Essentials Magazine Essentials Fall 2019 | Page 14

To
Catalog
or Not
BY BOB STIMOLO
M
ost of us order just about everything online
these days. Does that mean that direct mail
catalogs are of the past? Not based on my
experience. Stop mailing your catalog and plummet-
ing sales will convince you as well.
Placing orders online is good for everyone. It is fast and,
in most cases, relatively easy. Most sites have reasonable
policies for returns so the drawback to ordering online
is that you cannot actually inspect the product
prior to purchase and in many cases, you
have to pay shipping charges — even if you
decide you want to return it.
Direct Mail Reaches Out
More Effectively
The challenge for online catalogs is
in getting you interested in their prod-
ucts to begin with. Most of us dismiss
emails and pop-ups instantly. The mo-
ment we realize the email is solicitation,
we hit the delete button, and especially if it
is a company with whom we are not familiar.
However, a direct mail catalog receives slightly
less harsh treatment.
Even if our intent is to put a direct mail catalog in the
trash (or more likely the recycle bin), we cannot help but
see at least one of the front or back covers. If the catalog’s
creative team has done its job by placing an enticing offer
on either or both covers, we cannot help but get the mes-
sage. A direct mail catalog actively reaches out whereas
an online catalog waits for you to reach out to it.
Unfortunately, many of us are not very experienced at
creating catalogs. There are good catalogs and not so good
catalogs. Those that are well crafted deliver an acceptable re-
turn on investment. Those that are not often fall short. Few of
us are willing to admit that our catalog could have been better
crafted and we blame the medium instead of the execution.
Four Critical Components to Success
There are four critical components necessary to a suc-
cessful direct mail catalog. The first two are the offer and the
14 essentials | fall 2019