The US Postal Service has approved a program called ON-CARD, described as "reverse telemarketing" in today's press release from ON-CARD:
USPS Approves ON-CARD, a Reverse Telemarketing Solution
According to the release, USPS Mailing Standards approved the mailing solution in only two months -- a process that usually takes two to five years, according to ON-CARD.
The process works like this:
1. A mailing goes out to a prospect offering a free gift.
2. To obtain the free gift, the recipient of the mailing calls a toll-free number and provides information to the marketer to activate the gift.
3. The call center then informs the caller about special offers and promotions.
4. Responses are tracked and reported to the marketer in real time.
According to ON-CARD, Verizon and AEGON Direct Marketing are in process of rolling out campaigns. The company's Web site has very little information about their operation, but I see that they also suggest that TruGreen Chemlawn, 3M, The Cleveland Clinic, the US Census Bureau and Medtronic are customers as well.
The company says that test campaigns have "generated positive dialog between consumers and corporations" and have delivered "remarkable results" by breaking through the "growing resistance to marketing."
This "reverse telemarketing" system sounds like an intriguing idea. The do-not-call requirement and increasing consumer distaste for telesales is an obstacle to marketers. So why not get them to call you? Sure.
The following are some questions and concerns that come up in my mind:
1. Is this really a new method? If so, how exactly? If not, how well has it worked in the past?
2. Will callers be reluctant to give up personal information to receive their gifts? Will that be a requirement, and will that requirement generate resentment and resistance?
3. How hard will the call center push the additional offers onto the callers? Will this generate resentment or resistance?
4. How compelling will the gifts be, in terms of perceived value? It's going to be a tricky balance -- marketers will need to build in sufficient perceived value to overcome prospects' resistance and laziness so they will pick up the phone and make the call.
Those questions aside, this is an interesting approach to turning telemarketing on its head, as well as combining direct mail with telesales. I'll be interested in hearing more about the results from campaigns using this method.
AB -- 1/11/05
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Don't get me wrong, the theory sounds great, but it can't match the cost effectiveness of outbound telemarketing unless the gift is nearly free to give away and the reponse rate of the postcards is high enough to overcome the additional expense of the mailing.
My guess is that at some point, people will realize the reverse telemarketing is just direct mail with a promotion encouraging response and they'll be less excited about it.