1. Ray Morris-Hill Associates1 Successful House File Strategies Ray Morris-Hill Ray Morris-Hill Associates

2. 2 Some Definitions and Assumptions Your House File is the total universe of names you own Customers, enquirers, non-buyers, retail names and suppression file Make sure you are set up to measure response for each segment

3. Ray Morris-Hill Associates3 Profit from your House File Determine the profitable segments Mail those segments where sales/book exceeds the break-even point Typically these will be buyers up to 3 years old and most recent enquirers

4. Ray Morris-Hill Associates4 Break-even Sales/Book Example: 20% refunds (r), 55% margin (m), 12% fulfilment costs (f), 60 pence book cost (b) Breakeven = bx1.175 (m-f)(1-r) Breakeven =£0.60x1.175 (0.55-0.12) (1-0.20) =£2.05 Sales/Book (tax inclusive)

5. Ray Morris-Hill Associates5 Increase Profit through Remails Send the same book with a cover change to the same people Why does this work? Expect Sales per Book from Remail to be 50%-70% of the first mailing Apply this percentage to the first mailing results to determine which segments are profitable to mail

6. Ray Morris-Hill Associates6 Remail Example 13-24 month buyers - £6.00 per book from first mailing Remail will perform at 60% of drop 1 Remail forecast is £3.60 per book This is greater than the breakeven (£2.05) so remail

7. Ray Morris-Hill Associates7 Maximise remails by segmentation The very best buyers may warrant a second remail Typically these will be 0-6 month buyers and will perform at 50% of the first remail However, look for older names that are multi buyers and have a high average order value. These may be worth remailing too.

8. Ray Morris-Hill Associates8 Your buyers are your best names regardless of the offer 4 catalogues per year x 3 mailings = 12 mailings to your best buyers In addition include them in Sale offers This could be another 4 mailings a year Remember, every time you mail your buyers, you should be making a profit Maximising your buyer mailings helps to give you scale economies

9. Ray Morris-Hill Associates9 Don’t give up on those old names! Enquirers quickly degrade so make sure you mail them while they are still profitable, then treat them like a prospect list Old buyers can be reactivated with offers Offer must be strong, remember they have forgotten about you and need a wake-up call

10. Ray Morris-Hill Associates10 Conclusions Extract the gold from your house file by: –Remailing buyers once –Remailing best buyers twice –Sending all your offers to your buyers –Converting enquirers into buyers quickly –Reactivating lapsed buyers with offers

11. Ray Morris-Hill Associates11 Further Information Ray Morris-Hill 3 Bickley Court 12 Southlands Grove Bickley Kent BR1 2BZ Telephone/Fax: 020 8464 2545 Email rmh@dial.pipex.com