Mail Preferences Service

The theory behind a mail preferences service is simple.  You tell a company that you no longer want to receive communication transmissions from a specific company, and they remove your name and personal information from the marketing list.  This can be applied to everything from telemarketers phone call to junk mail you receive on a daily basis.  This type of system is commonly referred to as a Robinson list. 

When you finally try to get your mail in order to attempt to stop the numerous telemarketer calls you receive, this is the first place you will normally turn to.  These opt-out options give you coverage and provide results for a majority of your unwanted communications, but they will not handle all of them.  There are still certain companies you will have to contact individual to stop direct marketing that company sends. 

Each country seems to have their own variations of these, and the majority of them tend to cover standard mail, phone calls, and, to a limited degree, e-mail.  The companies that offer these services can either be government run or private companies.  The more popular mail preferences service companiesand Robinson lists in the United States are;

• Direct Marketing Association-  This is a large U.S. based company that handles many of the largest direct marketing companies in the country.  To opt out with them will reduce your junk mail by as much as 80 percent, depending on the type of mail your get.  If your mailbox is overflowing, take a look at them to reduce the overall volume of your junk mail.
  
  
• National Do Not Call Registry-  When telemarketers are your problem, this is what you sign up for.  Started by the U.S. government, placing your home or personal number will stop most telemarketers from contacting you.  You cannot use this service for political phone calls, business lines, or bill collectors.  There is no need to register cell phones, since the majority of telemarketers cannot legally call cell phones.

Setting up a mail preferences service can greatly help to eliminate the amount of communications you receive regarding various products and services.  The real question is, just how are these companies viewing you.

How Companies Market To You

Direct marketing is a marketing strategy that provides an easy outlet and availability of products and services to a consumer who is in the target demographic of a certain type of product or service by providing them with a direct way to purchase these products and services.  Essentially, their reports and information about you says you are very likely to buy this if they send you an easy way to get it.  Their information is based on income level, age, gender, credit scores, the type of home you own, your relationship status, whether you went to college or not, if you eat breakfast on a regular basis, or any additional information (no matter how minute) you provide them with.  Some of it is just common sense. 

Example;  You have just purchased your first home, and have applied to have your address change, utilities moved to this new address, and so on.  Between all of this information, along with your mortgage applications and all additional banking forms, a company has magically decided that you will now be in the market for a lawn mower, a new sofa, and a washing machine.  So, they will now send you catalogue or an offer for a catalogue that sells furniture and other home goods.  Since you just bought a new home, you will need these things according to the company.

The materials you receive can also tell you which category you fall into.  Most direct marketing companies have two different categories they place consumers in.

• Prospect-  Based on the company's information, they think you will buy something, but you have yet to purchase anything like this.  Their market research tells them that you are in the exact (or close enough) demographic to buy this right now.
  
  
• Customer-  You are receiving information regarding these products and services because you have either done business with this company before or bought products and services highly similar to the ones these companies are offering, therefore you should receive this direct marketing communication.

No matter how the company is marketing to you, the fact that you are being subjected to direct marketing is the problem, and a mail preferences service can greatly help to reduce the amount of unwanted direct marketing.

Add Your Comments about How To Stop Junk Mail: