Friday, January 23, 2009

Holiday 2008 Buyers- How do they compare?

Chances are, you had fewer customers who spent less and relied more on promotions during Holiday 2008 than in any other season in the past. As we find ourselves quickly immersed in 2009, here are a few key metrics to keep track of. Be sure to break out new and existing customers by segment/source for each of these metrics and compare to last year:

Standard metrics
> Repeat purchase rate
> Subsequent orders per buyer
> Subsequent revenue per customer
> Subsequent profit per customer- fully loaded (not just marketing costs)

Additional key metrics
> Subsequent orders and demand by source (email, search, catalog)
> % Incremental for results tied back to the catalog (by building sustainable mail/no mail groups and including path to purchase data)
> Total subsequent marketing costs (the cost of all marketing touches, from catalog to email and affiliates)
> % Of demand that is full price vs. sale/clearance vs. with discount/free shipping
> Customer migration across merchandise categories (what are they buying next?)
> Corporate results, if you are a multi-title company (% conversion to other titles and the sales and profit to the other titles)

The key questions are
1)How will customers from the 2008 holiday season compare to buyers from holidays past?
2)How should you change your contact strategy based on these metrics?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Join me this Thursday - January Webinar

Happy New Year!

2009 is here, and there's no time like the present to focus on improving your share of wallet with existing customers. New customer acquisition is more expensive than ever and in a tough economy, healthy response rates are hard to come by. Your existing housefile is still your most valuable asset.

Please join me on Thursday for a great discussion surrounding how to increase your share of wallet with existing customers, both online and offline. Our webinar this month is co-hosted by the great team at My Buys and we have two outstanding panelists- Francis Juliano (CMO/CIO at Wine Enthusiast) and Erik Martinez (Director of Ecommerce at Peruvian Connection).

Webinar details:
Thursday, January 8th
11 am PST (2 pm EST)
Please click here to register:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/850172820

We look forward to hearing your questions and comments on Thursday!