The Migration Matrix

Nevertheless, when measuring your marketing success, keep track of the number of contacts you’ve made to your housefile’s single buyers. If you’ve increased or decreased the number of contacts, this will affect how your migration rates have changed from year to year.

A migration matrix is a good way to keep your finger on the pulse of your catalog’s marketing program. Perhaps you’ve had less contacts with customers than in prior years, or your merchandise isn’t as fresh as before. It also could mean your creative needs to be reviewed, or your lists aren’t working as well as they previously did. Or it could be because your page counts have dropped, reducing your catalog’s product offerings. While the migration matrix doesn’t tell you what happened, it does alert you to a potential problem that needs attention and action.