A service that lets consumers request to have currently received and new catalogs forwarded after they move has drawn a 23 percent online response rate since it launched in September.
The U.S. Postal Service's free Catalog Request Card lets consumers inform catalogers of their new address and sign up to have new catalogs sent to that address. It helps the USPS direct catalogs to the moving public, letting retailers stay connected with current customers and obtain new ones.
The program is an expansion of the postal service's official Internet Change of Address form that consumers use to have their mail forwarded. It is available through MoversGuide Online at www.usps.com and through the printed Mover's Guide found in post offices.
The USPS handles 30 million catalog mailings yearly, and 45 million change-of-address requests are submitted each year.
Since the program's launch, 447,082 people selected catalogs out of 1.92 million Change of Addresses filed online.
The total number of catalogs requested — online and offline — was 4.09 million, the USPS said. The average number of current catalogs requested per change of address was 1.4, and the average number of new catalogs requested was 4.68.
Nineteen catalogers are participating, including Coldwater Creek, HP Shopping, Lands' End, Plow & Hearth, Pottery Barn, The Sharper Image, Smith & Noble and Spiegel.
Unlike First-Class mail and Periodicals, catalogs and Standard mail are not forwarded to customers when they move.
Melissa Campanelli covers postal news, CRM and database marketing for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
