Segmenting for Catalog 2.0

A IS FOR ATTITUDES

Research shows that targeting campaigns by attitudinal cohort group can increase response by more than 40%. Attitudinal or psychographic data available from data service bureaus can add depth to your marketing and brand messages and allow you to target your communication by major psychographic segments and attitudes.

By understanding the psychographic profile of customers, you are able to speak to them in ways that are more meaningful. Have a preponderance of younger on-the-move moms who look for the best deal in the shortest time? Maybe you should be focusing on sale items and expedited shipping offers in short e-mail messages.

If you have a lot of older customers who don't easily part with their hard-earned cash, provide more details and reasons to buy without being too “salesy” or pushy in your catalog. Building a segmentation model allows you to target subtle copy changes, pagination, featured items and price points, and modified contact strategies that cater to the beliefs and desires of your target constituents. This can dramatically impact response and retention.

For catalog-centric multichannel marketers, it's just too expensive to conduct business as usual. While enhancing your segmentation model may cost more in the short term, the goal should be to drive down costs long term while improving the customer experience and driving up overall retention and sales.

Success is targeting the right products and services to the right customers in the right channels with the right messages. It's time for the catalog to evolve. It's time to segment for Catalog 2.0.

Steve Trollinger is executive vice president of J. Schmid & Associates (www.jschmid.com), a catalog consultancy based in Mission, KS.