Dig for Gold in Your Housefile

Tip #4: Create segmentation from list interactions, not just “hits” files.

Comparing a housefile to rental files to help identify external buying activity can be beneficial. Housefile names that have little activity (e.g., inquiry names, giftees) or activity considered too old (e.g., 60-month singles), but that match active rental file names, can be profitable. Typically, catalogers segment these names into two groups: those with and without current outside activity. Most of us limit our segmentation to a hit against any kind of activity, without ranking the hit’s value. Ranking the type of hit by the characteristics of the list (e.g., cooperative database, catalog response list, subscriber list, primary merchandise list category) provides more data for dynamic segmentation. You’ll find that segmentation ranking results roughly follow the same order of performance as the response generated from that list category when mailed for new-name acquisition.