A brief explanation follows:

Recency – The more recently a person has purchased (by mail) something similar to what you are selling, the more receptive he will be to your offer. Get ’em while they’re hot! In fact, always check to see if the list you are interested in has “hotline buyers” and see if you can rent them before anybody else. Hotline buyers are the most recent buyers of all. Sometimes they will be 90-day hotline buyers or even 30-day hotline buyers. These names are extremely good prospects!

Frequency – The more often a person buys a particular item, the higher his desire for that type of production service. It just makes sense. If you are selling a book on skin diving and you can find a list of people who have purchased several other books on skin diving, then you know he is interested in the subject and will be a likely prospect to buy your book.

Unit of sale – Once again, we have a guideline that just plain makes sense. After all, a person who recently paid $100.00 for a bottle of diet pills is probably a hotter prospect for diet type products than a person who has only paid $10.00 for a bottle of diet pills.

You know, Bondo-Dog, people don’t always put their money where their mouths are; but they do nearly always put out their money where their true desires are.

Recency, frequency and unit of sale: All good guidelines for evaluation of a mail order list. And, in my opinion, of the three guidelines, RECENCY is, by far, the most important of all.

-The Boron Letters, Gary Halbert