Your gift card mail

Remember the scene in the movie "Network" where TV announcer Howard Bear leaned out the window and yelled, "Get up. Open your windows, stick your head out and yell, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore?'"

That's the growing attitude of American consumers toward the proliferation of unwanted magazines, catalogs, spam e-mails and, most aggravating of all, telemarketing calls that come at all hours of the day--especially dinner time.

The collective anger toward these intrusions is so strong that, in September, President Bush signed the national do-not-call registry into law. Now, if you enter your phone numbers on the registry, you cannot be contacted by telemarketers unless they are with a charity, political party or a business from which you have purchased products in the past.

It's a popular program. Less than five days after the registry was signed into law, nearly 13-million Americans registered their phone numbers.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris expects more than 60 million of the total 166-million U.S. residential phone numbers will soon be registered.

The highest percentage of people who have signed up so far are senior citizens and those with higher incomes. Do these sound like any of your customers?

The backlash against solicitors isn't specific to the United States. In Spain, six percent of households display a "no promotion material" sticker on their doors. In Australia, it's illegal for private companies to send mail to households with signs reading "Australia Post Articles Only." And in Switzerland, about 35 percent of the country's letter boxes have signs that say "No Advertising Wanted."

So how will the do-not-call registry--as well as other new laws in the works that will restrict unwanted faxes and e-mails--affect your business? Read on.

What's in It for You?

One bright spot for retailers regarding the do-not-call registry is that businesses from which consumers have already purchased products or services are excluded from the list.

While the do-not-call registry might make it more difficult for you to contact your customers, it will also make it difficult for solicitors to contact you. For example, you know those unwanted faxes that are always piling up on your gallery floor? Since many faxes include phone numbers, it seems like it should be easy to call the senders up to have your name removed from their fax lists, right? But whenever I try this, the numbers are usually busy or nobody ever answers.

Fortunately, the do-not-call law has a little-known provision that requires businesses to have written permission before sending unsolicited faxes. Since the fines for each unwanted fax can run up to $11,000, this provision should cut down on your unwanted faxes.

Last month, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved the Can Spare Act of 2003, paving the way for a law that may restrict unsolicited e-mails and prevent senders from using deceptive subject lines or names to trick their recipients.

According to the FTC, spam now makes up about 40 percent of all e-mail, costing consumers more than $10 billion a year.

Those who violate the Can Spam Act could be fined up to $5,000 for each violation--repeat offenders could even get jail time. And those who are on the registry and still receive unwanted spam messages could sue for as much as $1,000 for each unwanted e-mail.

Along with telemarketers and spam, Americans are also becoming increasingly fed up with junk mail. You can request to have your name taken off a mailing lists by writing or calling the New York-based Direct Marketing Association at (212) 768-7277.

What You'll Need to Do

Since people are obviously sick and tired of companies soliciting them for business, be sure that, when you call on your customers, what you have to say is worth their time.

To pique their interest, keep records of the artists each customer likes and the prices he or she is comfortable paying. Also, create a database that includes your customers' birthdays so you can send them birthday cards that include special discounts or offers. Here are a few suggestions on how not to not become the bane of your customer's existence.

1 Set Them Free. Each time you contact a customer via mail, e-mail or telephone, give him or her a chance to opt-out of being contacted again in the future. For example, place a check-box at the end of each e-mail or snail mail correspondence asking them if they would or would not like to keep receiving materials from your gallery.

2 Promise Confidentiality. Tell customers who agree to sign up to receive information from your gallery that their names, addresses and other personal information will not be shared with other companies or individuals. Make sure that you remind them of this promise each time ynu send them information. Let them know that you are looking out for them and care about their privacy.

3 Make your customer contacts "personal." Remember to keep a record of your customers' birthdays. Maintain a list of their birthdays by month and day only, not year. At the beginning of each customer's birthday month, send him a birthday card that includes a gift certificate that will save him money on anything in your gallery, anytime during his birthday month.

Also, give him something "free." For example, my local supermarket sends me a birthday card every year that includes a gift certificate for "free groceries." The amount is flexible and is determined by the amount of money I spend in the store each year. The birthday card also includes a free pint of ice cream or some other item I have purchased a lot of during the past year.

The owner of the supermarket told me that at least 70 percent of the birthday gift certificates his store sends out are redeemed. Furthermore, if a customer walks into his store with a $25 credit, he will often spend more than twice as much as he usually does. Taking this into account, the cost of sending birthday "gifts" is actually very low.

4 Gifts. Aside from birthdays, give customers special gifts for Thanksgiving, Christmas or other holidays. Fred Parker from Parker's Gallery, in Edenboro, Pa., has developed a clever gift idea for his customers--a large chocolate bar engraved with his gallery's logo, which he sends to his best customers. "This keeps them coming back," Parker said.

Why Can't We Be Friends?

Here are a few suggestions on how to avoid becoming the bane of your customer's existence.

1 Each time you contact your customers via mail, e-mail or telephone, give them a chance to opt-out of being contacted again in the future.

2 Promise confidentiality.

3 Make your customer contacts "personal."

4 Aside from birthdays, think about giving your special customers special gifts.

Murray Raphel is one of the nation's leading marketing experts and author of several business books. Contact him at Raphel Marketing at (802) 751-8802 or E-mail murray@raphel.com.