More Pages, Higher Sales

By Susan McIntyre

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a rule of thumb that could tell you exactly how to increase your catalog's response rates and sales? Well there is. I call it the rule of "More Pages, Higher Sales." As always, I'll start with a precise definition:

The Rule of More Pages, Higher Sales

If you add pages that sell product to a consumer catalog, you'll get higher response rates and sales in rough proportion to the number of pages added.

"What makes this rule work?"

This rule works because adding pages usually means adding more products.

For example, say you have a 16-page catalog with a product density of five products per page. Excluding the front cover, you're offering 75 products. Now if you add an extra four--page signature (your catalog grows to 20 pages), and if those extra pages have the same product density as the rest of your catalog, then you'll be offering 20 additional products— a 27 percent increase.

These extra products give your readers more opportunities to buy, and that leads to higher sales.

Imagine a group of new prospects seeing your catalog for the first time. If you've targeted well, you hope they're all thinking something like this: "This is a really nice catalog, I love this shirt, I'll buy it."

And a few will actually be thinking that.

But many more will think this instead: "This is a really nice catalog ... I sure wish this shirt had long sleeves." Or, "I like this product idea ... if only there were a battery-operated version."

In other words, if you've selected your merchandise and targeted well, many prospects will find your overall catalog concept appealing ... but they still won't be able to find precisely the right item to suit their wants and needs.