Catalog Doctor: Analyze Digests and Slim Jims

Patient: Doc, this postage increase worries me. Should I switch from a standard-size catalog to a digest or slim jim? How can I switch without making my business sick?

Catalog Doctor: A digest or slim jim can produce a strong, healthy business. The smaller size often evokes a more personal, “company-that-cares” feel. When combined with upscale design and photography, it also evokes quality and “best of class.”

Patient: How can I tell if a digest or slim jim is right for me? And how do I avoid the potential pitfalls?

Catalog Doctor: A digest or slim jim might work for you if you fall under one of these categories:
• You mail small quantities.
• You sell specialty products in a tightly targeted niche.
• Your full-size catalog doesn’t exceed 48 pages.
• Your full-size catalog has high product density. (Smaller trim sizes’ lower product density can be easier to read, thus lifting response.)
• You have upscale products that could work with just one image to a page or spread.

Patient: Why do digests and slim jims mail at lower postage rates?

Catalog Doctor: They both fit the U.S. Postal Service’s definition of “letter” size, so they’ll run through the letter equipment that’s supposedly less expensive to operate. The USPS wants to bring rates more in-line with its actual costs.

Although full-size catalog mailers just got skunked, one client that switched to a digest actually saved postage compared to its old 2006 full-size rate (sticking with 2006’s trim size would have stuck it with a 30 percent postage increase).

Patient: What sizes are digests and which are slim jims?

Catalog Doctor: Slim jims are as tall as standard 8.5-inch-by-11-inch catalogs, only skinnier. Instead of the normal 7.5-inches to 8.5-inches wide, they run around 5.5-inches to 6.125-inches wide.

On the other hand, digests are the same proportion as standard catalogs, only half the size. Imagine an 8.5-inch-by-10.5-inch catalog folded in half width-wise, then stapled on its long side. There is no one size for digests or slim jims. Talk to your printer about what’s most economical to produce — most will have a range.

Patient: Are there any size, paper or other limitations?

Catalog Doctor: Yes, several.

“Aspect ratio” is critical. To get the aspect ratio, divide the long side measurement by the short side. The result must not be less than 1.3 or more than 2.5. Some other key factors:
• width can’t be more than 6.125 inches or less than 3.5 inches;
• length can’t be more than 11.5 inches or less than 5 inches;
• thickness can’t be more than .25 inches;
• the cover paper can’t be any lighter than 50 lb;
• keep total weight 3 ounces or less for best postage rate;
• the address area has to be parallel to the long side, and
• you need to tab it in two spots or tack the catalog closed.

What’s more, process your list for maximum deliverability. Talk to your data processing vendor. All this is to get the lowest “automated machinable” postal rate.

Don’t Shrink Square Inches

When you reduce your trim size, try to keep the same amount of square inches as in your full-size catalog. This will allow you to offer the same product quantity, and keep almost all your images just as big as they were before. You’ll just have fewer images per page.

Misleading Test Results

One cataloger tested a digest versus a full-size catalog. Both had the same page count. But since the digest was half the trim size, all the photos in the digest were shrunk to half size. The full-size catalog won this test — but what actually won? The trim size or the big photos?

Another cataloger tried a slim jim but it didn’t work because the company couldn’t offer the full product range. Sure, a catalog with fewer products will get a lower response than a catalog with more products; so why remove products at all?

A third catalog tested a digest versus a full-size the correct way. It offered the same products in both, and kept all the photos the same size as well, putting half as many products on each of the digest pages. The test was a tie.

Are There Side Effects?

Patient: Doc, are there any prescription side effects from switching to a smaller trim size?

Catalog Doctor: You’ll hear warnings about switching to smaller trim sizes, but most side effects are harmless.

Side effect 1: You’ll miss out on co-mailing savings. Full-size catalogers are racing to co-mailing to help save on 2007’s painful postage increases. And it’s true that most printers’ co-mailing programs are for full-size only — not for digests and slim jims.

Co-mailing for full-size typically saves .005 cents to 1 cent per piece postage. So, if you’re mailing at an average postage of 32 cents per piece, you’ll drop that postage to maybe 31 cents. But switch to a digest with the same square inches and you’ll pay only 20 cents each in postage.

Side effect 2: You have to add the cost of tabbing.

True, you must close letter-sized catalogs with two tabs or equivalent. Figure on $150 to $400 make-ready, and $15 per thousand to $30 per thousand run charge. You’ll also need to add a traying charge of around $3 per thousand to $5 per thousand. At a 100,000 quantity run, it adds 2 cents to 4 cents each. Using my example above, that’s still only 22 cents to 24 cents postage each for a digest versus 31 cents for a flat.

Designing Differences

Design instincts trained on full-size catalogs won’t translate well to small trim sizes. Slim jims are particularly difficult to design. Catalog designers are accustomed to horizontal, two-page spread formats. Whereas full-size and digest catalogs both open up to a nicely balanced horizontal, slim jims open up to a near square, and cataloging’s science of eye flow and placement is hard to translate into a square format.

But the smaller trim sizes can be great for showcasing products. For example, a digest’s small size allows as few as one product per spread for key products — users can’t miss them. Plus, with twice the page quantity (due to half the trim size), there’s a perception of more products because the user is flipping twice the number of pages.

For big impact, try devoting an entire spread to key products — those that used to get a single page in your full-size catalog.

In digests, one full-page product with two or three small products on the facing page can work well. In slim jims, try copy underneath photos instead of to the side, to take advantage of vertical space.

With slim jims, think of the spread as one “page” and ignore the gutter. That is, don’t shy away from images crossing the gutter, which will help keep skinny pages from looking too cramped.

Make use of color coordination to add interest from spread to spread. It’s easier on digests and slim jims because there are fewer products per spread to coordinate.

Susan J. McIntyre is president of McIntyre Direct, a full-service catalog marketing agency and consulting firm based in Portland, Ore. You can reach her at (503) 286-1400 or susan@mcintyredirect.com.