What’s the argument in favor of adopting new, industry-imposed direct mail guidelines? Your business may not survive otherwise. Convinced yet?

Where adaptation is concerned, marketers aren’t necessarily behind the times, but neither have all of us always been in the forefront when it comes to embracing new ideas and innovative methods.

But as consumers clamor for more responsible marketing calling for reductions in the amount of direct mail received and more emphasis on the environment smart marketers know that adaptation isn’t optional. Changes must be made.

Recently, initiatives have been put forward that promote responsible guidelines for marketers and offer a glimpse of the shifts that more will be compelled to make in coming years. One major step forward is the Commitment to Consumer Choice (CCC), a set of direct mail standards that has been established by the Direct Marketing Association.

There has been some debate in the industry about whether this idea is best for marketers; indeed, some marketers have even been resistant to it. But we think that fighting this sensible effort is both pointless and potentially dangerous.

First, it’s obvious that consumers and many leading direct marketers support these guidelines. To help give the measures teeth, the DMA has announced that all of its members must comply with the CCC or lose membership.

We’re not saying all the self-policing guidelines are perfect. But any marketer who thinks that flaws in the initiatives or the debate over how good self-policing guidelines are for business mean they can do nothing is making a big mistake.

First, fighting the CCC guidelines makes it appear that marketers don’t care about consumers’ demands, a risky proposition indeed in an era of increased customer power to blow off marketing messages. Second, marketers improve the efficiency of mailings when they reduce the number of catalogs going to uninterested consumers. They can then take any incremental return on investment and pour it back into building circulation.

Reducing unwanted direct mail can be good for business and for companies’ relationships with consumers. And while some question how much these guidelines will help the environment, there’s no doubt they will have some positive impact. Thus, we not only think direct mailers should tolerate the Commitment to Consumer Choice, we urge them to embrace it wholeheartedly.