Lists: Behavior Matters Most

Should you send your full catalog or a stripped-down version offering your best items to rented or exchanged lists? McIntyre points to food catalogs, which are traditionally skinny. “Many customers have been buying the same thing from food catalogs for 20 and 30 years. Often they don’t buy new stuff. This isn’t like shirts or shoes. So, if a food cataloger has a 32-page book, it doesn’t make sense to send a 16-page version; in large quantities, the saving isn’t that much. However, if you have a 168-page catalog, it may make sense to send a 64-pager with your prime merchandise,” says McIntyre.