Contact: Melanie Strouss

Tel. (800) 366-6031, ext. 596

Email: melanie.strouss@parable.com

(October 15, 2010) – For the first time, The Parable Group reveals the secrets of their proprietary direct mail strategy, including their average catalog response rate, which has kept them ahead of the competition since 2002.

In the early 2000s, Parable was first in the Christian retail industry to implement database marketing for independent stores. Working with professional circulation planners, Parable developed a statistically-based approach for mailing catalogs directly to their stores’ customers.

Using sales transaction information and sophisticated technology, Parable can identify those customers who are most likely to respond to direct marketing, such as catalogs and flyers, and develop contact strategies that are unique to every individual store. With this knowledge, Parable helps their stores know exactly how to mail to customers who are most likely to respond.

This strategy is based on the Parable Predictive Model, which is more than just the Family, Friends and Guests mailing program used by other marketing groups. The Parable Predictive Model uniquely applies 18 variables from two years of transactional history to scientifically and accurately manage customer relationships. It is much more in-depth than the reports a point-of-sale system can produce. And it yields results, like high response rates, that stores can’t get anywhere else.

The Direct Marketing Association’s 2009 Response Rate Trend Report showed that catalogs mailed to in-house lists generated an average 3.95% response rate. Parable boasts a proven and consistent average response rate of more than 16% over the last four years. That’s over four times the industry average!

Jenni Smith, Direct Mail Analyst at Parable, says, “In the mailing industry, the simplest method to select customers is RFM (Recency-Frequency-Monetary), which only considers past behavior. Our predictive model not only looks at these three factors, but also 15 additional factors to determine which customers are most likely to respond to a promotional mailing, yielding higher returns on our store’s marketing investments.”

In addition to highly effective catalogs and flyers, one of Parable’s most successful direct marketing programs is their New Customer Postcard; a full-color, glossy postcard sent to each new customer’s mailbox within seven days of being added to a store’s mailing list. Analysis comparing purchases of customers who have received the postcard versus those who have not shows that “thanked” customers return sooner to the store, spend more and purchase more items per receipt than those who are never thanked. Since its introduction in 2006, the Parable New Customer Postcard has achieved a consistent average response rate of 11%.

With these results, along with the lifetime value of converting a new shopper into a regular shopper, Parable stores get the best in mailing success.

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The Parable Group, Inc. is a leading retail services provider specializing in franchising and marketing for independent Christian stores. For more information contact Melanie Strouss or visit www.parablegroup.com. The Parable Group is based in San Luis Obispo, Calif.