The merits of multis Dec 1, 1998 12:00 PM
, Lynn Dougherty
JobZone
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Net-name arrangements, in which renters don't pay for duplicate names
eliminated during the merge/purge process, became popular in the 1980s. But
today, more catalogers opt to pay for these names and remail them in
subsequent mailings. In fact, just 5% of participants in Catalog Age's 1998
Report on Lists and Databases (see July issue) use net-name arrangements on
more than 25% of their list rentals, compared to 17% of respondents the
previous year.
Also called multihits, multibuyers-those who purchase from several catalogs
and therefore show up on several rental lists-"are the best names in the
merge," says Bill LaPierre, account manager at Peterborough, NH-based list
firm The Millard Group. "They also tend to have a higher lifetime value and
a higher average order size than unique names,"-which appear only once
during a merge/purge.
LaPierre has found that multihits who don't respond to a cataloger's first
mailing perform almost as well on remails as unique names do on the first
mailings, while response from unique names have a greater falloff in a
remail. Larry Shaw, director of marketing for general merchandise cataloger
Vermont Country Store, has also found that to be true. "Multibuyer names
usually perform about the same on a first remail as the average response of
the first campaign drop, and they convert from prospects to buyers just as
well too."
Moreover, multis are a bargain. Say you've rented lists that cost $100/M,
or 10 cents per name. A total of 10,000 multinames would then add $1,000 to
an overall mailing cost. But if you receive a 3.8% response on a remail to
multis who hadn't responded to your first mailing, with an average order
size of $50 you would generate an additional $19,000 in revenue.
Now, the drawbacks
"You must request the right to remail multis at the time of your list
order," says Jeff Kelly, executive vice president of list management at
Millard, "and pay for them in your original list order as well." In other
words, if a multihit makes a purchase from your first mailing, you can't
"return" the subsequent uses of his name for credit.
"And for some small catalogers that mail only twice a year, multibuyer
names won't work as well because they've gotten old," Kelly says. The
longer you wait to remail to multis, the "colder" they get. "You want to be
sure to put them in your next remail. For most catalogs, that's not a
problem, since remails are usually 21-28 days apart," he notes.
Mailers also can't code the list source of multis. Arthur Borden, direct
mail manager of Vermont Teddy Bear Co., stopped using multihit names this
year, even though he says they've performed "amazingly well." But without
source codes, record-keeping and planning future list orders became
problematic, he says.
Many catalogers address the issue of tracking the names by having their
service bureau code multis as coming from any one of the lists on which the
names appear. Other mailers opt to code multibuyer names evenly across all
the rented lists; if a cataloger rents 10 lists, it will give each 10% of
the "credit" for each converted multihit. Still other catalogers have the
service bureau put all the multis into a separate list of their own.
LaPierre advises caution when running a merge/purge of names from co-op
databases and from rented lists. "When you mix co-op file names with rented
response list names in a merge, you may see duplicates," he says. "But the
co-op names may be from the exact same catalog and the exact same order" as
the rented list.
And if a multihit name has different addresses, LaPierre recommends using
the address that comes with each duplicate record when remailing. "This
way, if one of the addresses is inaccurate, you have another chance at
deliverability," he says.
