Do not call list: A new reality for Canadian marketers. Where will they go next?

Once upon a time, direct mail was the most cost effective way for national customer acquisition campaigns.

Rising postal and production costs drove many marketers to telemarketing.

Thanks to VOIP and off-shore outsourcing, it was possible to achieve better ROI by calling every household in Canada a few times a year from India then to send direct mail pieces.

All that is about to change again.  

Established by the Canadian Radio Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the Do Not Call List will allow consumers who no longer wish to receive unsolicited calls from telemarketers to add their phone numbers to a centralized list.  Compliance will have huge implications for many Canadian companies, whether organizations operate large contact centres or rely on individual sales professionals to generate new business.

This new legislation will require that organizations completely revisit customer data management.

With the do not call list going online in Canada at the end of September 2008, marketers will have to look at other contact channels for customer acquistion campaigns.

Where will they go?  

Simply, the time is right to shift to Mobile and Interactive marketing. That includes a return to email - a channel that many had been given up for dead due to SPAM and SPAM filters. Current best practices in email are proving that email can still be highly effective.

A new mind-set will be required.

Although you can still reach large mass audiences through online media, there are smarter and more cost effective ways of acquiring customers through digital media.

Over the next few weeks I’ll explore some of these topics which include behavioural targeting, current best practices in email, and how mobile could be right too.

 Photo credit: blognetnews.com