Question

Topic: Strategy

Looking For Input On Box Stuffer Effectiveness

Posted by Anonymous on 4/2/2009 at 11:23 PM ET 500 Points
We are a company that sells printed forms, student and teacher planners, receipt books, and related paper products mainly to K-12 schools across the nation. Orders come in via phone, FAX, mail and our website. Our customers typically order anywhere from about 1-5 times per year.

The people who order the product, typically the lead office administrator or principal, are not always the people who are using and specifying the product. In some cases, the person on the ship to is the one ordering, other times it is going to a specific school or teacher who will be using the items.

We are owned by a printing company who prints most of the product we sell. We also have an inhouse graphic arts team, so our cost of developing and printing promotional materials is relatively low.

In the past, we have typically printed about 6 or 7 different box stuffers. Stuffers do not typically offer a discounted price, they are typically done with product groupings in a 2 or 4-page format to highlight certain segments of our product line. About half the stuffers are current product, the other half are older products, in some cases no longer in the catalog, where we are trying to reduce our inventory of product on the shelf. Our sales reps also occasionally use the box stuffers as leave behind items when visiting schools.

We also sometimes include a full line catalog when filling the order, especially later in the catalog cycle when we have a lot of catalogs remaining in inventory (the catalog is currently just mailed once a year to current customers and prospects).

My real question is this - are box stuffers effective for our type of business? Should one go in every box? Total printed catalog cost is around $0.25 each, should we include another catalog in every order? Are there other promotional items we should consider putting in the shipment being sent out to customers?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Brazzell Marketing on 4/2/2009 at 11:55 PM Accepted
    Yes, they are effective. You are doing the right thing, in theory. You have a very narrow audience which requires highly targeted media and strategies. What other strategy allows you to get 4 pages of product descriptions in the hands of your top consumers for only 25 cents while the end customer is actually paying for the delivery of the piece?

    Until you develop campaigns that will allow you to verify the effectiveness of these box stuffers, it will remain theory for your particular company. Promotions and promotional codes are typically a good way to verify the readership of your box stuffers. When you advertise older (out-of-catalog products) with box stuffers, do the older products start moving faster? There's an indicator that you may be able to measure with only slight modification of existing procedures.
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 4/3/2009 at 1:22 AM Accepted
    I like the idea that the box stuffers are nearly free. I don't like the idea that you are stuffing them with out definite targets or a great deal of thought into measuring how you could do it better.

    I suggest some from of poll or survey with a low level prize for those who sign up. It would be my guess that the people opening your boxes fall into about 5 categories:
    1) box openers - with no future purchasing power
    2) the user of the product - teachers
    3) the supervisor of the person who uses - administrator or principle
    4) the person who orders your product
    5) a clerical person who orders other stuff

    Figure out who is who and you win a prize... MORE SALES
  • Posted on 4/3/2009 at 10:02 AM Member
    I would also consider selling insert space to others with non competing products. This is a common practice and could generate a nice extra profit center for you. Plus you could print the inserts of others.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/4/2009 at 11:03 AM Accepted
    Ideally, your stuffer should connect with what they just purchased. What are natural follow-on purchases that you can entice them with (especially with a time-sensitive offer)? Also, if you've tracked their buy history, you'll probably be able to proactively offer them a chance to pre-order products (or even sell them prepaid subscriptions) to avoid running out/rush orders.
  • Posted on 4/4/2009 at 5:45 PM Accepted
    The box stuffer approach should work well for you. Good concept.

    As Jay suggests, you might want to start analyzing results at a more granular level so you can (a) start targeting your offers better, and (b) begin testing some alternatives -- much as online media lend themselves to A/B testing. It won't take too many iterations to come up with a more effective promotion mix, more persuasive offers, better copy, etc.
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