Letters, Week of January 12, 1998
Don't Leave Response Mechanism Out of the DM MixMartin Gross presents an informative sociology-based diffusion model to illustrate how new ideas spread from their source to users ("Spreading the Word: How to Create Maximum Acceptance for a New Idea," Dec. 8).
Although it brings up many good points for direct marketers to consider, the most important piece of the puzzle it leaves out is a mechanism for the user to act on the new idea.
The article ignores the significance of instituting an easy-to-use response mechanism, outside of one vague reference during discussion of the evaluation stage of acceptance, "He obtains more information. He decides to try it."
Again, as this is a sociology-based model and not a marketing-based model, direct marketers should consider how the user would go about obtaining more information or "test-driving" the product or service.
All of our experience points to the critical importance of a response mechanism in advertising -- our specialty being vanity 800 numbers, which have been shown to increase customer response to advertising by 25 percent or more -- in order to facilitate a positive, active response from a prospect moving through the stages of acceptance of a new idea.
Without one, the most researched and thorough marketing plan can self-destruct.
Marketers choosing to implement some of Gross' ideas in building a direct mail package should keep in mind that unless some type of easy-to-use response mechanism is part of the mix -- whether it be vanity 800 or a mail-in response card -- advertising aimed at promoting acceptance of the new idea might take flight, but miss the target.
David Greenhaus
President
Response Marketing Group
Burlington, VT
Web Fulfillment Isn't a Problem for Everyone
Hmmm, Web-based companies can't do fulfillment (1988: The Year of Fulfillment on the Web, Dec. 22)?
Let's see. We are one of the Web's largest retailers and we process thousands of packages a day. We take orders until midnight Eastern time for next-morning delivery in the United States and delivery within 48 hours overseas. We maintain a 120,000-square-foot warehouse located at Airborne Express' hub in Wilmington, OH.
Sounds like pretty good fulfillment to me. Especially for a company that was founded with $28,000.
If existing direct marketers are so much better at this than Web start-ups, why are the most successful Web-based retailers all Web-only retailers such as Amazon, CD Now, us, etc?
Also, I find it a bit odd that a publication that writes so much about the Web has not a single e-mail address of a single editor in its publication. Nevertheless, we enjoy reading <I>DM News<I> and love the Web coverage ... most of the time.
Darryl Peck
President/CEO
Cyberian Outpost Inc.
Kent, CT
www.outpost.com