Maximizing Your Housefile Potential

• Abandon call rate—3 percent: These are callers who do not want to remain “on hold.” If more than 3 percent of callers hang up, your abandon rate is too high, indicating you need more operators and/or more incoming lines.

Customer Loyalty—How strong is the response rate from your housefile customers, compared to responses from outside rented lists? Comparing these two rates will give you a good indication of your customer loyalty. For example, if new lists pull at or near the response rate of your 13- to 24-month or 25- to 36-month buyers, you probably have a merchandise category loyalty issue! If you are selling a generic product where price and/or availability are the prime motivators to purchase, you could even be driving business away. In this case, you are not providing any value-added service to the customer. If you deal with exclusive products or brand identity, your loyalty factor should be greater.