Fold it Up?

If you’re like most catalogers, you’ve either discussed giving up the use of a bind-in order form with envelope or you have already eliminated it. There’s a definite trend to eliminate the bind-in order form/envelope typically found in the center of catalogs. Is that really the right thing to do?

This month, I’ll offer the pros and cons of using a bind-in order form/envelope, provide you with actual test results and give you the criteria to use to make the right decision for all the right reasons.

Facts Don’t Lie
I first explored this topic in a Catalog Success column back in 2001. I reviewed 150 catalogs at random. I found that 43 percent of them printed the order form on one or two pages in the catalog instead of using a separate bind-in order form with envelope.

Because so many B-to-B catalogs don’t use bind-in order forms, I eliminated these catalogs from my survey. In doing so, I found that one-third of consumer catalogs were printing the order form on a page in the catalog and not using a separate bind-in order form.

Six years later, thanks to the help of The Dingley Press, I conducted the same survey. This time, I found that approximately 33 percent of the catalogs surveyed use a bind-in order form with envelope. The other 67 percent either print the order form on a catalog page or have no order form. From the group that prints the order form on a catalog page, two-thirds ink-jet the name, address and source code. One-third ink-jet the back cover only.

This means that in six years, the number of catalogers using a separate bind-in order form with envelope has dropped from 67 percent to approximately 33 percent based on our survey findings.