Many companies mistakenly attempt to manage direct commerce using “horizontal,” off-the-shelf software packages including accounting, contact management and point-of-sale systems

These systems come up short in areas of critical importance to successful direct marketing companies. Response covers all the important bases. Use the following list to compare your present capabilities with Response.

General Direct Marketing and Fulfillment Checklist Response Your System
Store the original, last and prior edits (and who made them) for all system transactions including master files (e.g. customers, orders, returns).
Create individual, personalized menus for any system user effectively limiting access to only those programs they need.
Operate truly “multi-user,” without conflicts between users or programs that is all-too-typical of lesser systems
Use a powerful “item configurator” to sell complex products (e.g. multiple styles, sizes, colors, grades, etc.) quickly and easily.
Easily define your inventory categories with multiple product class levels and sublevels. View product class “tree”, which shows the hierarchical structure of your product classes.
Find any inventory item almost instantly using a powerful keyword search and retrieval engine showing possible hits sequentially.
Assemble an unlimited number of inventory components into master “Kits” and even define “kits-within-kits” if needed.
Ensure accountability and auditability by employing the mainframe technique of storing the date/time/program/user in all significant data records in three separate fields: created-by, last, and prior edits.
Send and receive text messages to/from other system users as well as distribution lists (groups of users). Designate sub-system to automatically communicate system errors and problems to system managers (or other designated list).
Communicates seamlessly with your shopping cart to publish item information, pull new orders, push order status and tracking info.
Configure complex shipping charge calculations at runtime without programming.
Configure document output (e.g. picking tickets) at runtime by modifying provided templates in tools designed for non-programmers.
Have your system customized (without orphaning any programs) to meet special or unique requirements that user-configuration cannot provide.
Operate your system on a state-of-the-art, client/server database engine offering maintenance-free operation, near 100% reliability and unmatched performance.
Use database compression to maximize data retention while minimizing disk space requirements at the same time.
Seamlessly integrate prospecting, telemarketing and order processing.
Process and fill orders efficiently, from start to finish, without ever typing the same information more than once.
Have city and state filled in automatically, defaulted from the zip code, and the salutation (Mr, Ms or ‘neutral’) from the first name.  Moreover, have addresses perfected with ZIP+4, residential/commercial indicators, and verified for Delivery Point (DPV) using CASS-approved address correction tools.
Have all addresses CASS-certified in realtime as they are entered into the system, making data entry errors and invalid addresses a thing of the past.
Automatically perform a fuzzy search for duplicate customer (or prospect) records at order entry.
Display a complete, life-to-date purchasing profile for any customer including their lifetime orders, lifetime dollars, high order, average order, lifetime returns and lifetime returns dollars automatically at order entry and customer service.
Automatically correct all customer, prospect and vendor area codes by subscribing to a low-cost, quarterly “area code splits” subscription service. ($45/quarter, btw)
Automatically calculate the proper sales tax, in multiple states and/or states containing multiple tax jurisdictions.
Allocate inventory “on-the-fly” and release backorders in ways best suited to your operation.
Authorize and deposit credit card charges via internet (utilizing one of our 5 credit card partners) – automatically and for the proper amounts every time.
Automatically age, expire and resubmit authorization codes that have become stale.
Automatically fax purchase orders (and drop-ship orders) directly to vendors.
Batch orders into picking groups to streamline picking, packing, and manifesting, as well as to minimize errors.
Create configurable warehouse “picking lists” to speed trips through the warehouse and minimize travel time and distance.
Generate shipping manifests using bar code technology and an electronic scale.
Based upon the shipment manifest data, automatically update customer service records with actual shipment info including tracking number, etc.
Track inventory, sales and advertising performance completely and effortlessly.
Process and track product returns, handle restocks or inventory “scrap,” and produce detailed reports to identify trends or weaknesses such as poor manufacturing quality, inadequate packaging or picking errors.
Generate on-the-fly “flash” reports to quickly gauge how sales and advertising are shaping up for the day – in real time.
Report total downstream sales for all original source codes.
Analyze catalog square-inch profitability by item, page or product class.
Create your own ad hoc reports with the entire database at your disposal. Use full-featured SQL query tool for sophisticated, cross-platform reporting.
Convert prospects to customers when they place an order, and carry over their promotional history.
Transfer gift recipients to the prospect file to facilitate future promotions.
Keep mailing lists clean by running them against the National Change of Address (NCOA) database using a built-in interface. Save thousands on mailing costs and otherwise lost sales opportunities and revenue.
Further clean your lists by using a powerful merge/purge routine that finds duplicates and then merges order histories and accounting data into one, clean record.