Catalog Doctor: Rules to Live By

PATIENT: "Doc, you've been around the block a few times in the catalog business. In all that time, have you come up with any overarching guidelines that can help me out in my business?"

CATALOG DOCTOR: "Hmmm ... I realize there are guidelines that I use so much they've become a subconscious part of my thinking. Here are 11. I hope they're as helpful to you as they've been to me over the years."

1. Prospecting costs money; get over it. Looking for a way to acquire new customers who are profitable the first shot out of the box? That used to happen, but not today. Times have changed. Today, look for a one year-plus breakeven or profit. Prospecting is still a good investment, but it's definitely an investment.

2. You can't predict test outcomes. What's worked for one company won't necessarily work for another. What worked five years ago won't necessarily work today. After working more than three decades in the catalog industry, I've gotten very good at predicting the outcomes of tests, but I don't get them right every time. Test, don't guess.

3. Prioritize what you test. Testing can get ­expensive. Catalogers have all kinds of ideas about what they would like to test, but it's not feasible to test ­everything. Identify which tests could have the biggest impact on your sales and profits. Rank test ideas by what looks likely to increase sales the most, reduce costs the most or contribute the most to the bottom line. Prioritize by the top ranks and forget the rest.

4. The message "Save this catalog, it's the only one you'll get this year" doesn't work. No brand has ever succeeded in cutting its mailing frequency by telling catalog recipients to "Hang onto this catalog for a year ... " and customers did. Almost none will. Instead, mail as frequently as you can manage, depending on how many catalogs each customer segment "earns" from your company.

5. More pages gets more sales, but those new pages don't necessarily pay for themselves. Analyze your square-inch reports and shrink images that don't pay for their catalog space. If products have already been shrunk as much as possible, toss them out altogether. A good rule of thumb is that each page you add should deliver around 40 percent of your current sales per page. A word of caution, however: don't count outlier products in that average sales per page, or you'll be way overestimating potential sales from adding new pages (I've seen products that deliver 30 percent, 60 percent, even 80 percent of a catalog's sales). Once you've forecast potential sales, you can then decide if the cost makes those pages worth adding.

6. Don't let emotions get in the way of sound business decisions. You may not let emotions get in the way, but many people around you will. Here's how to deal with this type of situation: First, don't argue. Instead, tell them what's really good about their idea. They'll see you're supporting them, which will make them more willing to discussing the idea further. Then, once you sense they're relaxed and open, bring up their goals. Explore how their idea links to their goals. Then, very calmly and unemotionally, explain why that idea or decision (that they want) probably won't achieve their goal (that they also want). This way, they'll view you as being supportive of their goal.

7. Everyone thinks they can write copy. People don't often second-guess design work because they know they're not artists and therefore can't jump in and show how to do it better. But everyone uses words, so practically everyone thinks they're an expert on copy. A true bad example: one manager wanted to call a tea that the catalog offered "self-drinking." Huh? (She believed that was a good phrase because the tea tasted so good that you didn't need to add milk or sugar.) Copywriters get really frustrated with the constant rewriting efforts of nonwriters. Some comments do clarify or solve problems the copywriter couldn't have known about, but most need to be quietly trashed. A good copywriter is an artist; let him/her do their job.

8. Models sell products better ... except in two instances. First, models distract from food. Both people and food produce strong emotional reactions in consumers, so those two emotions compete with each other, taking attention away from the food that's for sale. Second, models can be a negative when the catalog's demographic is so broad that the wrong model type will cause readers to subconsciously think, "Oh, I'm not like that person, and therefore that entire product line is wrong for me."

9. Last-minute changes need triage. If a last-minute change won't affect sales but will jeopardize the print schedule — or rush the proofreader — skip it. Remember, a missing comma after the "and" or an extra space outside the period may drive you crazy, but consumers probably won't notice. Remember, last-minute changes mean rush proofing, which can lead to disastrous errors. If a page has already been approved, don't risk unintended errors being added or accidental revisions to a prior edition (it happens!).

10. Run a "no test" test every few years. That is, segment your list into two groups and mail them identical catalogs with identical offers. A no-test test will let you see the effect of random probabilities. You'll often see what appears to be a statistically significant difference between the two (identical) test arms. That random probability factor can help you better assess actual results of "real" tests. No-test test results will also help you and your team better understand why you should test at least twice before rolling out a new feature/functionality. Testing a second time will help eliminate the random probability portion of the results.

11. Ogilvy was right ... about almost everything. Trends change, people don't. Read David Ogilvy's "Ogilvy on Advertising" for the principles (ignore the dated art and copy trends), then apply those principles to today. Best-case scenario is that you'll improve your marketing; worst-case scenario is that you'll be vastly entertained.

Susan J. McIntyre is the founder and chief strategist of McIntyre Direct, a catalog agency and consultancy. Susan can be reached at susan@mcintyredirect.com.