January 13, 2010 -- The 2009 Marketing-GAP Tracking Study, conducted by online market research company fast.MAP and the UK's Direct Marketing Association (DMA), shows that marketers are continuing to underestimate the percentage of consumers who welcome items of direct marketing.

• Of the 1,367 panel members (whose demographics reflect those of the UK), 51% expressed an interest in receiving marketing emails about companies they know. However, a panel of 300 marketers predicted that just 28% would be happy to do so.

• A further 38% of consumers surveyed were happy to receive printed direct mail (marketers assumed only 30% would).

• The study also indicates that consumers are more receptive to the direct marketing of products and services which interest them or come from trusted brands. More than nine out of 10 (95%) of consumers “are happy to receive” information from their favored supermarkets and stores through one or more marketing channels and 73% are happy to receive information on local restaurants. However, the financial services industry didn't fare as well, with only 27% of adults being happy to hear from them.

• Marketers are also failing to keep up with growing consumer awareness of data protection; the marketing expert panel expected 57% of consumers to always tick the ‘opt-out’ box on marketing communications to prevent their data from being passed to third party, when in fact 90% of consumers always do so.

For five years, the Marketing-GAP study has been tracking consumer attitudes towards direct marketing and the assumptions marketers and fundraisers make about consumer beliefs and behavior, to help marketers to sharpen their practices

“Although people favor email, the best message for the direct mail industry in this year’s Marketing-GAP research is that, as in 2008, 86% of consumers opened mail packs - although in both years, 37% of them only opened ones from a company with which they already had a relationship,” said David Cole, MD of fast.MAP. “Marketers underestimated people’s willingness to received mailed promotions.”

About the study:  Each year, the same questions are asked of similarly-constructed, online consumer and marketer panels. To ensure the survey stays abreast of technological advances over the years, new questions are occasionally added, as emerging media have moved into the marketing mainstream.  While consumers are asked to express their own views, the marketers are asked to use their experience and judgment to predict how the consumers will have respond to that question.

The consumer panel comprised 4,000 adults recruited from the 30,000 fast.MAP wholly-owned, closed panel whose profile echoes that of the UK’s population profile in age and gender.  Twenty-eight questions were submitted into a fast.MAP online self completion survey sent on November 6, 2009.

The marketer panel comprised 300 marketers (made up of DMA (UK) members and the fast.MAP Marketer Panel.

Source:  Marketing Week, Mind the Gap, January 14, 2010, and DMA (UK), Email consumers' favoured marketing channel, but mail is catching up, January 13, 2010.