Strategy: How Lifetime Value Differs in Catalog vs. Web

Mail catalogs and send e-mails to one group; then just send e-mails to the others. At the end of the test period, determine the contribution to profit and overhead from both groups, and base your mail vs. no-mail decision on those actual results.

You may even want to test mailing postcards to your Web-only buyers as a less expensive way to drive them to the Web. (For more on mailing postcards, take a look at the feature I co-wrote with Susan McIntyre, “Can’t Afford Catalogs Anymore?,” on pg. 24 of this issue.)