The Demand for Direct Mail in Portugal

Abstract

Direct Mail is just one of several choices available to firms for communicating with customers. Firms have traditional mass-media advertising as well as direct advertising and marketing. The main techniques of direct marketing are: Direct Mail; telemarketing; and direct response. A survey of Direct Mail users¹ in Portugal revealed that the main advantage of this service for firms is the fact that it is a more personalized and direct method of marketing. The main disadvantages of Direct Mail among the same respondents were the low level of response, the high cost of the product and of developing appropriate material for Direct Mailing. The purpose of the present study is to analyze these and other factors that underlie the choice of Direct Mail relative to other communications methods. We focus our attention on current users of Direct Mail and their preferences, as demonstrated by their choices in the use of Direct Mail as part of their portfolio of alternative means of commercial communication. We will be especially interested in indentifying demand factors that favor the provision of Direct Mail services by the Postal Services Provider (PSP).

The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of CTT- Correios de Portugal. We thank Alberto Pimenta for his support and his comments on earlier versions of this paper. We are also thankful for the invaluable assistance provided by Professor João Santos Silva of the Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, UTL, Lisbon, Portugal, with regard to all of the subjects relating to estimation methodology. Finally, we would like to thank Professor Roger Sherman for some important insights into how to improve our previous analysis. However, any remaining errors or omissions in the paper are the sole responsibility of the authors. We also acknowledge the invaluable assistance given by our colleague Eisa Gervásio in the drawing up of the questionnaire sent to our clients and the collection of their replies.

Survey based on a sample, stratified by region and economic activity, of 183 firms for the period of 1998 to 1999. This study was made by Euroexpansão (1999). Estudo do Mercado de Direct Mail.