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[/responsive]Necessity is indeed the mother, father and granddaddy of invention, and catalog publishers are taking creative steps to combat the higher costs of mailing.
Intrepid catalog marketers are searching for ways to economize that don’t involve slashing circulation or moving into unproven marketing channels, moves that would undercut their proven sales channel.
“In fact, the concern is that history will repeat itself, and the damage to catalog mailers that take too extreme an approach and abandon valuable, established print mail marketing tactics will rival what occurred in 2007 in the face of similar news,” according to an article in Integrated Solutions for Retailers’ blog.
“Unfortunately, after the 2007 USPS rate increase many catalog mailers reduced new customer prospecting from the usual 40-70% of total mail volume to nearly zero, knowing full well it would affect long-term growth,” the article continued. The predictable result – not enough new customers to keep the funnel full – is something mailers need to avoid this time around.
One way to do this is to consider the “mini-catalog,” produced in smaller formats using wafer seals, applied inline, and cutting production and mailing costs without leaving your list in the dark.
The article gives a good case study of retailer National Ropers Supply and their foray into the mini-catalog. They found that sales from the scaled-down catalogs were as good as, or even better than, their traditional full-sized ones, and their costs were significantly lower for each mailing.
There’s always a way to rise to whatever challenges are thrown in our way. And we are happy to help figure out a good solution for your catalog mailing challenges. Looking for more ideas? Grab our white paper “Surviving the Postal Rate Hikes” to help your business adapt to the new USPS realities.
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