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    • 2019
      • 01
        • Market Opportunity Assessment: Why You Need One & 5 Key Steps
        • Enrollment Management: Navigating Disruption to Achieve Success
      • 02
      • 03
        • 49% of retailers name in-store mobile experience a top priority
        • 2019 Digital Marketing Trends & Gen Z
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      • 01
        • The hidden cost of selling direct – the returns game
        • 2018 Lead Generation & Recruitment Predictions & Tips
        • How's your marketing?
        • The Offer - How To Make One They Can't Refuse
        • Successful Product Development
        • How Direct Makes Digital Better
        • Questions That You Need To Answer
        • Do You Know What Your Competition Is Doing?
      • 02
        • The Marketing Planning Process...Doing It Right!
        • Managing The Sales Pipeline
      • 03
        • Being Prepared for Change (Why You Need Market Intelligence to Drive Revenue Growth)
        • Competitor Update: Coursera Coming to Eat Your Lunch
        • Discussion: Why Should Your Institution Exist in the 21st Century?
        • Discussion: Should Your College Exist in the 21st Century?
        • Welcome Back: Former Students, Graduates
        • Adult Students: Thoughts on the Chronicle's Report
      • 04
        • Avalanche of Dreck...Are you part of the problem?
        • Profile of the Average Online Student
        • You Can't Make It Up In Volume
      • 05
        • Simple Guide to Creating Profitable Personas
        • Amazon Losing Billions - You Should Be Scared
        • Comment: Why Most CMOs are Failing
        • Marketing Personalization...Most of It Isn't
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        • Are Shoppers Really That Resistant to Self-Checkout?
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      • 06
        • The Lead Management Game - Winning Or Losing?
        • Part 1: Podcasts Should You Start Your Own Podcast?
        • Part 1: Blogs: Should You Start A Blog?
        • 8 Simple Ways to Increase Enrollments
      • 07
        • PART 2: Podcasts: Develop Your Plan
        • Should You Buy or Generate Your Own Leads?
        • How to Overcome the 3 Reasons Most Miss Their Enrollment Goals
      • 08
        • Contact Strategy: People Buy From People
        • 2 Commonly Overlooked Causes for Enrollment Shortfalls - And How to Fix Them
        • Designing and Writing Effective Direct Mail Packages
      • 09
      • 10
      • 11
        • Developing Your Content Marketing Strategy
        • How Content Marketing Can Increase Enrollments, Retention
    • 2017
      • 01
        • Influencer Marketing: More Confusion Over Simple Concept
        • 10+ Reasons Why Most College Marketing/Enrollment Plans Fail & How to Avoid Them
        • Marketing Planning 101 - Are You?
        • Are CMOs' Jobs in Jeopardy?
        • Lead Flow Planning - Getting It Right
        • Omni Channel or Not? Retail Survival or Not?
      • 02
        • Announcing Our New Enhanced On-Demand Services for Adult, Graduate and Continuing Education Programs
        • Tips for Great Direct Response Radio
        • Email Design Tips
        • Data-Driven Marketing...It's As Old As Index Cards, And Then Some...
        • Why They ain’t buying what you’re sellin’
      • 03
        • New Degree Programs: What You Must Learn from Google, Amazon and Apple
        • Student Recruitment & Retention Goes to the Movies
        • Just Outsource It!
      • 04
        • Why You’re Not Answering Their Questions
        • Adult Students: Are You Serious or Just Screwing Around?
        • Is Your Brand Safe?
        • Ask Questions
        • Event Marketing for Adult Enrollments
        • Retail is Not Dead!
        • Pros & Cons of In House Agency
        • Is Affiliate Marketing for Your Business?
        • Webinar: 7 Proven Techniques for Increasing Adult Student Enrollments
        • False Victories
      • 05
        • Bring Programmatic Adv In House? Yes? No?
        • Call Attribution Tech - Do you need it?
        • Are you losing sales people?
        • Webinar: Adult Student Retention
        • Is ‘eMail Blindness’ Killing Your Business?
      • 06
        • Direct Mail Tips for More Effective Student Recruitment
        • Marketers Wake Up...Get Those Phone #s
        • The Secret to Successfully Providing Life-long Learning
        • Higher Ed Marketing Podcast 3: Web Forms
        • Higher Ed Marketing Podcast 4: Thank you page
      • 07
        • 2 Secrets to Achieving Adult Enrollment Goals
        • Social Worship
        • The Amazon Effect...Are You Ready?
        • Old Ways Don't Open New Doors
      • 08
        • Early Results: Adult Student Recruitment Effectiveness Part I of II
