Connected Households Still Prefer Regular Mail; Pitney Bowes second Household Mail Preference Study finds traditional mail tops again.

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2001

Study reveals consumers' strong preference to receive

promotional material and financial information via the mail

The lure of electronic mail still draws headlines, but when the simple question is asked about mail preference, U.S. consumers still choose traditional mail.

In March 1999, Pitney Bowes performed a mail preference study to address the growing emergence of e-mail in households, and in February 2001 the study was repeated. Not surprisingly, the main difference between the studies was the increase of households with access to e-mail from 34% in 1999 to 53% in 2001. What many may find surprising is the fact that despite increased e-mail access, the preference for traditional mail remained virtually unchanged.

Among the households surveyed, 93% said they prefer traditional mail when receiving financial documents and information, representing no change in mail's popularity for financial material from our 1999 survey results. In addition, the preference for regular mail continued in categories such as product announcements and promotional mailings (73% in 2001 vs. 77% in 1999).

This ongoing reliance on traditional mail becomes more understandable when you consider the finding that 76% (80% in 1999) of the audience considers regular mail more secure than e-mail. Only 11% (10% in 1999) considered e-mail to be the most secure, and the rest felt that both channels were equal. Also, even in this age of fast computers and modem connections, regular mail is considered less time demanding. 62% of the respondents indicated that getting and opening their regular mail is faster than retrieving their e-mail, and this is up 7% since the 1999 survey.

Given the importance and expense that businesses associate with customer relationship management programs, a new question was added to the 2001 survey. Once again the findings highlight the value of traditional mail. When asked which type of communication they are likely to discard unopened, the responding households reported that 66% of the unsolicited e-mails are never read as compared with only 26% for regular mail.

"There's a messaging revolution going on in the United States," observed Tim Bates, Vice President, Marketing, Pitney Bowes Mailing System. "Message volumes keep climbing, and when compared to e-mail, regular mail is winning the vote of American households. Mail is universal, it does not require special training or hardware, it is secure and personal, and it is easiest and most effective marketing tool that businesses can use when communicating with consumers."

The 2001 Household Mail Preference Study was commissioned by Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) Global Mailing Systems Division and conducted by the ICR Research Group. The survey was conducted by phone to 1,009 U.S. households, and it determined that 53% of those surveyed have access to e-mail at home. The statistics included in this release are based on that 53%.

Pitney Bowes Inc. is a $4 billion global provider of integrated mail, messaging and document management solutions headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The company serves over 2 million businesses of all sizes in more than 130 countries through dealers and direct operations. For additional information about Pitney Bowes, please visit our web site at www.pitneybowes.com.