InternetRetailer: How cross-channel segmentation boosts online subscriptions

In a cross-channel customer segmentation test at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the retail and media company was able to boost subscriptions to its three magazines online by targeting different customers with the right offer, says Raffaele Pisacane, vice president of Internet development. Using analytics from E.Piphany and Art Technology Groupís marketing database and scenario server tools, marketers created customer segments of online visitors who were also subscribers to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia magazines.

Among them, magazine subscribers who had a subscription that would expire in one or two months got a promotional incentive to renew for the next year. Former subscribers were given incentives to re-subscribe, while those with subscriptions about to expire got an incentive to renew right then online. "This is huge from a cost point of view because if we can reconvert our magazine subscribers using the online channel, we donít have to send a postcard or use more traditional means of reaching them at more expense," says Pisacane.