Strategy: More on Multichannel Matchbacks

2. Date ranges are important to accurate matchback reporting. How many months should you matchback, for example? This varies by how often you mail and how much business is driven by the Web. The problem always occurs in the last catalog mailed during the holiday season because the matchback will favor this mailing. I don’t favor making any assumption for the allocation of this factor because it means introducing yet another unknown. Any allocation at this point isn’t necessary because what really matters is the performance of the housefile buyers by segment for all mailings combined. Any analysis from names mailed more than once — i.e., remails — should be evaluated in total across all mailings and not necessarily by individual drop or mailing.