You may find yourself in the minority, but if you’re looking to ramp up your prospecting efforts this quarter, renter beware: Some industry professionals estimate that list counts are down as much as 10% from last year.
For most mailers, business was off last year. And fewer people buying translates to fewer new names being added to lists and fewer 12-month buyers being available, says Howard Kupfer, executive vice president of business development for Hackensack, NJ-based list firm Mokrynski & Associates.
Making matters worse, in response to the sluggish sales environment, “catalogers pulled back last year,” Kupfer says. “Circulation decreased, so house files didn’t grow they way they typically grow.”
Gardening tools mailer Gardener’s Supply Co. is one cataloger feeling the pinch. “Available list counts seem to be a lot lower across the board,” says customer acquisition manager Gina Bernadette. Nonetheless, the Burlington, VT-based cataloger increased prospecting this spring, though by less than 10%.
In searching for lists with sufficient name counts, Kupfer advises catalogers to reconsider files they might have previously dismissed. “Catalogers should see how they might use these lists in a different way, with different selects,” he says.
Kupfer suggests, for example, that rather than renting six-month buyers who’ve spent $50, rent the names of six-month buyers who’ve spent $50 on home products. “There are many things you can get from a list manager or owner that aren’t typically published on the data card,” he adds.
Gardener’s Supply Co., for one, is trying to test lists it hadn’t tested before. The cataloger is also digging deeper into its house file to reactivate older names, and it has increased its use of prospecting databases. “We’ve had success with some of them,” Bernadette says about the prospecting databases, “and we are trying more of them, because they’re able to match the customers from our house file and create a model that’ll help us get the best people.”