Sure Fit: Sitting Pretty

• Test a reply envelope or a BRC. For Spiegel, having a full-page ad along with a response envelope helped to “break the ad” from the rest of the book, says Musgrave.

• Keep offers fresh. Charging for Spiegel’s big book but offering it for 50-percent off, plus a free handbag and $10 off an order worked for many years in national print advertising. “Now,” Musgrave notes, “with the majority of catalog companies offering catalogs for free, we’ve changed the offer to free to remain competitive, and are testing different purchase incentives to increase conversion to buyer and sales.”