VJESI Leadership Survey #2
Will Terrorism Change the Way We Do Business?
By Victoria James

Over 17,000 respondents to a recent AOL online survey said they were throwing away anything that was not a bill or personal letter. This can be a frightening statistic to direct marketers who depend on the mail to reach their customers.

What actions are companies taking to maintain revenues and manage through these challenging times?
Respondents to the VJESI Leadership Survey conducted between 11/5/01 - 11/9/0l expressed the concern of dm's business leaders. Many voiced a concern that the anthrax scare will lead people to throw out any mail they are uncertain of to alleviate their fears. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of the respondents are concerned that the heightened awareness of terrorism will affect their business.

Seventy-six percent of the respondents are VP and above, and are concerned about the reduced confidence in the economy, the concern that people may put off buying decisions and that spending will be reduced. This, many feared, will lead to reduced response rates.

DIRECT MAIL STILL PRIMARY CONTACT VEHICLE
But in spite of this expressed concern, two-thirds of the respondents (62%) will continue their strategy of utilizing direct mail as their primary contact vehicle. Respondents affirmed that dm still offers the best ROI (30%) and stated that they believed the fear of the mail is a short-term phenomenon (32%).

RETENTION AND PROSPECTING STRATEGIES
The majority (58%) will continue to operate with the same retention/prospecting circulation mix while 36% will shift their focus to retention efforts.

CONTACT STRATEGY CHANGES
One half of the respondents will continue to use Standard A mail as the primary channel to reach customers. They noted that they had no intention to use other channels.

And the other half are decreasing their use of Standard A direct mail. Ninety percent of them have increased their use of email messaging and website involvement for retention efforts. Fifty-two percent are using the online medium for prospecting. Telemarketing efforts will be increased 18% for retention efforts and 12% for prospecting. Increased usage of postcards and self mailers will be utilized by 18% for retention purposes and 16% for prospecting.

The VJESI Leadership Survey is designed to gather the collective wisdom of the direct marketing leadership in addressing business challenges in today's unprecedented environment. If you want to opt-in and be part of one of the upcoming panels, send an email to vjames@victoriajames.com with OPT IN SURVEY in the subject line. All answers are tabulated in the aggregate and analyzed to produce a big picture. There are no direct quotes or attribution. A detailed version of the survey results are at survey2results.html.