We're experimenting with different ways to streamline our target audience for our print brochures. We always mail to prior registrants for an event--regardless of how long ago they attended. But we also mail to people who have attended seminars in related categories (eg. probate law). Is there any data that indicates how far back we should target people who have attended similar seminars? We've been targeting the past 3 years, but are wondering if the past 2 years makes more sense.
Answer:
We do not have specific data for seminars since most of our members are promoting classes and certificates but I think you have a good strategy. I agree that always mailing to past participants is vital. I do like your "similar seminar" approach and I think this is a good way to get some crossover registrations. I don't think there would be a huge difference between mailing to those who have taken similar seminars in the past 2 or 3 years. I think that decision should be made on budget issues and if you have something else to do with those additional brochures. The response rate from people who have taken a similar seminar 3 years ago but nothing since probably isn't that good so if you have another idea of what to do with those brochures, you may want to try that out and see how it works. If budgeting isn't an issue, than there isn't an issue mailing to that group, but I wouldn’t expect a great response rate.
The best way to really know if it works is to test and track. See if you can track how many registrations end up coming from each group (past attendees, similar seminars from 1 year ago, similar seminars from 2 years ago, similar seminars from 3 years ago, etc.). That way you will really know what the response rate is for each group and you can make a data driven decision about your mailing strategy. You can even do this research for pervious seminars if you have the historical registration data and what mailing lists you used.