MarketingProfs

MediaBuyerPlanner: In recent years, database modeling has evolved to better boost response rates due to the rising number of cooperative databases, the increasing types of models and the more vast and sophisticated variables available, writes Multichannel Merchant.
Clients are turning to modeling to expand their customer base and better target potential customers. “Models aren’t being used to cherry-pick from a smaller universe,” said Chris Montana, senior vice president of list marketing services firm Mokrynskidirect, “but to expand beyond what the direct marketer already has in its house files.”
Specifically, direct marketers are using zip+4 models to avoid certain streets with zip codes representing households that don’t match the target market. The nine digit zip+4 code represents 10 or fewer households, giving direct marketers great control when targeting homes to receive certain offers.
Jim Coogan, president of consulting firm Catalog Marketing Economics, said a cost-effective modeling strategy on the rise is to model names of web-only buyers at the co-ops to determine if they are active mail order purchasers and then send them a catalog. “It’s a good method to make sure the catalog is driving your e-commerce,” Coogan says. “And if they find these consumers are ordering only from the web, catalogers are finding out they don’t have to send as many catalogs.”
Also, some models are considering multimedia channels like TV and radio advertising, according to Steve Briley, vp of analytical services at database marketing company Merkle. The company created a modeling technique called Media Mix, which helps marketers to understand the impact of direct marketing without the use of other media in the mix. Briley said that by providing more effective marketing budget allocations for the future, these models indirectly lead to improved sales performance and response rates.