Journal of Direct Marketing最新文献

A survey of 980 consumers, measured perceptions of five mail/phone order shopping media—magazines, newspapers, television, direct mail, and catalogs, versus retail store shopping—on eight image dimensions: economical, enjoyable, easy, fast, convenient, sensible, practical, and safe. Image profiles differed significantly among media and between them and store shopping, and among demographic categories. Ratings differed significantly by image dimension, which also interacted significantly with media and store shopping. Store shopping images were more favorable than media on all dimensions. Catalog images were distinctly more favorable than those of other media. Mail/phone shopping media were rated least favorably on safety. Nonfinancial risk was suggested as an important impediment to mail/phone order shopping, and selection and choice appeared to distinguish catalogs from other media.

The recent explosion in the use of 1-900 telephone services and resulting increase in consumer complaints have stirred the legislative bodies at the federal and state levels to respond to the complaints with new rules and legislation. This preliminary study describes the users of 1-900 services, their frequency of use, and their level of satisfaction with 1-900 services. It also relates that information to the likely impact of the new federal regulation on users on 1-900 services.

We present a system of empirical segmentation procedures called CRISP (Customer Response-based Iterative Segrnentation Procedures) for simultaneously deriving market segments and estimating models of customer response in each of these segments. While the common practice in response modeling is to estimate a single response model for all customers in the database, we allow for customer heterogeneity by calibrating response models for different (unknown) customer segments. We describe a system of iterative segmentation procedures that simultaneously estimate the number of customer segments, the sizes of each derived segment, the values of segment-level response parameters, and their statistical significance, all in a maximum likelihood framework that can accommodate various types of commonly collected response data. To illustrate the CRISP system, we discuss an empirical application entailing typical binary response data for a large number of households for a mail subscription offer from a major magazine publisher. We describe the specific implementation of CRISP to this particular problem of list segmentation, and discuss its Potential usefulness to direct mail marketers. We conclude by discussing the general uses of the CRISP system for response modeling in other direct marketing contexts besides list segmentation.

Most direct marketers have invested in complaint programs designed to handle individual complaints. However, an increasing number of direct marketing customers are filing third-party complaints. This article is designed to help in reversing that trend by forwarding a proactive approach to managing complaints. It presents a method to aggregate, analyze, and manage third-party complaints. This is a necessary part of a total complaint management program.

This article describes a practicable framework for research directed toward understanding and improving direct marketing relationships. Rhetorical theory is used to describe the vocabularies of motive underlying the formation of buyer–seller relationships. The perspectives and adaptive strategies revealed in buyers’ language form the basis for understanding the demands and requirements of direct marketing strategies intended to improve buyer–seller relationships. The use of the framework is illustrated by identifying and comparing language in a business-to-business direct marketing context. We conclude the article with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future research.

Direct marketing is the fastest growing advertising medium in the United States and it is growing almost as fast in many other countries. With international growth, the role of direct mail in the media mix warrants investigation. Should a uniform media strategy be employed? In this context, perceptions of young adults in the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong, and India toward direct mail advertising and advertising in newspapers, magazines, television, radio, and outdoor are examined along four evaluative dimensions: enjoyable, informative, annoying, and offensive. Results suggest that significant differences exist in media-specific perceptions with each country and across the four countries. These findings have implications for global media strategy.

With the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), small businesses in Canada, Mexico, and the United States are in a position to increase their export activities within the emerging North American trading bloc. While it is generally agreed upon that direct marketing makes good sense for small businesses interested in exporting, there remains a paucity of studies addressing this important topic. This article explores and compares the use of international direct marketing by small businesses located in three regions of the NAFTA countries. Our results confirm that small business exporters in all three countries are using international direct marketing, although there are significant differences in the level of their expertise.