The list community has to get better at reacting to natural disasters and economic conditions across the country that hurt response, Donald R. Libey, the author of the Libey-Concordia Economic Outlook told a crowd yesterday at the MeritDirect Business Mailers Co-op & E-Com Marketing Conference.
So should mailers, he said.
Libey suggested that list managers develop large pools of names segmented by regions suffering economic slowdowns, or by those that are flourishing, so mailers can quickly adjust mail flow.
"It is possible to predict with a high degree of probability, based on known facts, what's going to happen next quarter," Libey said. "By understanding country-wide economic conditions, prospecting could be augmented in flourishing areas of the country, such as New York and Connecticut, where there is less of an economic slowdown, and pulled from areas that are moribund, like Alabama and Mississippi."
He said the same goes for natural events such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and the like and to get the adjusted lists to the printer closer to the time of ink jetting.
"The challenge is being able to--with two weeks notice--pull large blocks of names out of the mail campaign and replace those with other, sound prospecting names in other regions," Libey continued. "And they have to figure out how to do it and get those lists adjusted just before they go to the printer. You have to think differently, those are the things that have always made us money."
Libey said such changes would add 3% to the bottom line.
By carefully monitoring economic conditions, mailers will be better equipped to strike when the iron is hot, he said.
For example, he said that many catalogers have seen their lines of credit for fall mailings drop by about 40% to 50% from $100,000 in past years to about $60,000.While this translates into circulation cuts and revenue shortfalls for some, others--not prisoners of credit--who have money in the bank, can invest in acquisition campaigns and take wallet share and customers away from weaker competitors. "This is a golden moment for investing in prospecting," he said.
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