Talk about your targeted marketing: To find prospects for her new furniture catalog, Ray20, Cheri Caso didn’t rent lists. Instead she searched the Internet to gather the names of architecture firms throughout the country. The “hand-picked” list of 2,000 firms received copies of her 20-page catalog in January.
A former architect herself, Caso envisioned Ray20 as a source of modern furniture by up-and-coming designers for interior designers employed by architects. Following a June 12 mention of the company in “The New York Times,” however, Caso had to rethink her target audience. “The original target was interior designers, but now it’s design enthusiasts,” she says. Since the article appeared, Caso has received 1,000 requests for the catalog.
Long Island City, NY-based Ray20 has also been featured in magazines such as “Architectural Record” and “Metropolitan Home.” “We’ve been riding the free editorial wave,” Caso says. Although she hasn’t felt the need to advertise, Caso does mail promotional postcards, each featuring a different piece of furniture, to its mailing list.
With prices ranging from $48 for decorative accessories to $6,000 for sectional sofas, Ray20 has an average price point of $600, an average purchase order of $1,200, and a response rate of .89%. “It may be a bit low,” Caso says, “but we felt it’s not too bad for our first run. People are still just getting to know us.” The catalog’s second mailing, scheduled for the beginning of November, will feature 28 products not shown in the first catalog.