        • Early Results: Adult Student Recruitment Effectiveness Part II of II
        • Webinar: Competitive Intelligence 101
        • How to Say the Right Thing so More Adults Enroll
        • Clear Communications, not Content Marketing, is Key to Achieving Adult Enrollment Goals
      • 09
        • Are You Listening Carefully? Asking the Right Questions?
        • Missing Unrealistic Goals
      • 10
        • What Are You Putting Into Your Sales Pipeline
        • Competitive Intelligence - What is it? Why do you need it?
      • 11
        • Yes, You Do Have the Budget
      • 12
        • Enrollment Opportunity: Under-served Segments
        • Why Colleges Are Failing to Achieve Adult Enrollment Goals
    • 2016
      • 01
        • Direct Marketing Planning
        • How Many Leads Do Our Sales Executives Need?
        • The Drones Are Coming!
        • New Study Identifies Opportunities to Improve Student Recruitment
        • Outbound Telemarketing Missing Opportunities As Part of College Student Recruitment
        • Student Retention Tips for 2016
        • Advantages of Direct Marketing
        • 6 Tips to Improve Your College's Content Marketing Performance
      • 02
        • Lead Flow Planning - Getting It Right
        • Are You Sitting Around Waiting for Business?
        • Get More Our of Your CRM Investment
        • Tips for Building Affordable, Effective Marketing Research Program
        • Smart College Recruitment Targets Wisely Using Segmentation
      • 03
        • Marketer's Toolkit Goes Mobile
        • A/B Testing: Some Important Rules to Follow
        • Targeting is Not Rocket Science
        • Snap Chat for Student Recruitment
        • Colleges Must Lead the Way in Marketing to Millennials
        • How Many Leads Do You Need?
        • Do You Know What a "Lead" Is?
        • Do You Know How Many Sales Leads You Need? Find Out With...
        • Content Marketing: It's a Mess
      • 04
        • What Is The Best Marketing Channel?
        • Do You Need a Marketing Plan?
        • Data Analytics Improve Enrollment Performance
        • Why Facilitated Strategic Planning Workshops are Most Effective for Your College...
        • Common Social Media Challenges and Solutions
        • 8 1/2 Common Errors in the Student Recruitment Process
      • 05
        • Differentiation - Colleges Need to Be Uniquely Valuable
        • Non-Traditional Students: Tips to Attract & Retain
        • Market Planning Process
        • Market Analysis - Identify Your Target Markets
        • Catalog Business Plan
        • 10 Common Digital Marketing Mistakes & Solutions
        • Tips for Recruiting Millennials to Your College
        • How to Lower New Student Acquisition Costs
      • 06
        • Your Website Needs Help
        • Better Adwords Performance ASAP
        • Higher Education Marketing Assessment Tool: A Demo
        • Join Marketing Connection Today
        • Marketers Are Focused On the Wrong Things
        • Marketing...It's About the Numbers
        • Colleges Without Market Research: Penny-Wise, Pound Foolish
        • Top Benefits You Enjoy From a Mystery Shopper Audit
      • 07
        • The Future of Content Marketing
        • Pokemon Go: Student Recruitment & Retention?
        • Whatever the Channel: Marketing Success Depends on 5 Factors
        • When Your Customers Aren't Your Customers - Social Media Pitfalls
        • Content Marketing Success
        • Why You Can't Afford to Pass on a Retention Audit
      • 08
        • Your Trouble With Adwords
        • You Can't Recruit & Retain if You Don't Know Your Audience
        • Facebook Live for Student Recruitment
        • How to Make Significant Improvements to Student Recruitment Results
      • 09
        • Why Facilitated Strategic Planning Workshops are Most Effective for Your College...
        • Video Marketing: Tips for Greater Success
        • The Details Are in the Plans
        • Digital Metrics: How Much is Real & How Much is Bullshit?
        • Video Content Marketing: Tips for Greater Success
      • 10
        • How You Can Enroll More Non-Traditional Students
        • Your Email Metrics Are Wrong
        • Too Much Content Too Much Waste
        • How Asking the Right Questions Can Increase Enrollments
        • Content Marketing for Higher Education Recruitment and Retention
      • 11
        • 5 Ways to Increase Graduate School Enrollments by Leveraging Data
        • Big Data, Predictive Analytics & Marketing Research Strike Out in Election 2016
      • 12
    • 2015
      • 11
        • Black Friday - Cyber Monday - Trends
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DWS Associates Catalog Marketing Assessment Program
DWS Associates > Services > DTC & Retail Marketing Services > Catalog Marketing Assessment Services

