LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

TIME-TESTED ADVICE

Thanks to Katie Muldoon for sharing her tips on developing clean and compelling catalog design (Direct From Muldoon, January).

Over the years, I've saved many of her columns from Direct. When I look back at those clippings from her, Collins, Lewis and so many others, much of their copy and design advice still stands the test of time today, despite so many industry changes. It's great to have these valuable contributors as an ongoing resource.
Sheri Harris
Fort Lauderdale, FL

THE VALUE OF MARKET RESEARCH

To survey or not to survey? January's Direct Hit brought up some interesting points.

As with many things, the truth lies somewhere between the “survey crowd” and the “anti-survey crowd.” As the head of a marketing research company, I undoubtedly bring my own biases to the debate — but also plenty of experience.

On one hand, I've advised a number of companies in given situations that they don't need research. Once you've established that customer satisfaction is 90%, and has been 90% every quarter for the last two years, is there any need to keep producing extensive reports which say, “Good news — no change! (Again.)”

There are definitely times when leaders need to go against the “common wisdom” and follow their vision, whether or not that common wisdom is being expressed by consumers through research. And there are companies that paralyze themselves by having to send every picayune decision through a round of focus groups and surveys.

There also are times when consumers frankly don't know what they want or what they think. I get very tired of clients who insist that one of the questions we need to ask during focus groups related to their prospective advertising campaigns is, “Will this advertising make you buy our product?” Even if people honestly could answer a question like that (and they can't), how many consumers are going to admit to themselves (or others) that they are actually influenced by advertising or marketing?

On the other hand, Richard Tomkins' assertion that “good companies with good products or services do not need to pester people with questionnaires” is simply asinine. That makes as much sense as saying that once people get a college degree, they don't need to learn anything else because they're already successfully educated.

Good companies, like good people, never stop learning, and research is nothing if not a learning process. It's been proven time and time again that there is a difference between satisfaction and loyalty; companies where the only “measure of customer satisfaction is rapidly rising revenue and profits,” as Tomkins suggests should be the case, are at enormous risk of losing those profits once a competitor offers a slightly better customer experience. Further, I can't count the number of times consumers have told us, “I'm impressed that (fill in the company) cared enough about my opinions to ask for them.”

Marketing research, like any tool, is only valuable when used properly. True, many companies are not using it properly — but in my experience just as many companies that should be using it are not.

It's a waste of resources and a potential annoyance to customers to say, “We've got to do some customer satisfaction surveys — everyone else is!” But substitute “branding,” “direct mail,” “advertising,” “CRM,” or “loyalty programs” for “customer satisfaction surveys” in that sentence, and the same thing is true. With any of these tools, a well-strategized, meaningful approach can be a tremendous aid to a company, while a poorly conceived, poorly executed shotgun approach often will cause more harm than good.
Ron Sellers
President
Ellison Research
Phoenix

PHOTOCOPYING IS JOB 1

Beth Negus Viveiros' recent column on her new “Big Silver Car” (Pushing the Envelope, December 2005) was of great interest to me, as I consider myself a “Car Guy.” As a “Marketing Guy” also, I felt compelled to let Direct know of a mailing piece I just received at the office from a local Lincoln Mercury dealership's rent-a-car division.

Believe it or not, they sent a photocopy of a letter addressed “Dear Business Owner,” offering a 10% discount and informing me that they will be adding the new Lincoln Mercury line to their spring fleet in April. Along with the letter was (you guessed it) a photocopy of a brochure outlining rental rates and business hours. Oh yes, and included was a nice black line across the middle of the brochure. (As in, check your copy machine's toner cartridge!)

I wondered if they actually think this does credit to their brand…keeping in mind that Lincoln Mercury is a division of the Ford Motor Co., where the slogan once was “Quality Is Job 1”!
Bob Portner
Director of Sales
Kroll Direct Marketing
Plainsboro, NJ

CLICKING ON EMPTY

Here's a couple of things I'd like to share about the January and February Pushing the Envelope columns on holiday shopping.

I was trying to find the perfect shirt for a new beau in Colorado. I found it at L.L. Bean with free shipping, but, of course, when I hit the buy button I got turned down — they were out of large red shirts! Did they think folks wouldn't buy red shirts for L guys during Christmas? It was frustrating after all the catalogs and e-mail I received from them. So I ended up at REI and was quite satisfied. Even when I entered a bad ZIP code, REI corrected it and all arrived in good order.

I had a similar experience when ordering a copper fire pit, which was also shipping to Colorado. True Value claimed you could order online and folks could pick it up at their local store. Hah! I clicked to buy and guess what — you got it — they were out of the product. Let's hear it for Amazon, which came through once again with what seemed to be a nicer product at the same price, plus free shipping. In the end it saved me some time, but lots of frustration along the way.
Maureen Peterson
Assistant Marketing
Manager, Books
American Psychological Association
Washington

FROM THE MEDIOCRE TO THE HORRIBLE

My favorite part of Direct magazine is The Makeover Maven, where Tom Collins take a mediocre ad and turns it into a horrible ad. It leaves me in stitches. January's victim was KitchenAid's understated ad, clearly aimed at people who care more about impressing their neighbors than they do about what makes it tick. It's not a product news ad as Tom states, but rather a brand-building ad.

The original copy was crisp, and I got the point about the steam by the third sentence. It took Tom twice as many words to muddle the same information. His clarion call “Now, for the first time —” would get him flunked out of headline school…and where did he pull the “French chefs” out of? Not from the original ad. So “An indicator light and an audible signal let you know when the reservoir has to be refilled”? Thanks for ruining the suspense of the owner's manual.

The most curious thing is that with all of Tom's power words, bloated copy and gimmicky “TM” phrases, he still missed the original ad's biggest fault: What does “dual fuel” even mean? Does it run on gas and coal? Perhaps electricity and wood?

I'm glad to see that Tom's still doing layout with Microsoft Word's default settings, because that's the true hallmark of a pro. Kerning and leading are such a bother.
Eric Jones
Jones Studio Ltd.
New York

Tom Collins replies: Readers like you keep me on my toes.

I felt that KitchenAid's ad was intended to be an announcement of sorts because the first word of its copy is “Introducing.”

Many students in the headline school I attended who learned to use those powerful words you don't like went on to make fortunes in marketing, crying all the way to the bank.

I agree that a weakness in my makeover is that it doesn't explain why dual fuel is desirable. I can only say that I tried very hard to find out, searching everywhere, including on KitchenAid's ad and Web site. I never did find the answer, so I couldn't very well write about it.

I invented the offer of a free booklet as a way KitchenAid could have identified and drawn closer to its prospective customers. In hindsight, calling it “Steam-Assist Secrets of French Chefs” was going a little far. The word “French” could have been omitted and probably should have.

As for kerning and leading, I plead guilty to not doing any kerning in my makeover. I doubt this lessened its sales effectiveness. As for leading, my copy is set in 11-point type and 15.2 leading. Neither too little leading nor too much, in my view.

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