The field of direct mail advertising is becoming increasingly important. Many selection decisions must be made by direct marketers, such as those concerning package testing and list and segment within list selection. These decisions can be quite complex, especially when sample sizes and average order size per package and list are not equal. In this article, Bayesian and non-Bayesian statistics are applied to these problems to generate optimal decision rules for package testing and list evaluation and selection. An example is given using real data from test results.
AbughalousMansour M.MiesckeKlaus J.On Selecting the Largest Success Probability Under Unequal Sample SizesJournal of Statistical Planning and Inference21198953–68
3.
Advertising Age (February 16,1981).
4.
BergerJames O.Statistical Decision Theory and Bayesian Analysis2nd ed.1984Springer-VerlagNY
Ehrman, Chaim Meyer (1984), “Subset Selection Techniques: Development and Use in Marketing Applications,” Doctoral dissertation, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
8.
EhrmanChaim MeyerEstimating the Probability of Lists’ Rollout Success from Test ResultsJournal of Direct Marketing Research11198795–104Summer
9.
EhrmanChaim MeyerKriegerAbba M.MiesckeKlaus J.Subset Selection Towards Optimizing the Best Performance at a Second StageJournal of Business and Economic Statistics521987295–303
10.
EhrmanChaim MeyerUsing Bayes Statistics in a Direct Marketing FrameworkJournal of Direct Marketing211988Spring
11.
EvansJoelBarryBermanMarketing1987MacMillan
12.
Gross, Irwin (1966),“Creative Aspects of Advertising,” Ph. D. Dissertation, Case Western Reserve, Cleveland, OH.
13.
GrossIrwinThe Creative Aspects of AdvertisingSloan Management Review197283–109Fall