Catalog Marketing Assessment Services

Multi Channel Marketing Assessment Services

Catalog Merchandising Services

Catalog Planning & Design Services

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To find out more about our marketing applications, products and services, click here or call us today at (651) 666-0934.

Catalog Marketing Assessment Program Services

The catalog marketing assessment program exams all aspects of your catalog business including your eCommerce components.  It's designed to help you identify opportunities and areas for improvement.  This page presents the processes we follow and the topics that we address when we conduct a catalog marketing assessment.  The review needs to be conducted as outlined so that we can give you a thorough assessment of your catalog marketing and operations and to be able to suggest any necessary corrective actions that might be taken to set the catalog on a course towards growth and profitability.

The audit examines all aspects of your catalog business including:

  • Marketing Strategy
  • Customer Acquisition and Retention Strategies and Programs
  • Customer Reactivation Strategies and Programs
  • Circulation Plan and Mailing Activity Analysis
  • Current and Past Sales Plans, Forecast and Results
  • Merchandising Selection and Sales Analysis
  • Catalog and eCommerce Creative
  • Financial Results
  • Database Marketing and Fulfillment Metrics
  • Catalog and eCommerce Operations: Customer Service, Order Processing and Fulfillment

The analysis is broken into two phases, an on-site visit discovery phase during which we conduct in-depth discussions on the topics outlined with your in-house team and supporting service bureaus/contractors. If the fulfillment operations and service bureaus are remote or outsourced, interviews with them can either be conducted by phone or in person depending on the complexity and extent of off-site and/or outsourced operations.

The second phase which involves doing the detailed catalog and circulation analytics will be performed off-site at our offices. Typically, it will take two to five days to complete the first phase. depending on the size of your catalog and eCommerce store. The second phase depends on the number of catalogs being reviewed and the size of those catalogs as well as your eCommerce efforts. It involves the actual analysis and days that are required for compiling the results and producing a report of the findings and recommendations from the on-site meetings and the eCommerce/catalog and circulation analytics.

The actual time we spend on each topic depends upon the issues that need to be addressed, the availability of the appropriate people at your company and any subcontractors that you may use for the program, as well as access the operational, financial and marketing data. If the data is in a form that does not provide for easy and quick analysis, it will be necessary to recompile the data. This will require additional time.

Typical Project Outline

The typical project can last from 20 to 30 days depending on the extent of online and offline catalog / eCommerce activities as well as the size and complexity of the merchandise assortments.  The following is the list of topics that need to be addressed in each aspect of the review.

Phase I:

A. On-site: Explanation of current program status including:

  • Introduction to marketing / operational team
  • Company mission statement, philosophy, overall objectives
  • Current mailing schedule vs. last year and prior if available
  • Current eCommerce program and operations
  • Hand out current and previous catalogs and review
  • Overview of past and present sales, growth and customer acquisition success
  • Overview of program marketing and operational costs (P&Ls if available)
  • A review of problems/issues and primary points of concern

B. On-site: Examination of data captured during order entry and catalog request entry, and the availability of marketing, merchandising and sales information from the operating system including:

  • Assessment of data entry and data capture capabilities
  • Review all reports, their sources and uses
  • Review all details known about customer base such as demographics, etc.

C. On-site: Examination of marketing strategies, programs and activities:

  • Customer acquisition strategy vs. last year (review results vs. goals) (past years)
  • Review current circulation plan, customer acquisition, mailing and merge purge strategy
  • Review of eCommerce online programs
  • Review current catalog request generation plan and strategy
  • Review current house file make up with particular emphasis on number of 1 time buyers and complete review of RFM and/or other segmentation and or modeling techniques being used in order to:
  • Evaluate current need for reactivation and/or retention plan
  • Evaluate single vs. multi purchase customers and design appropriate re-mail strategy, etc.

D. On-site: Examination of merchandising and supporting fulfillment operations strategies and activities including:

  • Merchandise changes and or merchandise philosophy
  • Average units and average order values and response rates
  • Assessment of back order situation, lost sales and other data capture information
  • Assessment of current fulfillment turn around times, pick/pack issues, etc.

E. On-site: Examination of operational systems, procedures and activities that have an impact on customer service

  • Review internal operations reports including receiving, quality assurance, inventory control, replenishment and picking, packing and shipping
  • Review merchandise returns and backorder reports
  • Review call center customer reports
  • Review call center monitoring reports
  • Review any customer satisfaction surveys and other direct customer feedback on service and merchandise.

Phase II:

A. Examination of on and offline catalog performance – marketing, merchandise, creative, circulation and competitive analysis

  • Review marketing and characteristics, including:
  • Branding
  • Positioning in marketplace
  • Selling proposition
  • Presentation and effectiveness of essential customer information: ease of ordering, guarantees, customer services
  • Offer assessment
  • Review of creative, including:
  • Overall visual presentation: layout, design, photography, propping, use of models, etc.
  • Design features
  • Copy and copy tone: effectiveness, features and benefits
  • Merchandising analysis, including:
    • Evaluation of merchandising concept and mix
    • Merchandise organization
  • Pagination and navigation
  • Category analysis
  • Pricing analysis
  • Space analysis – square inch analysis
  • Space utilization
  • Profitability and revenue contribution analysis
  • Circulation analysis, including:
  • Circulation plan
  • Mailing activity analysis
  • Review of competitive catalogs in the same category – performance trends for those catalogs

B. Compellation of findings and production and presentation of eCommerce/catalog assessment report.

Starting At: (Call for quote or complete the information request form in the contact us section for additional information and pricing.)

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