Study the data card carefully. A program may seem like a direct hit on your demographic, but a closer look might reveal otherwise. Consider average unit of sale, continuous usage and how the catalog mailing list was developed.
Never test a prospecting or reactivation file. Be sure your insert is riding along in the cataloger’s drop to their house list; this will be much more responsive. Try to be in the first drop to house list as often as possible.
Test many files at once. Include at least two offers in a statistically significant A/B split test.
Test at least 100,000 inserts for large catalog programs. As for package inserts, you can test a much lower volume.
Ask your broker. Get advice on offers that have worked well in each file as well as any publicly known information about repeat advertisers. He or she should be able to provide a wealth of knowledge that may not be reflected on the data card.
