponing, larger expenditures, such as home appliances (28 percent), home repairs (33 percent) and new cars (35 percent). Here are some more noteworthy findings of the survey. * 62 percent said a further increase in the cost of gasoline was their biggest concern; * 43 percent feel they will not be able to save money in the next six months; * nearly 25 percent expect to borrow

“Bring it on!” I thought. Last year, when I presided over our Catalog Success 200 for a first go-round, I was warned that this chart had something of a controversial history during its prior four years. I prepared myself for a torrent of e-mails and phone calls after we published that issue, but to my surprise, we got next to none; only several compliments. Years ago, an editorial director at a company I once worked for said something I’ll never forget: “I love getting hate mail, and hate getting complimentary mail.” I’d have welcomed “hate” mail about our chart, but that’s never our intent

The news of infoUSA’s acquisition of Direct Media sent the combined reaction of total expectation and shock waves throughout the catalog/multichannel list industry. My own opinion is that this deal was to be expected considering the path that infoUSA has been going in recent years. Direct Media joins the infoUSA stable that contains Millard Group (including its most recent pick-up, Mokrynskidirect), Edith Roman, Rubin Response, Walter Karl, JAMI Marketing Services and American Church Lists. Then again, it’s a little surprising considering that Direct Media was sold to Acxiom nearly 12 years ago, only for Direct Media’s management team to buy the company back four