With 22 years in direct marketing agencies, including ten running her own shop, DMTG, with her husband, Joshua, Joan Moritz thought she knew all there was to know about direct marketing.
Then Moritz bought The Challah Connection (http://www.challahconnection.com). The differences between what she was telling her agency clients and the reality of running an actual direct marketing company soon set in.
The Challah Connection was a direct marketer of challah, a Jewish bread traditionally served on the Sabbath and most holidays. The company provided its customer base with a fresh loaf once a week.
When Moritz took over three years ago, she added a line of gift baskets. The selection not only covered such Jewish holidays as Hanukah or Rosh Hashanah, but also what she calls lifecycle events; for example, Shiva or sympathy baskets for the traditional gifts of food for bereaved families.
“One glaring difference,” Moritz said, “was the idea of the lifetime value of the customer.”
She found that the concept of getting a certain response out of an existing customer with a mailing was not exactly applicable when it came to an Internet company.
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