A large US publisher needed to improve campaign response rates without sacrificing revenue. They had response rates below 1% for both lapsed and prospective subscribers leading to a negative ROI on average.

Mather Economics designed a test to compare current acquisition offers to a targeted campaign. In the control group, subscribers were presented a single offer for each frequency and every subscriber saw the same offers. In the target group, rates were determined based on a range for each frequency and subscribers were targeted within that range.

The test results showed significant improvement in acquisition of Lapsed subscribers, but mixed results among prospective subscribers. Response rates increased for Lapsed and Will Call subscribers, while staying largely the same for prospects. Revenue increased by $13,845 for Lapsed subscribers, an increase of 152%, which also raised the ROI per order from ($4) to $34. Revenue for other groups increased modestly for prospects, but not enough to raise the ROI per order. These results indicate a targeted approach can significantly improve acquisition of former/lapsed subscribers, while the benefits for prospects are unclear.