Rightly, direct response analysis is a tenet of direct mail, the desirable measure of return on expenditure.

Mailing to libraries generally produces good results but these benefits are often difficult to measure. Here’s why!

1. What may be an urgent sale for you, is rarely an urgent purchase for the library. Librarians don’t buy on impulse. Several and varied checks precede the raising of an order.
2. All library orders need to be sanctioned and are often held on computer before being released in budgetary blocks.
3. The library’s computerised order numbers will bear no direct response code that you may have applied to the promotional leaflet.
4. Most orders will go to contracted booksellers, library suppliers, or subscription agents, in the recipients own country and onward electronically to you, without bearing response codes, or identifying the purchase library.

Nonetheless, careful mailing to selected libraries makes excellent sense. Here’s why!

1. Only you can undertake the direct mail that reaches all relevant libraries and only relevant libraries. You are the ultimate beneficiary of all orders generated.
2. Given that you cannot sell to librarians in 16 countries face to face, direct mail is still the next best way of informing and persuasively selling to the librarian.
3. Unlike booksellers orders, library orders are firm and are unlikely to come back as returns.
4. Libraries have annually renewable budgets for the acquisition of publications and services. You are not only mailing ‘known buyers’, not only ‘frequent buyers’, but constant and annually replenished guaranteed buyers.
5. Libraries expect to be notified of significant new services and publications which are pertinent in their work. If you are not promoting , your competitors certainly are.

Even with the difficulty of response analysis, there is justification aplenty for targeting this large and stable market segment.