4 Ways to Misuse Your Customer List (1) MAIL TOO INFREQUENTLY. When follow-up mailing
to your list of inquiries for a particular offer, you mail until it no longer pays. Normally, one to three follow-ups to your inquiries within a three- or four-month period puts this segment of your list to rest for good. But what
about your House list of buyers? Unfortunately, too many dealers put their buyers on an "inquiry mailing schedule" and place their major promotional emphasis on outside lists. The fact is that your own satisfied customers
are "hot property." A good percentage of them would be willing to buy from your firm many times again. If something new or different is offered with each mailing, most experienced dealers would advise you to mail 10 to 12
times annually to your own list of buyers and to expect a profit each time. This leads us to the second "misuse." (2) MAIL SAME OFFER OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Unfortunately, too many dealers apply an "inquiry
follow-up mentality" to their list of buyers. They introduce one new product and offer it over and over again to their buyers. To maintain your buyers' interest keep them active, you must present something new or
different with each mailing. The best situation is to emphasize a new product each time. If this is not possible, at least present the same product differently. Change your cover letter, sales copy, premium, or
even price. Never offer the same product in two consecutive mailings to buyers. Major catalog houses often alternate catalog mailings with solo product mailings, and change the "wrap-around" covers when
re-mailing the same catalog edition. Also, with each mailing, remind your customer that he or she is your "Dear Valued Customer." (3) FAIL TO SEGMENT BUYERS BY TYPE OF PRODUCT(S) PURCHASED. As your Mail Order
business expands into different groups of products, you'll find your House list comprising a "mixed bag" of customers. Some may have purchased Novelty items, others Houseware. Each new product offer will therefore
not have universal appeal to your House list. Rather than take the time to segment (through simple coding) their House list by type of product purchased, many firms just mail their new "jewelry offer" to the entire list
with the knowledge that it will be received by many who have displayed no interest in such products. By segmenting your House list and matching certain types of offers to certain types of buyers, you should significantly
reduce postage waste and increase order conversion rates. (4) USE A HOUSE LIST AS A CLEARING-HOUSE FOR DISCONTINUED ITEMS. If you're stuck with a warehouse full of discontinued, slow-moving, or obsolete items, it's too
convenient to slash the prices 50% to 60%, and offer them to your customers in ongoing "clearance sales." While such activities might have immediate benefits, we believe they are counter-productive in the long term.
First, customers begin expecting these major positions. Secondly, quite often, clearing-house items tend to be purchasing mistakes by the Mail Order firm junk, overpriced even at the sale prices. Could be the last transaction
you will ever have with many customers. We suggest you dispose of these items in one of the following ways:(a) Use as premiums with regular purchases.(b) Offer to your buyers at slashed prices in quantity only.(c) Make the
"clearance sale" offer to just inquiries you have given up on.(d) Hold a "garage sale" in your local community.
