Omnichannel

“List universes have shrunk, no doubt about it. And the economic climate is tougher than it has been in years for many catalogers, especially smaller niche titles like Design Toscano,” says Erik Martinez, the catalog’s vice president of marketing and information technology. So for Design Toscano, a home furnishings cataloger based near Chicago, looking for prospect lists with similar affinities is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack. Where have all the good prospect lists gone? “Some catalogs went under, while others responded to the economic climate by expanding into broader merchandise offerings,” Martinez notes. “That doesn’t help us, because

Big changes are afoot online. It’s still early, but I see two trends that will impact online marketing: 1) the sharing of content and 2) the sharing of applications. These two trends haven’t fully arrived, and so they don’t have well-established names yet. But their early glimmers are visible today in the growth of really simple syndication (RSS) and the growing popularity of Web service application programming interfaces (APIs). These trends — let’s call them “open content” and “open apps” — are coming fast. During the next few years they’ll revolutionize the Web, and in doing so, revolutionize online marketing. This article

Time and teamwork: Such variables remain crucial to achieving broad marketing goals, according to a new study done by AMR Research for Unica Corp., a provider of enteprise marketing management software. ¥ Sixty-one percent of the 120 marketers surveyed said they lack confidence that their marketing resources and dollars are being used efficiently. Most respondents cited lack of coordination between departments and time constraints that inhibit their ability to focus on marketing objectives. ¥ Only about 40 percent of marketers say their companies have the ability to deliver targeted marketing offers during customer service interactions. ¥ And only 34 percent say they deliver consistent

Looking for industry groups that are most likely to buy your products? Following are the results of an Abacus Alliance study of b-to-b purchases in 2004: ¥ Electronics, gadgets and tools are five times more likely to be bought by officials in heavy industries. ¥ Seminars and training classes are five times more likely to be booked by government agents. ¥ Books, newsletters and magazines are 18 times more likely to be purchased by those in the healthcare industry. ¥ Cards and stationary are more likely to bought by executives in finance/insurance and healthcare. ¥ And computers are more likely to be purchased by

Your Web site plays a crucial role in tying together all of your marketing channels. In fact, consumers cite company Web sites and third-party retail sites as being the most influential factor in seven out of 10 product categories as a source of further learning in their decision-making processes leading to purchase, according to a recent survey by DoubleClick. What are some ways you can leverage your Web site to increase conversions both online and off? Chris Shimojima, vice president of customer marketing at Sears Direct, shared some of his strategies on integrating the Web with your other channels in his session “Creating a Best-in-Class

It’s September, and as a cataloger and e-marketer, you know what that means — the all-important holiday selling season is just around the corner. In this issue we offer several strategies that may help boost your sales during the fourth quarter. Consultant Alan Rimm-Kaufman offers practical tips for testing offers in your online sales channel, including keeping test notebooks, checking one variable at a time and assigning unique tracking codes. See his “E-commerce Insights” column. And if you’re thinking about prospecting via insert media programs, don’t miss Associate Editor Matt Griffin’s feature “Do’s and Don’ts to Help Boost Response.” In the article,

Almost any question can be answered cheaply, quickly and finally by a test campaign. And that’s the way to answer them — not by arguments around a table. Go to the court of last resort — the buyers of your product. —Claude Hopkins, Scientific Advertising, 1923 Savvy catalogers have long used testing to improve their mail businesses. And as the Web matures, catalogers are bringing the same discipline to their online marketing efforts. This article offers 10 tips for running direct marketing tests in the online world. The first seven are common to online and offline. The last three are unique

While a glowing customer testimonial might not have the power to make or break your catalog or Web site, it certainly can help tip the scales in your favor to convert a few more browsers to buyers. In particular, says Lea Pierce, a consultant and freelance copywriter in Santa Rosa, Calif., and former creative director with catalog and online marketer Windsor Vineyards, many direct marketers find that testimonials influence sales of highly priced products (say, a $1,000 wine cellar). Pierce offers the following advice for collecting testimonials that pack enough punch to boost your sales numbers: 1. Don’t ask for testimonials, ask your customers what they

Many catalogers have evolved during the past decade from dedicated print catalogers to multichannel marketers. In expanding into other sales channels, most catalogers wisely have brought along e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail specialists to run the additional channels. But if your own efforts at multichannel marketing have been less than stellar, following are some success strategies that may prove useful. Multichannel Rules Virtually every study that looks at consumers who shop via more than one channel shows that multichannel shoppers spend more. For instance, a recently completed Shop.org survey found: - the average retail customer spent $1,267 per year in stores; - customers

Fruitcake, while a much-maligned holiday gift-giving tradition, nonetheless comprises a serious mail-order business in Corsicana, Texas. Fifty miles south of Dallas along Interstate 45 stands the home of the DeLuxe fruitcake and Cryer Creek Kitchens catalog, a wholly owned subsidiary of world-renowned Collin Street Bakery. In recent years, Cryer Creek Kitchens has taken great strides in testing new concepts that have, in turn, fed the parent company’s appetite for sustained growth. Here’s what actions the food cataloger has taken, some of its results and lessons learned along the way. Birth of a Catalog The food-by-mail industry, and Collin Street Bakery with it, enjoyed