Using the Right Kind of Data (2,213 words)

This is just the case for Camenzind and Oriental Trading Company. The marketing department has found that customers are specific to each title, so it develops models for each catalog to plan for more productive campaigns.

At the same time, response has been analyzed as seasonal, so the company also uses models for each major season that sees a catalog drop, plus one extra model for the core book. These models earn back their keep in longer seasons, where the company can more precisely determine how many catalogs it can profitably mail to each contact.