Dynamic and Competitive Effects of Direct Mailings

We propose a dynamic direct mailing response model with competitive effects, where purchase and promotion history are incorporated. We then map the dynamic competitive interactions amongst the firms sending the mailings. We investigate the short- and long-run impact of a direct mailing on the revenues of the firm sending the mailing and on the revenues of its competitors. The model accounts for unobserved heterogeneity across households. We estimate the model in the charitable giving setting, as sending direct mailings represents a large part of charitable fundraising activity. Households often receive direct mailings of different charities within a short period of time and competition is highly relevant. We construct a unique database by merging the databases of three large charity organizations in the Netherlands. This results in household level data on the direct mailings received and the donations made by each household to each charity. Our results show that charitable direct mailings are short-run complements, that is, the direct mailings tend to increase the total pie that is divided among the charities. At the same time, the charitable direct mailings are long-run substitutes. In the long run they fight for a piece of the pie that households have available for charitable giving.Competition;Dynamics;Direct Mailings

Catch them if you can : the effect of reminder direct mailings on the return rate of first-time donors

Despite the relevance of interactive marketing strategies, most nonprofit organizations rely on a marketing mix with a focus on direct marketing. Previous research shows that, by optimizing the mailing frequency, organizations are able to distinguish their mailing from other mailings that donors receive. However, some organizations, such as blood services, struggle to convert the frequency recommendations into their marketing practice. As donation events occur irregularly and blood donors are only able to donate a certain number of times, mailing strategies have to result in blood donations. This study examines a strategy in which a reminder direct mailing follows the regular invitation a few days before a particular donation event. A field experiment was conducted with 396 donors; 203 received the double mailing. Surprisingly, the results from hierarchical binary logistic regressions do not reveal any differences between the experimental groups. A single direct mailing approach is recommended, leading to considerable cost savings

Portfolio Construction: The Efficient Diversification of Marketing Investments

Efforts in the marketing sciences can be distinguished between the analysis of individual customers and the examination of portfolios of customers, giving scarce theoretical guidance concerning the strategic allocation of promotional investments. Yet, strategic asset allocation is considered in financial economics theory to be the most important set of investment decisions. The problem addressed in this study was the application of strategic asset allocation theory from financial economics to marketing science with the aim of improving the financial results of investment in direct marketing promotions. This research investigated the components of efficient marketing portfolio construction which include multiattribute numerical optimization, stochastic Brownian motion, peer index tracking schemes, and data mining methods to formulate unique investable asset classes. Three outcomes resulted from this study on optimal diversification: (a) reduced saturative promotional activities balancing inefficient advertising cost and enterprise revenue objectives to achieve an investment equilibrium state; (b) the use of utility theory to assist in the lexicographic ordering of goal priorities; and (c) the solution approach to a multiperiod linear goal program with stochastic extensions. A performance test using a large archival set of customer data illustrated the benefits of efficient portfolio construction. The test asset allocation resulted in significantly more reward than that of the benchmark case. The results of this grounded theory study may be of interest to marketing researchers, operations research practitioners, and functional marketing executives. The social change implication is increased efficiency in allocation of large advertising budgets resulting in improved corporate performance

産研シリーズ : ダイレクト・マーケティング研究 [6] 海外ジャーナル抄訳集 No.6

「ダイレクト・マーケティング研究-海外ジャーナル抄訳集No.6-」について 〔ルディー和子〕 / インターネット環境におけるマーケティング戦略 -Journal of Interactive Marketing の直近10年間の回顧と今後10年間の展望- 〔久野慶一郎〕 / オンラインにおける信用 - 技術、新領域、そして、今後の研究へ- 〔五十嵐正毅〕 / 言葉以上のもの : オンラインの環境における写真と文章の調和の重要性 〔加藤祥子〕 / 規模による違いがあるのか? 小規模/大規模のウエブブランドコミュニティ (ブランドコミュニティ・サイト) の検定 〔小松聰子〕 / 相互作用性とそのファセットの再検討 - 理論と実証 〔松本大吾〕 / マルチチャネル・カスタマー・マネジメントにおける重要課題 : 最新の知見および将来展望 〔大瀬良伸〕 / 顧客生涯価値 : 実証を経た一般的法則と概念的課題 〔平野亜衣子〕 / 参考文

Dynamics and Competition in Charitable Giving

Nowadays potential donors receive many direct mailings from many different charities, all soliciting their donations. As charities depend for a large part on their revenues from direct mail it is important to uncover the precise effects of charitable direct mailings on donating behavior. Existing studies on donating behavior generally focus on a single decision context, that is, a single donation to a single charitable cause. In reality, however, people receive many donation requests, and the responses to these requests may not be independent. In this thesis we study the dynamic and competitive effects of charitable direct mailings on donating behavior. We present two direct mailing response models, with the first focusing primarily on the competitive dimension, and the second focusing mainly on the dynamic dimension. To calibrate these models we have access to a unique dataset consisting of the databases of multiple charity organizations, providing us wi