State of the Co-ops ’07

“When mailers choose ALEXA, they have to use the power of the database to get the performance out of a file they wish to take,” explains Michael Hayden, ALEXA’s president. “Then there is a charge from ALEXA of $8 per thousand for the names they select. This is available to members only, however demographic overlay services are offered to nonmembers.

For a flat, per-order fee of $50, mailers may omit their own housefile names from the names they select in an order. A $45 charge is applied to each order processed, and standard order turn-around time is 24 hours (ALEXA will fill same-day rush orders as well).

“We have a number of members who have requested specific things for their orders, such as special polls or selections,” says Matt Draxler, ALEXA’s list rentals fulfillment manager, “and we are in a position to accommodate those on a very timely basis.”

Experian’s Z-24

Experian’s Z-24 catalog cooperative database now is enhanced with life event and lifestyle data, to offer further insight into customer behavior. This new data includes such characteristics as hobbies and interests — e.g., skiing, golfing and fishing — as well as “life events,” such as the birth of a child.

“Adding this breadth of data to the cooperative landscape,” says Denise Hopkins, vice president of marketing and product development for Experian’s Marketing Information Services unit, “allows for the creation of more predictive models wherein marketers can make more advanced list selections in order to broaden their prospecting environment.”

I-Behavior

Having undergone some restructuring (former Abacus COO Chris Dice was named president in late 2005), I-Behavior recently launched a wholly independent subsidiary, Acerno, an online data cooperative. Based on the same model as traditional co-ops, this year-old venture addresses the increasing impact of the Internet by collecting anonymous purchase behavior tied to browser I.D.s.