Think twice before you merge/purge

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Oct, 1989 by Ann Haire

It is generally accepted direct mail practice to merge and purge your prospect lists against your active file prior to mailing- but we violate that rule in promoting two of our trade publications because the economics don't work on those titles.

Several factors should be taken into account before you decide whether or not to perform a merge/purge on your prospect lists.

1. Your magazine's reputation and market penetration

Both of the magazines that we don't merge/purge are very well known and have excellent reputations in the industries they serve. As a result, they enjoy -very deep penetration into the universe of firms in their respective markets. Additionally, because they are so well known, we do not have to get too elaborate with our new promotion pieces in order to sell the editorial products. On the contrary, our typical promotion package for these magazines is a two-color no. 10 package with a letter, order card, lift note and BRE, which we are able to mail for about $400 per thousand.

2. The cost differential between new and renewal promotion efforts

Because our cost per thousand to mail renewal promotions is currently running at approximately $385, the incremental cost of selling a renewal with a new promotion vehicle will certainly not be prohibitive. IG in fact, we sell a renewal though our new promotion efforts, we consider ourselves fortunate to have the use of the renewal income earlier and the renewal itself in the bank earlier.

3. The relationship of your new offer to your basic sub price and renewal offer

Another very important factor in deciding whether or not to merge/purge is your new promotion offer relative to your basic subscription price and your renewal promotion offers. We do not discount off the basic sub price in either our new or renewal efforts. Therefore, we do not run the risk of offending, with a discounted offer, an active subscriber who paid full price.

We do offer premiums in our new promotion efforts and occasionally receive complaints from subscribers who want to receive the premium. In that case, we either send them the premium or (preferably) encourage them to extend their subscriptions using the incentive offer. However, if your new promotion efforts offer deep introductory discounts, a merge/purge is probably necessary.

4. The availability and format of prospect lists

Another major consideration is the availability and format of prospect lists. Unless we are able to get attendee lists from shows or membership rosters from industry associations (which we usually have to key ourselves at considerable expense), we find ourselves mailing to compiled lists that are title addressed.

Because both magazines already have such heavy market penetration and because the prospect lists often do not have actual names, duplication between actives and prospects on a company name basis is generally extremely high. If we mailed to net firm names only, our universe would thereby be reduced dramatically and we would not have the opportunity to sell additional subscriptions into companies already subscribing.

5. The demographics of your circulation mix

On the other hand, because our circulation demographics are so horizontal in nature, there is very little incidence of duplication between the outside prospect lists that we mail.

6. Response history and your direct mad economics

The bottom line is that on these magazines, direct mail is profitable at a 2/10th of a percent net response. Therefore, we want to mail to as many viable prospects as we can identify.

So, before you decide that you must do a merge/purge because it is a direct marketing rule of thumb, evaluate these factors as they relate to your magazine.