3 Direct Marketing Myths That Are Killing Your Results: Echelon Targeting Releases New White Paper

Because direct marketing practitioners live and die by measuring what went right and wrong, Echelon Targeting, a division of IXI Corporation, has published a white paper that explores three myths of direct marketing, explains the realities -- and offers alternatives for marketers who are serious about reaching their best prospects.

Available free of charge on Echelon Targeting's website ( http://echelontargeting.com/white_paper/release-wire.html ), "3 Direct Marketing Myths That Are Killing Your Results" dispels these myths and offers sound, practical advice to marketers who want to pull ahead of the pack. Specifically, this new and important White Paper addresses:

Myth #1 -- The more customers, the better.

The more customers, the better, right? Not really. Acquiring customers without regard to their value and capacity to generate revenue over time can become a losing proposition. Even so, most campaigns seek to optimize response with little regard to what the responders are actually going to spend with your brand. After all, what marketer can resist boasting of a response rate that beats previous efforts?

The problem is that not all responders -- even those who buy -- generate significant revenue and create profit. The problem gets compounded because once they're on the books, low revenue customers are never actually "fired." Firms keep low revenue customers around hoping they'll become high revenue customers, but instead, money gets wasted on efforts to get these folks in the black.

Myth #2 -- If a repeat customer is spending at least average dollars with you, you're doing well with that customer.

If a repeat customer is spending at least as much as your overall average customer spends with you, you may assume you're doing well with that customer. But often, that's not good enough. Many companies assume that if customers continue to buy, they are loyal and should be treated as valued customers. There's some truth to that -- after all, repeat business is generally a good thing. But not all customers are equal. And, even once a company has acquired a good set of customers, many companies don't maximize the relationship and capture the unrealized value of each of their customers. So while two customers spending $400/year with you can look similar on paper, when you find out that one customer spends $1600 with your competitors and the other spends just another $200, the picture changes dramatically. You've only got 20% of the first customer's wallet and 66% of the second customer's!

Myth #3 -- When used properly, income and other demographic measures will lead a company to those prospects with high potential value to your company.

Marketing solution providers historically have followed the demands of their client base by providing basic tools for targeting. Typically these start with household income and other related measures. And these solutions have worked reasonably in the past. But times have changed.

In the old world, millionaires didn't shop in Wal-Mart and choices were more limited. Old targeting solutions worked. But in fact they provided only the first level of discrimination of affluence. In a new world where people have an amazing array of choices, a more granular approach is needed.

To download a free copy of "3 Direct Marketing Myths That Are Killing Your Results," please click here or go to http://echelontargeting.com/white_paper/release-wire.html .

About Echelon Targeting

Echelon Targeting provides a superior measure of consumer spending power to consumer goods manufacturers, retailers, and service providers of all types. Consumer marketers can use Echelon's systems to gain intelligence on customer and prospect discretionary spending capacity and purchase propensity in order to improve their segmentation, targeting, and marketing strategies. As a division of IXI Corporation, Echelon's products and services are based on the proprietary wealth-measurement techniques of IXI. IXI directly measures over 40% of all assets held by U.S. households through its data consortium of financial institutions. By leveraging IXI's proprietary financial databases, Echelon can help its clients identify, target, and communicate with households that have both the means and the desire to purchase their goods and services.

Editor's Note: For a copy of "3 Direct Marketing Myths That Are Killing Your Results," to arrange a bylined piece based on this white paper, or to arrange an interview for a staff-written article, please contact Ginny Simon at 610-889-2036 or gsimon@projectmarketinginc.com .

Contact: ECHELON TARGETING Elissa Fink 703-770-9677 Email Contact www.echelontargeting.com PROJECT MARKETING, INC. Ginny Simon 610-889-2036 Email Contact www.projectmarketinginc.com