Nine Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Housefile

4. Make Updates and Merge/Purges Count

An intriguing strategy that Lillian Vernon employs, according to Hochberg, is never to drop former buyers from its list, even if it is no longer mailing to them.

“If they exist on your file, then you might not have to pay for them if they’re included in one of the files that you rent from another mailer. You should flag these matches [when they come up in a merge/purge] and make sure you mail them when this happens. In general, it costs more to acquire a customer the first time than it does to re-activate them.”