Direct marketing specialists, Response Generation Ltd., found that 14% of mail order/catalogue companies failed to respond to sales enquiries sent by email.  Furthermore, of those who did reply, the average response time was nearly four working days and only 20% bothered to respond with a personalised communication.

While there is obviously room for improvement, the survey did highlight the fact that response management techniques are improving (see PREVIOUS SURVEY-COMPARATIVE RESULTS below). 

In this survey conducted in April/May of this year, 150 mail order/catalogue companies were each sent an email requesting a brochure and further information about their products. Those failing to respond were sent a follow up email 14 days later. This was to overcome possible transmission failures due to full mail boxes, internet problems, bounces etc.

BACKGROUND – CONSUMER RESPONSE RATES

In trials and tests throughout the world over many years, it has been proved that the faster the response to a sales enquiry, the higher will be the propensity for the consumer to buy.  A major reason for this is that many people are time poor and wish to make quick purchasing decisions from the goods on offer.  Other tests have also proved that the personalisation of responses also lifts conversion rates.

ON-LINE VS TRADITIONAL MAIL ORDER

While accepted that nearly all mail order companies carry out business via their websites, it is still true that a high proportion of mail order transactions are carried out by telephone or post using printed catalogues, brochures and price lists.  How much potential customers refer to websites prior to carrying out traditional buying methods is a big source of debate within the industry.

In this particular survey, all the companies advertised printed catalogues/brochures.  They also had sales links from their websites. It therefore seemed reasonable to assume that a company would at least send an email acknowledgement of the email enquiry.  In fact this happened in only 32% of cases, most of these using standard bounce back acknowledgements.  Only a handful used it to up sell - for example to ask for more details, refer to special offers or even mention their website.

NON – RESPONDERS TO EMAILS

How, or if, emails are received depends on the recipient’s browser/firewall, the state of the inbox, any Internet transmission problems and the sender’s email format.  Therefore, the enquiry message was presented in simple text message format and sent via Outlook. What’s more, if recipients failed to respond within 14 days they were re-mailed. In a few cases where bounce backs occurred in both instances, these companies were omitted from the survey.

TARGET GROUPS

150 UK Mail Order /Catalogue companies (see below) were selected in 10 different market sectors:

Art & Collectibles
Industrial/Business to Business
Children & Nursery
Computer/Electronic/Office Equipment
Food
Gardens & Gardening
Gifts
Health & Fitness
Holidays & Travel
Home

PREVIOUS SURVEY - COMPARATIVE RESULTS

A similar survey was conducted with a smaller sample of 100 companies in the spring of 2003.  The same market sectors were used and many of the same companies were contacted in the 2005 survey. 

                                                                          2003                2005

Average (mean) response time - days                4.5                  3.9

Companies using personalised mail packs           18%                20%

Companies using email acknowledgements         11%                32%

Failed to respond                                              34%                14%

Observations

Response times - These are slightly improved over 2003 levels.  However, an unknown factor is Royal Mail’s comparative delivery performance in the two surveys.  For the response packs only two companies used delivery methods other than that provided by the Royal Mail. Many companies use 2nd class post to respond to sales enquiries; for the saving of a few pence, this seems like false economy in view of the overwhelming evidence that ‘the faster the response, the higher the conversion’.

Personalised responses – Not only do personalised responses lift conversion, they also make less work.  A sensible, cost saving approach would be to produce a personalised letter, with the enquirer’s details being captured into a database, and then to use a window envelope or polywrap with the address showing through.  Interestingly, the results showed that the fastest responders nearly always used personalisation to good effect.

Email acknowledgements – Results showed a big growth in the use of email acknowledgements against 2003 levels. This however would be expected with the general increase in email traffic over the period.  Disappointingly, very few companies were using email to develop customer relationships.

Failure to respond – The downward trend showing less companies failing to reply is encouraging.  How much of this is due to technological improvements in email delivery and reception is not known.

RESULTS BY SECTOR – a detailed analysis of results is available on request. Please email enquiries@responsegeneration.co.uk for your copy.