Lenser

Prospecting sources abound, said Michelle Farabaugh, partner, LENSER, at the 2005 List Vision conference in New York. They include: - catalog buyer files; - magazines; - enhanced lists; - compiled lists; - proprietary in-house sources; and - co-op database models. Of these, she says, co-ops tend to perform most consistently. Why? They're more stable in response, and more consistent than outside lists. They identify the best mail-order buyers. The names are net of the housefile. And they're cost-effective.

The adage, “80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers,” is as true today as when it was coined many years ago. The real questions are how to identify those prospects and one- and two-time buyers who may have a strong affinity for your merchandise, and then how do you keep them buying? That is, how to turn prospects and one-time buyers into gold customers. Following are some strategies to test, roll out and then measure. If They Look Like Customers … Tactics such as calculating average order value (AOV) and/or lifetime value (LTV); modeling; and segmenting buyers

Some tips to get you started. 1. Start with two co-ops and expand from there. More is not always better. 2. Add pre-selects to boost response. Examples include time bandits (e.g., customers who purchase only between October and December of a certain year); average dollar (e.g., selects only customers who purchased more than $200 to raise your ADT[average dollar per transaction]); and high frequency. 3. Alternate co-op usage with balance models to avoid too many multis. 4. Carefully monitor net percentages. —Michelle Farabaugh, partner, LENSER

Weigh Your Options Matchbacks offer a more accurate picture of sales driven by the catalog to all channels. Some tips for measuring your options: - Factored allocation is OK if the total unallocated orders are less than 10 percent. - One-off matchbacks work if you mail less that five times per year. - Frequent matchbacks are good if you mail more then six times per years, have a circulation of more than 2 million and have unallocated orders in excess of 10 percent. - In-house solutions work when you're a large mailer with custom requirements, dedicated IT resources and a large budget. —Michelle Farabaugh,

Multibuyers usually provide substantially higher response than names unique to one list. But with multiple lists containing many of the same names, especially those generated by the cooperative databases, so many multis are produced that it’s become challenging to use all the mailing rights to which you’re entitled. During a recent consulting assignment, I observed a catalog mailer was creating more than a million multibuyers a year that were never mailed, with a value in excess of $100,000. Increasingly, we’re seeing varying degrees of such waste in most circulation plans we evaluate, particularly those from larger companies. This particular client was

If your privacy policy says you don't share names with other marketers, and yet you participate in a co-op database, you may be violating your own privacy promise, says John Lenser, president of catalog consultancy LENSER. "Stating that you don't share names may preclude you from adding names to a co-op database or exchanging lists," said Lenser. Check your privacy policy to be sure you are faithfully adhering to it.

We are seeing an increase in the growth and financial performance of many specialty catalogs. None of these companies are old-fashioned general catalogers, and all share the following distinct characteristic: most of the new-to-file customers are coming in via the Internet, while most of the sales are being generated by a catalog (even if the order was placed on the Web site). The economics of finding Web-generated customers searching to meet specific interests are often more favorable than those obtained by direct mail prospecting. Shoppers have become more adept at locating products using various Internet capabilities, such as search engines and product syndicators of catalog

Expert evaluation of catalog mailings was problematic in the past, but mostly just for those few catalogers who had retail stores. That’s not the case anymore. Now virtually every catalog company is multichannel as customers increasingly use the Internet to place orders. The result often is a haphazard online collection of key codes. In this article, we’ll examine the problems with traditional campaign analysis and how you can use a matchback between orders and mail files to substantially overcome these issues. The Problems With Traditional Factored Allocations While unattributable orders usually have been in the range of 10 percent to 20 percent, now

Expert integration among your various sales channels can elevate your brand above its competitors, noted Carol Worthington-Levy, director of creative services for LENSER, a San Rafael, Calif.-based catalog consultancy and list brokerage and management firm. Your creative team plays a crucial role in that effort. To generate a unified voice and appearance among your channels, follow these three creative strategies offered by Worthington-Levy during the session “Integrating Your Catalog Channels Into Your Overall Marketing Strategy” held at The Direct Marketing Association’s annual conference in New Orleans last month. 1. Provide templates to your creative personnel. Your Web, retail and catalog creative teams should have brand standards

Multi-buyers are the gold that all catalogers hope to uncover. These prospective buyers don’t just have a demographic propensity to purchase what you sell, they’ve proven their loyalty to catalog shopping in general. And that means they’re likely to buy by catalog again. John Lenser, a long-time catalog industry professional whose credits include being founder of San Francisco Music Box and past president of Hearthsong, is now president of Lenser Consulting and works with catalog clients on circulation planning and list strategies. He recently shared insights into the current catalog list market and ideas on the best ways to take advantage of multi-buyer sources.