Interior designer draws $500,000 and 14 new clients with first dm effort
NEW YORK--Interior design consultant Elaine Lewis has been called the "queen of model apartments." Nowadays, that title could be changed to "ingenious direct marketer."
For years, as owner of Elaine Lewis Ltd., she had received about 80 percent of her business from designing the interiors of more than 2,500 model apartments in some of New York's most prestigious buildings.
But then came the 1989 slump in the real estate market and a regional recession shortly thereafter. Lewis felt she had to look to another facet of her business, and find another medium to stimulate that business.
The new business turned out to be interior design for residences. And the new stimulant proved to be direct mail.
Late last year, Lewis mailed a Christmas letter offering a free interior design consultation. The accompanying fax-or-mail reply letter included a partial list of Lewis' most impressive clients, including John McEnroe, the Rolling Stones and Sydney Poitier.
Lewis targeted Amex Gold cardholders because they fit the demographic and psychographic profile a designer typically looks for. "We wanted to reach customers who spend money on their homes," she explains.
After identifying her target, she analyzed the geographic areas in Manhattan where she felt she would be most effective. She then rented about 50,000 Gold cardmember names from Amex's list services at $80/M.
As a test, she started mailing only to certain Manhattan ZIP codes. "But we realized that we had only scratched the surface." So, she extended the mailing to include Gold cardmembers in other areas of New York, including select Gold cardmembers in Westchester County and Long Island suburbs.
According to Lewis, the campaign was fairly simple to execute because there were no middlemen involved. In addition to designing and preparing the mailing completely in-house, Lewis went right to Amex for the names. The company does not retain a list manager, nor will it work with a list broker or a third party. "Our list services department works directly with the merchants, because we perceive this arrangement as a business-building initiative, says Maureen Baily, an Amex spokesperson.
Amex rents cardholder names only to merchants who honor its card. Although businesses usually rent the list as part of a joint marketing effort with Amex, it is also available for other offers with Amex approval.
Lewis' strategy appears to be right on target. "The whole world has responded," exclaims Lewis, who had never advertised her services before.
The mailing brought in more than $500,000 in business and 14 new clients. "We got a tremendous response from people who wanted a free evaluation, and some became customers."
Why was the response so high? As Lewis sees it, the recession has changed the spending habits of all consumers, including the upscale set. "The so-called money people are interested in perking up what they have."
Lewis made another free consultation offer in a 50,000-piece Valentine Day's mailing to Amex Gold cardholders nationwide and plans to blitz Amex Gold cardholders with mailings for all the holidays this year.
PHOTO : Elaine Lewis' entry into direct mail included a letter offering a free interior design consultation to 50,000 Amex Gold cardholders.
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