Using 3 rd party data as part of your subscription marketing activity

1. Using 3rd party data as part of your subscription marketing activity Andy McDermott, Managing Director Abacus UK 9th November 2006

2. Abacus Alliance • Abacus pioneered the concept of data sharing in 1990 • Number of catalogue members in the Abacus Alliance = 570 • Number of magazine titles in the Abacus Alliance = 350 • 26 million individuals with mail order and magazine subscription history • Combined spend > £15 billion • Number of transactions > 500 million • Dynamic transactional database. Millions of transactions loaded every weekend

3. Abacus Alliance • Full transactional data is essential • Only use multi buyers • Only contributing members have access to the alliance • But why co-operate?

4. Single Customer View MEMBER RFM DATA ABACUS TRANSACTIONAL/ DEMOGRAPHIC / LIFESTYLE INFORMATION

5. Using 3rd party data to grow your subscriber base • The issue is finding lists that allow you to acquire subscribers at an acceptable cost • Past purchase / subscription behaviour is the best predictor of future subscribing • Analyse your existing subscribers and target more like them • Define the subscribers to profile • Define the prospect universe • Understand the key predictive variables • Define the success criteria

6. 3rd party data to cross sell subscriptions • Can be valuable when little obvious affinity exists between titles. • Good prospects exist within every subscription file Automotive Magazine Gardening Magazine 2% 28% Purchases with Gardening catalogues 44% Lifestyle data: Interest in gardening The best prospects for cross-selling Gardening subscription to Automotive subscribers

7. Using 3rd party data to reactivate lapsed subscribers Marketing to lapsed subscribers can be uneconomic but some good prospects will exist within every lapsed subscriber file • 13-24 months – your reactivation program • 24 months+ - reactivation program using external data Magazine A 41,000 lapsed subscribers 5,500 Active elsewhere 0-12 months Result: Selectively mailing lapsed subscribers achieved a response rate of 50% above average for cold recruitment campaigns.

8. Using 3rd party data to convert subscribers to Direct Debit Some subscribers will have a higher propensity to subscribe by direct debit than others. Can you target these individuals with different offers? Home Magazine non- DD subscribers 14% subscribe by DD elsewhere

9. Using 3rd party data to increase profit from joint commercial ventures • Targeting the right audience for a joint promotion will reduce wastage, increase profit and open up more opportunities. • Ensure you jointly own these customers 33% purchase in mail order within last 12 months Publisher 180,000 subscribers 54% purchase in mail order within last 36 months

10. Merchandise Category Analysis Analysis – Magazine X (Household Spending by Merchandise Category

11. Sourcing 3rd party data • What do you want to achieve? • What type of data gives you the best ROI? • geo-demographic • lifestyle • transactional • Test before you buy • back test on historical campaign • small live test • Use supplier to undertake back test if resource constrained • Negotiate!