Strategy Why You Should Rent Your Customer List (1,130 words)

In study after study, it has been proved that a customer list used by others performs better for the list owner over time. The companies who have tested this have "flagged" names three ways—1) names to receive all list rental offers, 2) names to receive only non-competitive offers and 3) names to receive no outside offers. These tests are generally conducted over a two- or three-year period and the names are "frozen" over time. The results, in all cases, showed that the names receiving all offers, including the competitive offers, responded best to the offer of the cataloger using the rental list. The worst case from the studies I have seen shows no affect on the response rate to your own offer if you rent your file. In well over half the tests I am aware of, the names that are rented perform better! Conclusion: Active mail order buyers are worth their weight in gold.