FAQs for Predictive Modeling Services

Image of FAQ Typed On Paper

1. What is the minimum number of customers required to model & what records fields are needed?
a. We prefer 2,000 to 20,000.
b. All we need is a text or Excel file of records with the First Name, Last Name, address, city, state and zip.
c. We can work with a minimum of about 1,000, but we'll let you know if we have a problem determining a profile with a small number of customers before we take it any further. There is no charge if we can not work with your customer list.
2. What if I have no customers to model?
There are some B2C products and services for which we have modeled in the past that may be a fit for your firm. We will be happy to discuss your particular project with you.
3. Why is there a minimum record purchase?
The minimum record purchase helps to cover our modeling service costs and to keep our list prices as low as possible. But, when our competition generally charges $15-25k to perform predictive modeling, excluding prospect list costs, we believe we're offering a bargain. Also, remember our record prices are typically at or below many online or brokered mailing list prices out there WITHOUT the modeling services. On top of that, we are offering you a 20% discount off our low prices just for giving us a try!
4. Why don't you offer Business to Business modeling?
We are working on providing a B2B modeling service for clients and we hope to have this available soon. The major difference between B2C and B2B is that up to 500 different attribute variables are available on Consumers, unlike Businesses. We want to make sure we can provide the same level of targeting accuracy on Businesses before we offer this service to the public. Stay tuned!
5. Can you suppress our house file when we order?
Yes, and we'll do it at NO charge as long as it's under approximately 300,000 records or so. You must provide us with your house file when submitting your customer file so that we can exclude those names from our list counts. Suppressions after the fact will be charged accordingly.
6. How do I get onboard with your wholesale program?
Our wholesale program is available to higher volume clients. Please contact us and we will be happy to go over the wholesale program with you.
7. What is the difference between how your list is generated and the one that I purchase now with list selects?
The list select process is one of exclusion - you identify a set of variables you think are important and then exclude all that don't meet your requirements. Our modeling process is one of inclusion. We include all variables in our modeling process to let the technology determine the formula that includes all households that are most like your best customers.
8. Wouldn't I be better off mailing to all the households in my market?
That would depend on your geographical market size, but most would find it more cost effective to target only the households most likely to respond to their product or service. By lowering the number of units you mail, you should be able to save a considerable amount on printing and postage. The cost of prospect names is generally far less than the cost of printing and postage.
9. Aren't there cheaper lists on the market?
The list is typically the least expensive component of a direct mail campaign. We invest heavily in the technology to build your custom list, so there are costs that have to be recovered. However, time and time again our lists outperform other lists by up to 30%. In addition, our customers report that order averages are higher with our lists than any other sources they have used.
10. What sort of guarantees do I get?
If you are new to predictive modeling or Datahouse, we suggest that you try a minimum purchase "sample" as a test. Let the "proof be in the pudding" by comparing marketing response conversions from our lists against those from your traditional selection list. Be sure that all other variables remain equal (offer, copy, channel, etc). Alternatively, you could simply use a comparative control group for evaluation against a prospect list from Datahouse, however as with any campaign, the results will ultimately be determined by your offer, presentation, timing and other factors. Bottom line, we believe you will discover a significant improvement in your results from our model scored lists, which are generated from the most advanced modeling system available today.
11. What will the ROI be on my mailing?
To calculate your ROI we would have to have all of the figures in your campaign's budget, which you probably don't want to pull together. The best way is for you to plug in a response rate of 7.5-15% above your historical performance to estimate the ROI. For instance, if your response rate on your last campaign was profitable at 1%, how profitable would a response rate of 1.15% be?
12. I already know who my target market is - I don't need you to tell me.
We hear that everyday, and many of our clients do have a strong understanding of who their customers are. However, many times we are able to uncover new areas of opportunity - new pockets of clients - that are outside your traditional view of who your customer is.
13. Everyone buys my product so I don't think there's a need to be highly selective.
One of the challenges for companies that sell ubiquitous products and services is that customers tend to be fickle. With that in mind, we can help you identify current customers who should buy more, and prospects that look like your most loyal customers.