Zumbox to add direct mail suppression feature to digital mailbox
US digital mail company Zumbox has partnered with mailing preference service Catalog Choice to allow consumers to opt out of paper-based catalogues and direct mail from within their electronic mailbox. Zumbox said the move should allow its digital mail users to switch off catalogues, donation requests, circulars and other printed brochures through their Zumbox account within the first quarter of 2012.
The alliance will also allow Catalog Choice customers to claim their own Zumbox account from within their Catalog Choice account.
Catalog Choice, which like Zumbox is based in California, is a nonprofit founded in 2007 and backed by a number of environmentally-focused foundations. It currently has 1.5m consumer members, and claims to have suppressed 20m individual titles for those members.
Chuck Teller, the executive director for Catalog Choice, said linking with Zumbox would accelerate his organisation’s “paperless mission” to stop postal advertising mail.
“Digital postal mail holds great promise, particularly if in the switch to digital, the clutter of physical mail disappears,” said Teller.
“Zumbox is the first company to embed our service, achieving a strategic objective to continue to provide customers with ways to switch from paper to digital.”
Digital catalogues
Zumbox, which offers a free digital mailbox and document archiving system for consumers, said it will work with Catalog Choice and retail brands to allow delivery of digital catalogues directly to the digital postal mailbox of those users that signal they are interested.
John Payne, the CEO of Zumbox, said “While I might prefer to see little marketing mail in my digital mailbox, my wife would think her mailbox was broken if it didn’t contain the important catalogues, coupons and offers she uses all the time. With Catalog Choice we can express preferences that make both of us happy.”
Zumbox CEO John Payne will be featuring at next month’s World Mail & Express Americas conference in Miami, where key industry speakers will be discussing the future of physical and digital mail. For more more information and the chance to book, click here »
