Read a Datacard Like a Pro, Part 2: Location, Location, Location!
Just like in real estate, location is a key factor in deciding which lists to rent for prospect mailings. That’s why looking on a datacard for the “source” that a list’s names came from is critical. If you’re selling through the mail, you want other lists of prospects who have purchased through the mail.
We’re in a behaviorally based business. List prospects who may look like a fit sometimes are not. Let’s go back to the Athleta list from last week (see http://www.catalogsuccess.com/story/story.bsp?sid=52662&var=story ). That list’s source is “100 percent direct mail sold.” Not Internet sold, and not compiled from the phone book. Not coming from an infomercial and DRTV sold, and not retail sold.
The customers from that list have demonstrated the behavior of buying products via the mail. If you were marketing similar products in a similar way, you’d score them a one out of three. (If you need a refresher on the list scoring “system” I discussed a few weeks ago, go to http://www.catalogsuccess.com/story/story.bsp?sid=49998&var=story .)
Always think about the maxim I stated a few weeks ago: “The ability to buy doesn’t always equate to the proneness to spend.” Just because a particular list has products that have an affinity to yours, the method in which the names were added to the list is just as important.
When renting a mailing list to test for your offer, always get to the buyers that most closely represent yours. This includes not only what they purchased, but how and where they purchased from.
The Internet Factored In
With the Internet now performing a dual role as both marketing channel and order-taking channel, be sure to separate the Internet buyers from the catalog/mail order buyers. Ask your list broker if you can order only those buyers who bought via the marketing channel you intend to use. Sometimes there is a “select” fee for this, but it’s worth spending a bit more to mail the best possible names.
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
