RFM Turned Upside Down

In a recent test we conducted with a client, we created two panels of 50,000 customers each, both groups acquired on the marketer’s e-commerce site within the past three months — neither had been mailed a catalog.

One panel was mailed a 48-page catalog; the other was not mailed. Based on a later matchback to the mail files, the one-time buyers not mailed the catalog responded at 3.7 percent, while those mailed the catalog responded at 2.1 percent. Of the two-time-plus buyers, those not mailed a catalog responded at 8.5 percent; those mailed responded at 3.6 percent.