By Donna Love

As today's society finds itself with an ever decreasing amount of spare time and attempts to find easier and more efficient methods of conducting day to day activities, mail order marketing has become an extremely popular method of shopping-growing annually at a rate of approximately 14%. In excess of 900 pieces of such mail are received by the average American each year. The entry of mail order marketing via the Internet adds to the demand for people to purchase goods and opens new opportunities to the entrepreneur. More and more entrepreneurs enter the marketplace annually. While the drop-out rate is significant, those who do their homework and understand what success in the industry entails grow and become profitable.

Various surveys have been conducted to determine the public's response to mail order marketing. A telephone survey found that:

• four out of five adults had purchased something by means of mail order at some time. Two out of three had done so in the previous year.
• A third of those who had bought by mail during that year had spent $100 or more. 23% of adults had accounted for 83% of the direct response sales volume.
• Families with incomes over $25,000 are much more likely to buy via direct response than those with incomes under this amount.

• The age data for mail order customers varies by product type, as does the geographic data. That a certain direct response age or location cannot be assumed helps explain why it is so essential for mail order marketers to zero in on their target market.