(Direct Newsline) Can you reactivate a house file from the 1990s and turn a profit? Sure you can, just don’t try to re-sell them the Macarena or a Beanie Baby.
Speaking at the Direct Marketing Association’s List Day on Thursday, Janette Barret of International Masters Publishers Inc. said the secret to reactivating old expires is to offer them a new product within the same affinity.
Barret, IMP’s director of marketing services and analysis, said the publisher used catalog co-op, performance co-op, and name and address verifications as matchbacks to its ancient house files, and had success.
It then offered a wildlife DVD series to customers who ordered a cycle of wildlife cards from 1999 to 2001, and a scrapbook product to the segment that ordered specific crafting merchandise between 1997 and 1998.
In both cases, the new offer was either an upgrade of, or a compliment, to, a product they had purchased in the past.
The result: a 40% response index, and a 29% retention rate.
Barret said IMP is now taking a look at external lists to see if the same reactivation strategy can be applied.