Background

A leading brand of footwear based in Edison, New Jersey, Aerosoles sells high quality, comfortable, and fashion-right shoes at its more than 100 retail stores, on its website, and through its catalog. Aerosoles' mission is to be the number one, product-driven footwear company in the world. The company believes it can achieve this by significantly growing its catalog, and so has made this a top priority.

Challenge

The company currently depends on cooperative databases for over half of the names in their prospect mailings. Unfortunately, most lists have failed to perform consistently for Aerosoles. The company came to Wiland Direct in the Fall of 2005 seeking help with prospecting.

Wiland Solution

"We decided to use pre-validated response models for Aerosoles because they are more predictable and consistent in the mail," said Phil Wiland, Chairman and President of Wiland Direct. According to Jeff Barney, Director of Sales and Marketing, this is exactly what Aerosoles was looking for.

"The way Wiland Direct builds models is more individually focused to our company," said Barney. Subsequently, Aerosoles experienced excellent results.

Results

After testing their first models in a March 2006 mailing, the company found that Segment 1 performed at double the average dollars per book over other lists, including co-ops. More significantly, Segment 2 performed 30% better than other lists, including cooperatives.

"The models we used performed well," said Barney "We generated a lot more sales per name and had a higher response rate."

Aerosoles is currently testing their late Spring and Summer mailings with Wiland Direct. There are also future plans to incorporate customer models, including reactivation models, into their circulation plan.

"Aerosoles will definitely continue to test with Wiland Direct," said Barney. "We plan on testing additional models and reaching into deeper segments."