San Francisco, October 17, 2006 – The Direct Marketing Association
(DMA) today released its 2006 Response Rate Trends Report, containing
some of the most sought-after data on the benchmarks of successful
direct marketing campaigns.
"In providing research and information about direct marketing, our
most asked questions are what is a typical response rate and what
channel will yield the best response for a particular direct marketing
campaign," said Anna Chernis, DMA’s senior research manager.
"This report provides a dependable and robust benchmark for a wide
range of industries and campaign types."
In the report, four direct marketing objectives are isolated and
reported on separately: direct order, lead generation, traffic
building, and fundraising.
The report also provides breakouts by direct marketing channel and type
of list used (house file vs. prospect), as well as the market (consumer
vs. business-to-business) and the industry being advertised.
Among the findings of this year’s report:
· Direct Order & Fundraising: For direct marketers whose primary
objective was to solicit direct-order sales or motivate customers to
make a contribution, Catalog (2.30%) and Direct Mail (2.18%) produced
the highest response rates.
· Lead Generation: Telephone (2.60%) and E-mail (2.45%) produced the
highest response rates for direct marketers whose primary objective was
to
generate leads.
·Traffic Building: Catalog (10.34%) and Telephone (7.83%) have the
highest response rates for traffic building, although these figures are
based on a small sample of only five campaigns for Catalog and four
campaigns for Telephone.
·House File v. Prospects: House-file campaigns generally outperformed
prospecting campaigns.
·Consumer v. Business-to-Business Markets: When used for direct-order
generation and fundraising, Direct Mail and Catalog work better in
consumer markets. Other media, however, reported their highest response
rates in the business-to-business market. Lead-generation and
traffic-building campaigns both reported higher response rates for
consumer audiences vs. B-to-B.
Seven Media, 19 Industry Categories, 30 Products & Services
The DMA 2006 Response Rate Trends Report includes data for more than
1,500 campaigns received in 2004, 2005 and 2006. For the first time,
the report includes trend overviews.
The report looks at seven media channels that may have been used solo
or in combination to achieve specific campaign objectives: direct mail
(flat), catalog, e-mail, inserts, outbound telephone, newspaper, and
magazine.
In addition, information is provided for 19 major industry categories
consistent with the North American Industry Classification System
(NAICS), as well as a selection of 30 specific products and services.
The full report is priced at $245 for DMA members ($445 for
non-members). It can be ordered through DMA Book Distribution Center by
calling 1.800.344.8328 (US) or +1.610.461.3548 (internationally) and
online at www.the-dma.org/bookstore.
About DMA
The Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org) is the leading
global trade association of businesses and nonprofit organizations using
and supporting multichannel direct marketing tools and techniques. DMA
advocates industry standards for responsible marketing, promotes
relevance as the key to reaching consumers with desirable offers, and
provides cutting-edge research, education, and networking opportunities
to improve results throughout the end-to-end direct marketing process.
Founded in 1917, DMA today represents more than 3,600 companies from
dozens of vertical industries in the US and 50 other nations, including
a majority of the Fortune 100 companies, as well as nonprofit
organizations.
In 2006, marketers – commercial and nonprofit – will spend an estimated
$166.5 billion on direct marketing in the United States. Measured
against total US sales, these advertising expenditures will generate an
estimated $1.93 trillion in incremental sales. This year, direct
marketing will account for 10.3 percent of total US GDP. Also, there
are today 1.7 million direct marketing employees in the US alone. Their
collective sales efforts directly support 8.8 million other jobs. That
accounts for 10.5 million US jobs.
The Power of Direct: Relevance. Responsibility. Results.
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